Shane Chowen
@ukshane.bsky.social
Editor at FE Week - reporting on further education, skills and apprenticeships. Story tips: shane.chowen@feweek.co.uk
UPDATE: Ministers expect to implement their 'new model of government' - which includes putting mayors in charge of 16-19 education - by the end of this parliament (so by mid-2029). feweek.co.uk/mayors-to-ta...
Mayors to take control of 16-19 funding
Andy Burnham's devolution package ends years of DfE resistance to handing local leaders power over post-16 budgets
feweek.co.uk
Shane Chowen@ukshane.bsky.social · 6d ago🚨 BREAKING: Mayors will be handed control of 16-19 funding in a radical break from England’s Whitehall-run post-16 system. Colleges and schools are all in scope, with plans due alongside the autumn budget. feweek.co.uk/mayors-to-ta...
🚨 BREAKING: Mayors will be handed control of 16-19 funding in a radical break from England’s Whitehall-run post-16 system. Colleges and schools are all in scope, with plans due alongside the autumn budget. feweek.co.uk/mayors-to-ta...
Mayors to take control of 16-19 funding
Andy Burnham's devolution package ends years of DfE resistance to handing local leaders power over post-16 budgets
feweek.co.uk
A warning if you're a subscriber to the BBC Newscast podcast - I'm on it today
Sparing thoughts for picture editors with only a one in three chance of getting the right Baroness Smith currently serving in government
Andy Burnham loves The Smiths so much he’s appointed three Baroness Smiths as ministers: Baroness Smith of Basildon, leader of the House of Lords Baroness Smith of Malvern, skills minister Baroness Smith of Cluny, advocate general for Scotland
🚨Breaking: Jacqui Smith has been reappointed minister for skills by Andy Burnham feweek.co.uk/jacqui-smith...
Jacqui Smith reappointed minister for skills
Baroness Smith with continue working across the Department for Education and Department for Work and Pensions
feweek.co.uk
🚨Breaking: Lucy Powell has replaced Bridget Phillipson as education secretary feweek.co.uk/lucy-powell-...
Lucy Powell appointed education secretary
Bridget Phillipson remains minister for equalities
feweek.co.uk
🚨Breaking: Pat McFadden has been reappointed work and pensions secretary feweek.co.uk/mcfadden-rea...
McFadden reappointed work and pensions secretary
New prime minister Andy Burnham keeps Pat McFadden in post
feweek.co.uk
This is a serious escalation on BIIAB's security qualifications, with the SIA regulator taking unprecedented steps to bar the awarding organisation after finding persistent malpractice in BIIAB-approved centres as part of 'Operation Resolute' feweek.co.uk/security-reg...
Security regulator bans BIIAB after fraud probe
SIA action blocks five qualifications and follows Ofqual’s intervention earlier this month
feweek.co.uk
🗑️ Bins are all the rage right now. But not for nearly £4m of public cash feweek.co.uk/ofsted-bins-...
Ofsted bins £3.9m IT project paused to fund pay rises
Watchdog also reported a £400,000 "fruitless payment" for rent on an empty London office
feweek.co.uk
Love the idea that Rachel Reeves can theoretically refuse to allow Nigel Farage to resign and let the process play out
Can the chancellor refuse an application from a sitting MP for the Chiltern Hundreds?
David lived and led by his values. He unapologetically put learners first, did what he thought was right and led from the front when times got tough. All of our thoughts are with David's family, friends and colleagues. feweek.co.uk/ncfe-chief-e...
NCFE chief executive David Gallagher dies aged 45
The awarding sector leader was among further education's most outspoken advocates for disadvantaged learners
feweek.co.uk
Hidden in the government's children's wellbeing and schools act were new laws extending the government's power to ban misbehaving teachers from FE colleges and independent training providers. But what counts as misbehaving? @annieiseating.bsky.social investigates feweek.co.uk/school-rules...
School rules are imposed on FE’s errant teachers
A teaching ban regime built for schools is coming to FE with the passing of new legislation. Anviksha Patel reveals how it will work and gauges sector reaction
feweek.co.uk
In a rare display of unity, college leaders & unions have joined forces to warn the government current spending plans could mean a 0% pay rise for staff It comes as we wait for school pay rises (who are already paid more) & as colleges are recruiting record numbers feweek.co.uk/college-staf...
College staff face zero pay rise warning
AoC and unions join forces to avoid prospect of a damaging no pay offer
feweek.co.uk
Coming up in @feweek.bsky.social 0️⃣ Unions & colleges join warn DfE FE staff face possibility of 0% pay rise recommendation 🧑⚖️C&G bonuses: We examine the contradictory claims as another inquiry on the sale to PeopleCert is launched 🤝Unite drops dispute against PeopleCert after deal on redundancies
🚨PeopleCert has said it will move to reclaim 'unauthorised' bonus payments worth millions from former City & Guilds executives feweek.co.uk/peoplecert-p...
