As Ferret noted earlier this month, new chief inspector Amanda Spielman’s first FE speech marked a “reset” in the relationship between Ofsted and the sector. So the inspectorate can now breathe a sigh of relief and take it easy, right?
Well, not exactly. For starters, there are going to be plenty of new providers for inspectors to keep an eye on. As of this month, the new Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (even for a sector plagued with awful acronyms, RoATP is pretty damn excruciating) boasts 1,708 providers given the green light to deliver to large, levy-paying employers.
Ofsted’s deputy director for FE and skills, Paul Joyce, confirmed to Tes that it would be sticking with its current policy of inspecting all new providers within three years - that’s a lot of inspections to squeeze in.
FErret has also heard that the watchdog is still hoping to press ahead with its plans to introduce separate campus-level grades for colleges, to allow for local accountability. But Ofsted is reliant on receiving additional funding from the Department for Education to cover the increasing costs that this would cause.
Given that the DfE already has a host of apprenticeship reforms, the introduction of T levels, the new schools funding formula and the small, uncontroversial matter of grammar schools to contend with, FErret can’t help but fear that the matter of campus grades may be disappearing to the bottom of stressed civil servants’ to-do lists for the foreseeable future.
Wedding march of progress
Tuesday 28 March 2017 will go down as one of the happiest days in FErret’s life. It was the day that FE’s two star-cross’d lovers finally became one.
Yes, after months of anxious preparations, the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and Education Funding Agency (EFA) have finally tied the knot.
Frankly, if colleges have been forced into loveless marriages to save a few quid, it’s about time that the bodies funding them did the same.
Clearly neither party wanted to lose its name so, with a tedious sense of inevitability, the new organisation will be known as the Education and Skills Funding Agency. Sigh. In any case: congratulations to everyone concerned. Here’s hoping for lifetime filled with laughter, RoATPs and UKPRNs.
Share your gossip, scandal and intrigue with FErret by emailing ferret@tesglobal.com
