27/05/2025
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The government has announced new measures to improve the quality of Further Education (FE) college provision through the introduction of an FE Commissioner. The BWF’s Woodworking Industry Training Forum (WITForum) has been lobbying for improvement of college provision within the woodworking subjects after a patchy picture of quality across the UK.
The FE Commissioner will “intervene” when a college receives an “inadequate” grade from Ofsted, who is responsible for inspecting colleges as well as schools. The commissioner will report direct to government ministers and will have the power to impose a number on ‘interventions’:
• a new ‘Administered College’ status, in which colleges will lose freedoms to take actions such as staff changes, expenditure or transfer of assets
• the replacement of some or all of the governing body; and or
• college dissolution.
Inadequate colleges will then receive support from Ofsted to bring them to an acceptable standar, but it is not yet clear if the new Commissioner will have similar powers for private training providers that also serve the woodworking industry.
Dave Campbell, BWF WITForum Training Manager, said “This is a step in the right direction to help improve college provision on which our members often rely on to impart skills needed for their joinery and wood machinist apprentices. We hope the new measures will push unscrupulous colleges to improve their woodworking departments to secure the future of our workforce, but we must ensure that these controls don’t miss our private providers that are increasingly offering an alternative to college provision”.
The WITForum is calling for a tightening of the rules for Ofsted inspectors to ensure they have sufficient expertise to assess the competence of providers of vocational courses, ensuring that standards of teaching in the woodworking subjects improve, and inspection ‘grades’ are accurately granted to the college in question.
Dave continued, “We have had reports from training providers that Ofsted inspectors do not always know how to adequately assess the standard of skills provision in vocational subjects compared with academic subjects, which is worrying when many colleges offer a wide portfolio of courses. While the provision of Mathematics A Level may be exemplary, inspectors must be able to spot a poorly delivered wood machining diploma within the same college and take steps to ensure its improvement”.
Today’s announcement from skills minister, Matthew Hancock MP also included £214m worth of investment for 47 FE colleges that are rated “good” or “outstanding” to improve their facilities and expand resources.
“I’m hoping to see some colleges renowned for their woodworking training provision in the 47, and hope that they can invest in the latest woodworking machinery to go beyond the mandatory elements of woodworking industry qualifications and provide an exemplary learning environment that serves both learners and their companies within our industry”.
Check your college: Are you using a college for your apprentices or other woodworking training. Search for your provider and see what greade Ofsted gave them in their last inspection on their website.
Nearly all the WITForum's woodworking training provision is delivered through Ofsted "outstanding" rated provider, Didac Ltd. You can see their report on the Ofsted website. See what courses the WITForum/Didac has to offer.
