FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Byrne quizzed on ‘pregnant panda question’

Labour’s stance on government apprenticeship reforms in which employers will take a greater role in drawing up frameworks and be expected to pay 33 per cent of provider costs has been likened to a “pregnant panda question”. Shadow Skills Minister Liam Byrne was put on the spot about his party’s view of the apprenticeship reforms […]

Gove seeks college help after latest UTC blow

Education Secretary Gove asks Bedford College to save UTC All Ofsted UTC results inadequate or requires improvement ‘Too early to critisize UTC programme’ — UTCs’ spokesperson Education Secretary Michael Gove has called on a general FE college in Bedfordshire to save the latest University Technical College (UTC) to suffer Ofsted grading disappointment. A spokesperson […]

VQ Day

Owen’s blinder at VQ Day Awards Day Awards celebrate the learners, employers and teachers who demonstrate the success of vocational learning. The learner of the year, the newly qualified FE teacher of the year and the employer of the year were all crowned at the ceremony in London on Tuesday night (June 3). Nine regional […]

Former principal of Warwickshire College steps in at troubled Lewisham and Southwark College (Lesoco)

Lesoco has brought in the former chair of the 157 Group to take over as interim consultant principal following the departure of Maxine Room. Ioan Morgan, who will be officially employed by the Association of Colleges’ (AoC) recruitment arm AoC Create, will take up the role at the college on Monday (June 9). Mr Morgan was principal […]

Edition 105: Ian Crews, Marcus Potter and Peter Martin

A principal designate has been appointed at a University Technical College (UTC) in Devon that is set to open its doors in September next year. Ian Crews, currently vice principal of Cornwall’s Bodmin College Academy, will take up the post at South Devon UTC, in Newton Abbot, which specialises in engineering, water and the environment, […]

Apprenticeships for trainers and assessors?

The publication by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) of the Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers in Education and Training, and the supporting guidance, provides the sector with an inspirational yet realistic framework to build on. Traditionally work-based learning and apprenticeship providers have far fewer graduate employees than other education sectors. Most of our […]

Apprentice funding ‘too generous but still off-putting to small firms’

Mick Fletcher casts his eye over the government’s introduction of a 33 per cent mandatory cash contribution from employers towards the cost of apprentice training. The new guidance on trailblazer funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is a heroic attempt to achieve incompatible policy objectives. Encouraging more employers to take on apprentices […]

Taking the apprenticeship extras into account

With the government having announced it would expect employers to pay a third of the apprenticeship training costs, Charlie Mullins looks at the wider financial and social costs of the programme. Transforming the potential of an enthusiastic young person into a highly qualified tradesperson by means of an apprenticeship shouldn’t be difficult, but for some […]

Apprentice chief forces home cash message on funding reforms

A high-ranking government official has reinforced Skills Minister Matthew Hancock’s assertion that only cold, hard cash would count as employers’ mandatory contribution to apprentice training costs. Jennifer Coupland, deputy director of the Joint Apprenticeships Unit at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Education (DfE), told delegates at the Association […]