Blog Archives: November 2013

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£5.8m sports fund made available to FE and sixth form colleges

By , Tuesday 19 November 2013

Sport England are giving FE and sixth form colleges the chance to bid for a share of £5.8 million from their Further Education Activation Fund, an investment of the National Lottery.  The aim is to encourage participation in sport in colleges, and the fund will help colleges with the design and delivery of projects tailored to their students. This comes at a time where college students have the lowest sports participation rates of learners aged 16 and over.

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More Changes for Secondary Schools

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Monday 11 November 2013

David Grailey

Change is something we all face each and every day, whether it’s in work or our personal lives. Ironically the only constant in change itself is its continual inevitability. The secondary education sector is certainly no exception to this. Following on from the implementation of the new school headline performance measures for vocational qualifications, which came into full effect this year, the Department for Education last month published the ‘Reforming the Accountability System for Secondary Schools’ document.

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The ‘Whitehead Review’ of vocational qualifications

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Friday 08 November 2013

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Nigel Whitehead, UKCES Commissioner, has published his recommendations regarding the future of vocational qualifications. The review provides a vision and strategy, looking at how we can ensure that vocational qualifications are valued as worthwhile investments, enabling individuals to progress in their careers and employers to grow their businesses and improve their competitiveness. The review states that vocational qualifications should be relevant to individuals and employers, affordable, matched to skills needs, rigorous, and based upon a robust future-looking occupational standard.

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They’re making a list, are they checking it twice?

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Friday 01 November 2013

David Grailey

Last month we were hoping to bring you an early Christmas present in the form of the newly published Key Stage 4 list. Once released it will provide a full list of all the qualifications approved to count in the 2016 performance tables. Sadly, at the time of going to press (11 December 2013), the Department for Education have yet to publish the list of eligible qualifications. This is disappointing for all of us and especially any of you waiting to embark on your curriculum planning for 2014/15. We’ll send you an email bulletin as soon as we have news. We’ll also tweet an update - you can follow us at @NCFE.

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Michael Gove to appoint new regulators to oversee free schools and academies

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Friday 01 November 2013

David Grailey

A new set of powerful school regulators called chancellors are to be appointed by Michael Gove in an attempt to keep a check on the growing number of free schools and academies. These chancellors will have the power to seize control of failing schools. The plan will see England split into 8 regions separate from local councils, with the free schools and academies in each region supervised by a new body known as a Headteacher Board (HTB), headed up by a chancellor. The new system echoes the model used for schools governance in the US, although the appointments are made locally.

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