FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Movers and Shakers: Edition 161

Sarah Clarke has been appointed principal of Sheffield’s second University Technical College (UTC). The new £10m UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park campus will open in September and will cater for 600 students, aged 14 to 19, specialising in human sciences and computing. Ms Clarke, who starts in post in March, said: “I feel privileged to […]

Proposed foreign worker levy could net sector millions

A proposed new levy on foreign workers could net the FE sector millions a year — but businesses warned it would be “unfair and unnecessary”. Details of the proposed new levy, called the Immigration Skills Charge (ISC), were published in a report by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), a quango sponsored by the Home Office, […]

Close shave for cancer charity

A South Cheshire College learner shaved off her locks and raised more than £450 for Macmillan Cancer Support. Chelsea Palfreyman, aged 17, is now sporting short hair after deciding to go through with the fundraising stunt. It was part of Macmillan’s ‘Brave the Shave’ campaign, a fundraising effort which encourages men and women to have […]

What’s so special about apprenticeships?

Graham Taylor questions whether apprenticeships are really worth all the funding and special attention being lavished on them by the government. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against apprenticeships but I’ve nothing against the hundreds of other qualifications in the adult skills budget. ‘Other’ says it all, but it encompasses some great qualifications. The budget […]

Chief inspector should look closer to home for poor performance

Phil Hatton rebuts claims by Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw that the FE sector was “inadequate at best” and questions the consistency of the education watchdog. The chief inspector does not understand first-hand what it is like to work in a sector that is often a ‘second or third chance’ for those who have […]

Making the levy work for charities

Anjelica Finnegan looks at what needs to be considered to make the apprenticeship levy work for charities. In April 2017, all employers with a pay bill of over £3m will be required to pay the new apprenticeship levy. The government believes this will significantly increase the quantity (with an expected 3m apprenticeships by 2020) and […]

The ‘painful’ path from inadequate to good

After a visit from FE Commissioner Dr David Collins in 2014, Weymouth College went from an Ofsted rating of inadequate to good in just 11 months last year. Nigel Evans explains how the feat was achieved. Then FE Week asked me to write something on the turnaround at Weymouth College, it would be true to […]

EDITORIAL: Boles bottles it

Editor’s comment ‘I don’t know, or if I did I wouldn’t tell you’ — it’s quite a statement for Skills Minister Nick Boles to make to FE Week readers. And to be clear, our presence at this exclusive round-table had been cleared with him. So it’s disappointing to hear his refusal to give straight answers […]

Steve McCabe, Labour MP for Birmingham

As both a former FE learner and lecturer, Labour MP for Birmingham and Selly Oak Steve McCabe knows the sector intimately. Born in Thornhill maternity hospital on the West coast of Scotland in 1955, McCabe was the middle child between two sisters, Sandra and Susan. His mother was a housewife who later worked as a […]