FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Golfer Lewis jets off for US scholarship thanks to college coaching

Lewis George is heading across the pond to tee up a golf scholarship in the USA after successfully completing a sports course at South Cheshire College. The 18-year-old jetted off to the University of Central Arkansas last month to study kinesiology and drive forward his golfing talent at the same time.Lewis completed a sport development and […]

Five things area reviews should bear in mind

The government has been crystal clear about the need for structural reforms (spending less on FE, curriculum rationalisation, higher and technical specialisation and financial sustainability) and their desired outcome is fewer and more financially sustainable institutions [read: colleges]. The status quo is not an option. Rather than take you through the pages and pages of […]

Ensuring a productive second chance

Dr Sue Pember’s vast senior civil service experience has been serving Holex and its adult and community learning provider members for around a month now. She outlines her hopes and fears for the sector. Adult education is an area to which I am personally committed and believe that for many participants it is their lifeline […]

John Woodcock, shadow minister for young people

John Woodcock has spent a lot of his time since being appointed Shadow Minister for Young People following May’s General Election telling the FE and skills sector that he’s in “listening mode”. But in the four months the MP for Barrow and Furness has been in post, just what has he heard? “There is a […]

College sector sees ‘unique’ step of registering as Trailblazer assessor

Leicester College has branched out from simply delivering apprenticeships in a college sector first by taking the “unique” step of registering with the Skills Funding Agency as a Trailblazer apprenticeship assessor. Leicester, which taught around 2,400 apprentices last academic year, can provide end-point assessment for level two property maintenance operative apprenticeships, developed by the property services […]

Lep boss tight-lipped on merger reviews funding issue

Council and business leaders have remained tight-lipped over financial support for college mergers as the FE sector continues to wait for guidance on proposed post-16 area reviews. Guidance on the reviews, which were announced in July, was due to be published last month, but at the time of going to press had only been seen […]

Post-GCSE maths quals rolled out

Pilot qualifications in post-GCSE maths that were launched late last year have been fully rolled out by the Department for Education. The qual, designed for use in the tech bacc, will be available to students who have already achieved a C or above in their maths GCSE, and is more practical in nature than the AS-level despite […]

SFA contract joy as safeguarding ‘glitches’ disappear

An independent learning provider that faced losing its Skills Funding Agency (SFA) contract after an Ofsted inadequate rating over safeguarding fears four months ago has managed to hold onto its public funding deal following a good Ofsted judgment. Leicester-based firm Qdos was given three months’ notice that its SFA contract would be torn up after […]

New uni system in place for HE in FE learners

General FE colleges are hoping fears they could be overwhelmed with higher education gripes prove unfounded as they start the new academic year subject for the first time to the same complaints scrutiny procedure as universities. An FE Week report in February revealed that complaints from students at FE colleges on higher education courses would […]