Colleges need support if Ofsted reports are to remain positive says UCU

One in five colleges (20%) was judged to be outstanding – a considerable increase on the 13% of outstanding colleges in 2005-6. Overall, almost two thirds of colleges (63%) were judged good or outstanding, up on the 62% from 2005-6.
 
However, the union warned that the government's planned £340 million cuts in further education risked undoing the good work and making a mockery of the government's much-vaunted commitment to education.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'That our colleges have received improved overall Ofsted results is a testament to the hard work of the staff. We are extremely concerned about the impact proposed funding cuts will have on further education. Despite assurances that education would not be a victim of the recession, the government has announced plans for cuts in key services provided by our colleges.
 
'The government has rightly identified education as a key driver of social mobility. To make swingeing cuts to the further education sector now would be an outrageous affront to the millions of people it has promised it would not let down and will hit the most vulnerable members of society.'