FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Gazelle’s pantrepreneur challenge

Lewisham College engineering students displaying their Pants to Poverty design. Left to right: Joel Mvula, Bubacar Djalo and Landing Samba. Picture by Nick Linford. Students are creating Olympic-inspired briefs for a national competition led by the fair trade underwear brand Pants to Poverty. The ‘Pantrepreneur Challenge’, organised in collaboration with the Gazelle group, has asked […]

‘Cheated’ colleges’ secret audit

A report commissioned by a secret group of FE colleges has accused other institutions of manipulating data in order to boost success rates. The document, written by Tenon Education Training and Skills Limited on behalf of the Tenon Education Training and Skills College Forum and seen by FE Week, suggests FE colleges are able to […]

Sunderland College staff to strike over proposed pay cuts

Staff at Sunderland College are striking over a row concerning their pay. The University and College Union (UCU) said the dispute relates to proposals to cut the salaries of more than 150 lecturers by £10,000 and downgrade 70 per cent of its teaching workforce to inferior pay grades – with staff seeing a 25 to […]

Ofsted adds to criticism of A4e

Staff at A4e are struggling to improve the way they deliver apprenticeships, according to a monitoring report published by Ofsted. The document, which details a monitoring visit carried out in April, says the training provider is making “insufficient progress” in three areas and “reasonable progress” in the remaining five. The mixed grades follow a “satisfactory” […]

Redundancies announced at the Association of Colleges

The Association of Colleges (AoC) is making redundancies as part of a cost saving and “restructuring process”. The job losses so far affect three managers, two directors and a policy coordinator. Martin Doel, chief executive of the AoC, told FE Week: “The reality is that AoC is not immune to the financial pressures faced by the […]

Short apprenticeships offer “no real benefit,” say MPs

Apprenticeships delivered in six months or less offer “no real benefit” to learners or employers, according to a report published by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Margaret Hodge MP, who chaired the panel, says she is concerned that roughly one in five apprenticeships (19 per cent) were delivered in six months or less during 2010/11. […]

SFA staff shortlisted for top job

Staff at the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) have been informed that three members of its executive team are in line to replace Geoff Russell as the chief executive. FE Week understands that the shortlisted candidates are Verity Bullough, Kim Thorneywork and Marinos Paphitis. Mr Russell announced his decision to step down in January, having informed […]

Awards ceremony launches Adult Learners’ Week 2012

TV presenter Philippa Forrester enthusiastically kicked off the ceremony. “This is a celebration. This is a party. This is to say well done. To acknowledge all of that work and the bravery,” she said. This is the 21st year of Adult Learning Week and there are around 4,000 ‘Have a Go’ events across the country. […]

Redundancies at Elmfield Training

Elmfield Training Ltd, who have been scrutinised by the BIS Select Committee for their delivery of apprenticeships with Morrisons, are starting to make redundancies. A spokesperson for Elmfield Training told FE Week: “In respect of the staff consultation, part of running a business is to make sure there are the right people in the right […]