College oversight: updated policy published

The Government has this month published an updated version of its policy on college oversight. The terminology has altered, there is a new role for Regional Improvement Teams and the intervention triggers have been updated to reflect changes in the Ofsted inspection regime. We will be publishing further thoughts on the new policy, but as ever the manner in which the policy is implemented will be at least as important as the content of the document.  

The impact of Dame Mary Ney’s thoughtful independent review of college financial oversight has been felt over years which have followed and that desire for a strategic, nurturing relationship between the colleges and the State continues to be a positive one. We are approaching the end of current FE Commissioner Shelagh Legrave’s term of office which saw a deliberate attempt to shift more towards support than intervention. When she takes up her post in just under two months’ time, the new FE Commissioner Ellen Thinnesen and her team will have the task of supporting the sector at a time when a new vision for post-16 education and skills has just been laid out in the recent white paper and we are all working out how the opportunities it presents for the sector and for our country can be seized.