PeopleCert pursues former City & Guilds chiefs for £3m ‘unauthorised’ bonuses
PeopleCert is seeking to recover almost £3 million in bonuses paid to former City & Guilds chief executive Kirstie Donnelly and finance chief Abid Ismail.
feweek.co.uk
Do you work in education? Are you going to Reform UK party conference? Please let me know (I'm not organising a flash mob)
So there is a bill going through parliament to reduce the voting age from 18 to 16 and this report of restrictions on social media for 16 to 18 year olds. Isn't this an argument that harmful social media (X and the like) should be restricted for *all* adults, not just children.
Shane Chowen@ukshane.bsky.social · 2mo agoTimes reporting 16 and 17 year olds will have their social media use restricted by curfews. Social media ban discourse has until this point been on under 16s. www.thetimes.com/article/631a...
Times reporting 16 and 17 year olds will have their social media use restricted by curfews. Social media ban discourse has until this point been on under 16s. www.thetimes.com/article/631a...
Teens will get social media curfew and chatbot ban
Plans to be announced by Sir Keir Starmer go further than Australia’s with a total ban for under-16s and restrictions meant to stop unhealthy late-night scrolling
thetimes.com
Straying out of my lane here, but I am fascinated by recent comments from Nigel Farage that "someone better equipped" could lead his party into the next general election. To date, Reform UK has had the luxury of never having a leadership fight. It has never had to factionalise.
Mental health support teams seem to be making a positive difference where they've been rolled out - but new data shows 16-18 learners are losing out. From a level playing field, secondary school coverage is now double colleges: Story 👇 feweek.co.uk/post-16-stud...
Post-16 students trail schools in mental health teams rollout
New data shows 42% of post-16 learners are covered compared with 79% of secondary pupils
feweek.co.uk
Proof that the buzzword "hub" has now got out of control. 18 months ago the CITB said it will open 20 purpose-built skills "hubs" for construction training. In fact those 20 hubs won't be new anything, they'll be existing training providers paid £33k grant to train apprentices quickly.
FE Week@feweek.bsky.social · 2mo ago👷 A construction skills quango has launched an 'accelerated apprenticeships' grant programme that will fund its network of 20 training 'hubs' first promised in late 2024 feweek.co.uk/citb-launche...
Every Whitehall education minister: Vocational qualifications are too complex, there are too many. We're going to rationalise so it's easier for employers Mayors: Hold my beer
FE Week@feweek.bsky.social · 2mo ago🎓 The mayor of the West of England plans to create a new 'baccalaureate' qualification that will train local young people to be 'work-ready' feweek.co.uk/west-bacc-qu...
Ofqual's 'intervention' on exam cheating devices today would have been timely in 2020, not 2026. While the regulator discovers "smart spectacles", students are being aggressively targeted on social media with tech that, on current trends, Ofqual may or may not discover until the mid-2030s:
Inside the booming business of high-tech exam cheating | Shane Chowen
Ofqual's 'intervention' on exam cheating devices today would have been timely in 2020, not 2026. While the regulator discovers "smart spectacles", students are being aggressively targeted on social m...
linkedin.com
📢Breaking: Staff at City & Guilds have threatened legal and industrial action over redundancy plans from new owners PeopleCert feweek.co.uk/city-guilds-...
City & Guilds threatened over ‘disgraceful’ staff cuts plan
A union is threatening awarding giant City & Guilds with 'legal and industrial action' over its workforce redundancy plans.
feweek.co.uk
Absolutely heartbreaking. The only silver lining is that this is a solvable problem, but it will not solve itself without significant and sustained investment and attention from government. A new scheme over here or an apprenticeship tweak over there will not cut it.
FE Week@feweek.bsky.social · 2mo ago🚨Breaking: More than one million young people are now not in education, employment or training, new figures reveal https://feweek.co.uk/youth-neet-rate-tips-one-million/
Breaking: There are now over a million young people not in education, employment or training feweek.co.uk/youth-neet-r...
Youth NEET rate tips one million
Latest estimates come ahead of Alan Milburn’s landmark review into young people and work
feweek.co.uk
📢 It's UCU Congress next week! FE delegates will debate prioritising national bargaining over pay rises, ethnic minority representation in college leadership & a union subscription fee increase for higher-earning lecturers Here's @feweek.bsky.social's Congress preview feweek.co.uk/switch-focus...
Switch focus to national solutions on pay, UCU told
Congress to vote on strategy shift that targets country-wide binding agreements
feweek.co.uk