FE Week Reporter | FE Week

The ‘tantalising’ potential of FE loans

As college bosses look on nervously while government funding cuts take hold, they must also think of ever more innovative ways to make ends meet. Verity Hancock suggests a review of how the FE loans pot can be used. Back in 2012 the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) confirmed that Leicester College was in the top […]

Embracing Ofsted as a ‘fresh pair of eyes’

Ofsted and data can both hold fear for principals, but Chris Thomson says embracing both can provide a path to success. With a fear of being shunned by my peers, I actually view Ofsted as a free consulting service, which all colleges should embrace. I’ve been principal at Brighton Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College […]

Privacy warning over biometric data collection

The boss of a Leicester-based national subcontractor where learners have their finger measurements scanned to get into classrooms has defended his firm’s collection of biometric data. Ronan Smith, founder of Edudo, a Skills Funding Agency subcontractor with a £563,835 contract from Bedford College, said the system was “entirely voluntary” in response to a warning from […]

Top college earner figures ‘not showing full picture’

Calls for college chief executive and principal pay levels to be published have emerged amid concerns the growth of group management structures could mean taxpayers are not getting the full picture of top college earners. College accounts for the 2012/13 academic year, published this week by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), only include pay and […]

New careers guidance rules ‘don’t go far enough’

New rules which mean schools will be forced to tell their pupils about FE and apprenticeships “don’t go far enough”, the Association of Colleges (AoC) has warned. The Department for Education (DfE) published new statutory guidance on careers advice this month, which for the first time explicitly requires schools to promote vocational courses — using […]

Richard Atkins, president-elect, Association of Colleges

Harrods provides the unexpected setting for the early career of Association of Colleges (AoC) president-elect Richard Atkins. He admits it was a stint at the world famous London department store that gave him his first opportunity to grow as a person and pave his way to greater things. It followed his adoption as a baby […]

Software and Leps in Spicer update

Skills Funding Agency (SFA) interim chief executive Barbara Spicer has written to contractors with an update on a range of sector issues, including funding software and local enterprise partnerships (Leps). Ms Spicer said “final adjustments” were being made to the troubled new Funding Information System (Fis). And she thanked providers for their “patience” over the eight-month […]

College steps in to save apprentices

More than 160 engineering apprentices are set to be transferred to City College Norwich from an independent learning provider facing closure. The college said the East Anglian Group for Industrial Training (Eagit), based in Norwich and formed in 1967, is set to close in July. The college will take on 146 level three and 22 […]

UCU and AoC continue pay talks

A pay deal for college staff is yet to be agreed for the next academic year. The University and College Union (UCU) and other unions have begun talks with the Association of Colleges (AoC) over staff pay for the 2014/15 academic year. But in a recent session, no agreement was reached. It comes as a […]