FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Failed Skills Funding Agency research tender ‘ridiculous’

A 33-day timescale for research into a new payments regime for adult learning has been branded “ridiculous” by an FE consultant. Fourteen contractors were invited to bid for the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) project , but not one went for it. Ian Nash, a member of The Policy Consortium, said the timescale was “inadequate. The […]

Another student satisfaction website launches

A new Ofsted website measuring student satisfaction has entered the market, prompting concerns of a clash with the Skills Funding Agency’s £30m FE Choices site. Learner View, which went live in time for Ofsted’s 2012/13 inspections, draws together the opinions of students about their courses and comes up with provider ratings. Students are faced with […]

AoC ban delegates from tweeting

A Twitter ban at Sir Michael Wilshaw’s Ofsted conference was defended by organisers as a “courtesy to the press”. The clampdown on live information escaping Prospero House had already seen journalists barred from the event. The behind-closed-doors ruling was justified by Association of Colleges (AoC) communications director Ben Verinder as allowing contributors an “open and […]

Jason Holt, author and CEO, Holts

The chief executive of Holts Group of Companies and author of the independent review into apprenticeship for small and medium-sized companies talks to FE Week Jason Holt always wanted to run his own company and started to hone his entrepreneurial skills at an early age. Having worked out that baking horse chestnuts in the oven […]

Group Training Associations ‘the answer to skills gap’

A dying breed of business link-ups offering their own apprenticeships could hold the key to bridging the country’s skills gap, an inquiry has concluded. Group Training Associations (GTAs) came under the spotlight of an independent commission headed by Professor Lorna Unwin, from the Institute of Education. Her report has called for more use to be […]

Southwark College joins the style wars

Southwark College fashion students have competed to create the hottest new design for popstar Rihanna. Chanelle Edwards, who currently attends the college, was one of 12 young designers selected to appear Sky’s Styled to Rock, the new reality show on Sky Living. Former student Ben Moriah also took part. “It was one of the best […]

Bournemouth and Poole College batter the record

Not to be outdone by record-breaking athletes, Bournemouth and Poole College chefs have landed a world record of their own. The chefs toiled over a deep fat fryer on Poole Quay to cook a gigantic halibut, plus 59kg of chips to smash the previous record portion of the classic English dish. Barry Dawson, Andrew Brown, […]

Havering College’s gold medal-winning show

Performers from the Havering College’s Olympic-themed show Inspiration entertained thousands of spectators as they relaxed between Paralympic events. A group of 50 young people from the college and other learning partners staged a mini-version of their show on the Olympic Bandstand. Inspiration is a music, dance, and performance art spectacular themed around the Olympics and […]

West Cheshire tutor’s Olympian effort

West Cheshire College sports tutor Simon O’Brien has returned from the Olympic Games after working as the sports therapist for the Botswana team. Mr O’Brien worked with four athletes throughout the games, including 18-year-old Nijel Amos who won silver in the men’s 800m, breaking the world junior record. “I was selected to be the official […]