FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Taking account of the government’s apprenticeship credit proposal

While PAYE has figured heavily in coverage of the government’s apprenticeship funding proposals, the other option of an apprenticeship credit account has enjoyed less focus. Mark Corney looks at the latter option. An interesting juncture has been reached on apprenticeship funding reform now the technical consultation has closed. Employers are urging the Coalition to ‘get […]

Careers guidance and financial support top ATL election manifesto priorities

Good careers guidance, financial support for learners progressing to FE and an end to colleges being run for profit are election issues for the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL). The union has launched its general election manifesto in the run-up to May 2015. Launching the manifesto, general secretary Dr Mary Bousted called for “an […]

Learner lie-ins as college trials 10am starts

Fancy a 10am start at work? Most would, and that’s what learners at North East Surrey College of Technology (Nescot) will be enjoying as it bows to “students’ circadian rhythms”. Bosses at the 5,900-learner Epsom college are scrapping 9am starts from September in a trial that comes in response to research by the National Sleep […]

Graham Hasting-Evans, chief executive, NOCN

Graham Hasting-Evans’s career has revolved around building. “I wanted to do something practical, to build things,” he says. “And then from building things, I started to build organisations and build people’s skills.” It’s a career that has taken him from a small Welsh farm, to Libya, Thailand, the London 2012 Olympics and to his current […]

College bursary roll-overs stopped

Colleges are to be stopped from rolling unspent 16 to 19 bursary money of more than £500 over into new financial years, the Education Funding Agency (EFA) has announced. In new guidance on how bursary money should be spent by providers, the EFA has stipulated for the first time that underspends totalling more than £500 […]

Commissioner claims first scalp

The FE Commissioner has claimed his first scalp with LeSoCo principal Maxine Room standing down at the end of the year. Ms Room’s resignation from the 17,000-learner college in South East London comes after leadership and governance at the college was criticised by commissioner Dr David Collins. Dr Collins was sent into the college in […]

Free school meal pay-outs leave colleges feeling short-changed

Colleges claim they have been left short-changed after learning how much money they will receive to pay for the government’s new universal free school meals programme. The Education Funding Agency (EFA) wrote to colleges on Monday (May 12) to tell them how much they would receive to pay for meals for disadvantaged learners. It comes […]

Bright storm continues as Highfield hits back

An awarding organisation has hit back at claims by Bright Assessing chief executive Krissy Charles-Jones about its qualifications. She had told FE Week that the troubled Warwickshire-based provider was “never approved or used” by Highfield Awarding Body for Compliance (HABC). But the awarding body has disputed Ms Charles Jones’s statement. Terry Bloor, HABC quality assurance […]

Former BIS chief in governance warning

The former head of skills investment at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis) has warned that entrepreneurial education in colleges must be underpinned by good governance. Dr Susan Pember, now education and management adviser to the Association of Colleges, told delegates at the Gazelle Annual Summit on Tuesday (May 13) that moves to […]