FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Huge survey lifts lid on sector

More than 1,000 FE and skills staff took part and vast majority revealed concerns about levels of institutional funding. It was the same story with worries over learner funding. External bureaucracy worried 95.6 per cent of respondents while the pace and volume of change concerned 91.9 per cent. The broad government direction of travel for […]

Celebrating 100 editions of FE Week

Click here to download Edition 100 of FE Week Click here to download edition 100 and our special celebratory edition.

Taking a loan stance

With official figures having revealed that qualifications from the Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education (Cache) featured among the most popular for FE loans, Marc Ozholl discusses the awarding organisation’s success. As the awarding organisation synonymous with quality in the childcare sector, we were delighted to learn that three of our qualifications appeared […]

Edition 93: Andrew Patience, Jon O’Boyle

Three decades of service to FE will come to an end in August with the retirement of New College Stamford principal Andrew Patience. He took the Lincolnshire college job in 2010 having moved from his deputy principal role at Bury College. He had already spent 31 years in the sector and in his first year […]

Principals ‘may not’ understand their chief executive role

College leaders who are both principals and chief executives may not fully understand both parts of their role according to a report published today (Tuesday April 29). The report, A New Conversation: Employer and College Engagement, by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), The 157 Group and Gazelle, questioned whether dual principals and […]

Commercialism and creativity ‘are key’ in post-cuts market

Where can colleges and independent learning providers look as government funding cuts bite, asks David Hughes. It says something about public sector funding when a 20 per cent cut in funding is met with a certain amount of relief. The long-anticipated Skills Funding Statement (SFS) 2013-2016 raised a number of emotions and issues for me. […]

Teachers’ and trainers’ experiences of the 16 to 19 study programmes

The Institute for Learning has been looking at how teachers have been getting on with the requirements of the new study programmes. Shane Chowen presents the findings. This week, many students will return to study their final term of the first full year of 16 to 19 study programmes, which were introduced in September 2013 […]

The principal of a large and well-established FE college writes about life at the top — the worries, the hopes, the people and the issues they have to deal with every day.

What an interesting few weeks it has been since the funding agencies released details about priorities for next year and our funding agreements. Without a shadow of doubt up and down the land the collective wringing of principals’ hands will be taking place. What to do with less? That is the question of the moment […]

Coming to terms with FE loans

With the FE loans having launched a year ago, Mike Cooper looks at how the system is bedding in and why previously-unwilling providers might want to re-evaluate their thinking on what is a potential income stream. Quietly, the new round of online applications for 24+ advanced learning loans has opened. Learners aged over 23 meeting […]