FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Lighting the way for Santa

Santa’s sleigh will be jingling all the way this year thanks to the helping hand of South Cheshire College livewire students. Electrical installation learners are rewiring a trailer that will take to the streets of Sandbach in the run-up to the festive period. As well as providing new lighting cables, the group have also been […]

Traineeships should be delivered by ‘high quality and proven’ providers

The Ofsted annual report criticised Traineeships for a lack of success with helping young people progress to apprenticeships or employment. But Angela Middleton explains why she still thinks they have a lot to offer, so long as they are delivered by the right providers. Ofsted chief inspector Michael Wilshaw has recently identified a problem with […]

Animal instincts are no great shakes for Dr Grant

A Hartpury College lecturer’s ground-breaking study with NASA has caught the attention of the Discovery Channel and will feature in a series that aims to unravel baffling phenomena, writes Billy Camden. Dr Rachel Grant will appear on the Discovery Channel as part of a ‘NASA Unexplained Files’ series. The visiting associate principal lecturer at Hartpury […]

Movers and shakers: Edition 158

Liz Rees has been appointed as the new director of Unionlearn, the learning and skills wing of the Trades Union Congress (TUC). She takes on the role after a number of years as head of Trade Union Education, where she was responsible for the TUC’s programme of workplace representatives’ training. Unionlearn works to help unions […]

Elves running festive college fair

Santa’s elves teamed up with Mrs Claus to run the grotto at Blackpool and The Fylde College’s festive fair. The college’s University Centre transformed into a winter wonderland, featuring a Christmas market, snowboarding experience, face painting and festive bouncy castle. The event, expected to have raised more than £1,000 for Brian House Children’s Hospice, included […]

The FE and skills panto

Apprenticeships reforms are rapidly metamorphosing into pantomime. When the ugly sisters Hancock and Richard undertook their review, they ruled out ‘evidence’ from awarding organisers and independent learning providers (ILPs) as ‘biased from vested interests’. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) recently published the results of an independent Process Evaluation of Apprenticeship Trailblazers by […]

Barnfield becoming talk of the sector — for the right reasons

Two visits from FE Commissioner Dr David Collins triggered first by financial problems and secondly by an Ofsted inadequate rating was the scene into which Tim Eyton-Jones stepped in February. Dr Collins has since drawn a line under his involvement and inspectors have also seen improvements. Mr Eyton-Jones spells out what’s been happening at Barnfield. […]

Public Accounts Committee will report on FE finances on December 16

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will publish the results of its inquiry into the financial state of the sector on Wednesday (December 16). The report on ‘Overseeing Financial Stability in the FE sector’ is expected to feature conclusions drawn by PAC members from an evidence session it held on October 19. The […]

Getting a move-on with ESF Neet programmes

Of the first six programmes aimed at provision for young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) funded by much-delayed European Social Fund (ESF) cash, one was in the Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership region. Jo Lappin outlines the process now tenders are finally open. The decision by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to move forward […]