Opinion

We need huge new initiatives to support new skills and retraining

Writing off stranded learners’ debts is a good start, but there’s more to be done on access to adult...

Gordon Marsden
GORDON MARSDEN
Opinion

The £400m extra for FE is both a one year ‘manager’s special’ and inadequate

If you’ve been working in a increasingly arid financial desert for years, even a few splashes of liquid on...

Gordon Marsden
GORDON MARSDEN
Opinion

Government needs to improve access to apprenticeships

This week the education select committee published a wide-ranging report on the government’s apprenticeship record. It highlighted failings in...

Gordon Marsden
GORDON MARSDEN
Opinion

ESOL is chronically underfunded – this must change

It’s all very well the education secretary waxing lyrical about English as a second language, but without proper funding,...

Gordon Marsden
Gordon Marsden
Opinion

Skills in 2017: less money, more problems…

The government has had a few good ideas this year, admits Gordon Marsden, but it seems determined not to...

Gordon Marsden
Gordon Marsden
Opinion

Take stock over expansion plans

National Apprenticeship Week rightly celebrates tens of thousands of individual successes from young beginners to older workers acquiring new...

Gordon Marsden
Gordon Marsden