FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Kathryn lends hair support to friend undergoing chemotherapy

A Solihull learner braved the chop and had her long locks cut off to show support for a close friend who has just started chemotherapy. Kathryn Sainsbury-Wilkes, who studies biology, mathematics and photography A-levels at The Sixth Form College, Solihull, took part in Macmillan’s ‘Brave the Shave’ campaign in August. She did it to raise money […]

Reality check as City College Brighton and Hove learners see real poverty in Tanzania

A group of once disengaged young people from Brighton and Hove have returned to college with a positive attitude this year after experiencing a life-changing trip to Tanzania, writes Billy Camden. Life at home may seem tough for this group of eight City College Brighton and Hove learners, but their eyes were opened up to true […]

Stockport College learners’ bullseye with TV star Davina McCall and cricketer Freddie Flintoff

Two Stockport College learners are at the bullseye centre of Sky 1’s new darts-based series One Hundred and Eighty. Learners Danny O’Donnell, aged 23, and Curtis Reeves, 22, spent three days working with hosts Davina McCall and Freddie Flintoff at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens. They supported rehearsals by acting as competitors, working on the cameras, and aiding […]

Outline of a helping hand to help prevent terrorism take root in the FE environment

An Association of Teachers and Lecturers survey last week showed how many FE professionals felt unprepared for their new duties to help prevent learners become attracted to terrorism. Selina Stewart explains the help at hand from the ETF. The new FE Prevent Duty guidance document became statutory on September 21, so the duty is now law. […]

Sector viewing FE mission as increasingly impossible

Further education’s struggle for survival may not be quite on a par with Tom Cruise battling the Syndicate — that network of dastardly operatives out to establish a new world order following the demise of the IMF. Nevertheless, it looks increasingly like a Mission Impossible to many people in the sector. Well, they do seem […]

Loughborough College principal Esme Winch set for newly-created managing director’s post at NCFE

Awarding organisation (AO) NCFE is set to appoint Loughborough College principal Esme Winch (pictured above) as its first managing director. The Newcastle upon Tyne-based AO has also unveiled a new commercial and finance director as part of a senior team revamp. A spokesperson for the AO said Ms Winch, whose post had been newly-created due to the “ongoing […]

Meet the new framework, not quite the same as the old framework

Gemma Gathercole outlines her views on the new qualifications framework coming into force next month. Anyone that works in the awarding sector will understand that for us change is the only constant. I was involved in qualification development during the introduction of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF), and now we are at the dawn of another new […]

The principal’s office

There’s understandable angst in FE colleges about the area reviews. It’s an issue that’s been playing on my mind and so I’ve tried to get down some of the main points about these that are bugging me. Government says that the ‘post-16 education sector is critical to our strategy of raising productivity and economic growth’. Yes, everyone […]

‘It’s a different way of thinking about how we regulate’ – Ofqual’s Jeremy Benson Q&A on new RQF

The Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) was unveiled by Ofqual last week and was designed to be more descriptive and less prescriptive than its predecessor, the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). FE Week spoke to Jeremy Benson (pictured above), Ofqual executive director for vocational qualifications, to find out more about the new framework and what it […]