FE Week Reporter | FE Week

What happens when the money runs out?

With allegations of shoddy practice, revelations of low pay and little training for apprentices, along with concerns about limited government cash being spent on ‘leisure’ courses, Ian Nash questions whether the FE and skills sector has moved on at all in the last 20 years. he National Audit Office (NAO) review of the Education Funding […]

Planting and pruning course ‘not for leisure’

With Skills Minister Matthew Hancock wanting the 24+ Advanced Learning Loan System used to fund courses with a “direct line of sight to work,” FE Week reported how loans were paying for apparently leisure-focussed courses. Among them was a level three certificate in horticulture that was for less than four hours a week. The report […]

Much talk of reform, but plenty left unsaid in conference season

Further education featured prominently among the policy proposals outlined by the three main political parties at the recent conferences. However, Lynne Sedgmore believes nothing was said on a number of key sector issues. The annual conference season has come to an end and aspects of FE featured strongly on their agendas. We heard about free […]

Unemployment ‘should not be an option’ for 18 to 24s

Learning for Life is the Liberal Democrats’ policy paper for education and skills. Lady Brinton explains some of its key points. The Liberal Democrats believe education and skills are critical for both individual opportunity and the overall economic performance of the country. Our new policy on this, which was recently passed at our conference, confirms […]

Preparing for increased maths teacher needs

With government policy dictating that learners must work towards maths qualifications, new measures are needed to make sure there will be teachers in FE, explains Charlie Stripp. When I tell friends I work for an organisation that supports maths teachers, it quickly becomes clear to me most of them have an image limited to that […]

Knee-jerk reaction to skills report would be damaging

Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development put England and Northern Ireland behind for numeracy and literacy, but they should not detract from policies already dealing with the issue, argues Martin Doel. his week’s report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on adult skills has had a big impact. It […]

Diana Laurillard, chair, Association for Learning Technology

Diana Laurillard, 65, is a woman on a mission. The Institute of Education’s professor of learning with digital technologies wanted to be a university lecturer when she was a teenager and achieved that ambition by the time she was just 25 years old. And, she concedes: “That’s too soon to achieve your life’s ambitions. You […]

Ofsted finds significant prison shortfalls

Ofsted FE and skills director Matthew Coffey has delivered a damning verdict on prison education and training in England and Wales. In a speech on Thursday at London’s Wormwood Scrubs prison he pointed out how 65 per cent of the 78 prisons inspected since 2009 had failed to achieve at least a good grading. “None […]

Byrne replaces Marsden as Shadow Skills Minister

Liam Byrne has succeeded Gordon Marsden in the Labour Shadow Education team, taking on the role as Shadow Universities and Skills Minister in this week’s reshuffle. Mr Byrne, MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill, had been Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions since January 2011. Before that, he was Shadow Chief Secretary to the […]