FE Week Reporter | FE Week

New subcontracting audits requirement questioned by Association of Colleges

A new Skills Funding Agency (SFA) requirement for lead contractors to pay for an external audit of their subcontracting arrangements will “create the need for hundreds of additional reports,” Association of Colleges assistant chief executive Julian Gravatt (pictured) has warned. He said the requirement, contained in funding agreements for 2015/16 and requesting ‘annual subcontracting assurance,’ […]

London Mayor Boris leading London area FE review

Boris Johnson (pictured) has been given a key role in deciding the future of London’s FE colleges, FE Week can reveal. The London mayor will, it is understood, lead the capital’s post-16 education area review, which is yet to be officially announced. A City Hall spokesperson told FE Week that Mr Johnson, who is also […]

Apprenticeship levy plans may be better as ‘nuclear’ deterrent, says top Oxford University academic

A senior academic has said apprenticeship levy plans were like a “nuclear weapon — it may be worth threatening you are going to use it more than actually use it.” Professor Ewart Keep (pictured below right), director of Oxford University’s centre on skills, had told the House of Lords Social Mobility Committee he was “very […]

Royal visit marks mental health event

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge highlighted the importance of talking about mental health as they visited Harrow College to celebrate World Mental Health Day. The Royals met with young people who have battled mental health problems and now volunteer with Mind in Harrow or the anti-stigma campaign Time to Change, to raise awareness about […]

Sir Ben sets learners off on rib-making journey

Four-time Olympic sailing champion Sir Ben Ainslie will be using boats hand-built by City College Southampton apprentices when he takes on the 35th America’s Cup challenge, writes Billy Camden. If Sir Ben Ainslie is successful in winning his second America’s Cup in 2017 then he’ll have a group of 80 City College Southampton apprentices to […]

All over the Rover for charity

The Car repair students at Newcastle College put their skills to work by restoring a classic car in aid of charity. Level two students studying the diploma in vehicle accident body repair principles restored the 1960s Rover 100 which is now ready to be sent to auction, where it will raise money for BEN — […]

Celebrity salon gets knockout opening

Former world heavyweight boxing champion David Haye used his hands to less damaging effect when he arrived to cut the ribbon to a new college hair academy and salon. Mr Haye was guest of honour at Carshalton College, in Surrey, to open celebrity hairdresser Aidan Phelan’s new venture, the Aidan Phelan Salon & Academy. “I […]

Shelagh Legrave, principal, Chichester College

There is an ongoing debate in the FE college sector about whether a principal should have a classroom background, or whether what’s really needed is business acumen forged in the cut-and-thrust world of the private sector. But could a third option — bearing in mind the relentless attack on sector finances — be service in […]

‘At least 100 hours of experience of the world of work by the age of 16’

Fresh from her appearance on the Edge annual lecture panel, Deirdre Hughes explains how a skills gap solution might be a fully functioning careers guidance system for young people. We all know that most employers, particularly smaller businesses, value experience above all other criteria when it comes to recruiting young people. But declining numbers of […]