FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Sector facing ‘significant impact’ as swamped SFA delays qualifications announcement

Awarding organisations (AO) have warned about the “significant impact” of a delay in finding out whether hundreds of qualifications will be publicly-funded next academic year. The SFA has split the process of notifying the sector about which qualifications will be exempted from the public funding axe due to a “high volume of submissions” from AOs […]

Chef Sargeant shows how it’s done

Trainee chefs at Newcastle College were treated to a masterclass and the opportunity to cook with Michelin-starred chef Mark Sargeant. The former National Chef of the Year, who worked alongside Gordon Ramsay for 16 years and has appeared on television shows including Hell’s Kitchen, Saturday Kitchen and The F Word, visited the college to cook […]

Look out for warning signs of financial trouble, FE Commissioner urges college boards

College governors should be on the look out for warning signs of financial trouble or performance problems, FE Commissioner Dr David Collins has said. Dr Collins (pictured below right) has written to all boards, principals and chief executives with a list of potential early warning signs within an FE institution, and said the signs had been […]

Public service learners ‘rescue’ tutor

Public service learners at Warrington Collegiate learned valuable search and rescue skills from the Cheshire Search and Rescue (CSAR) team. The team of volunteers, on call 24 hours a-day, 365 days a-year, held the seminar and training session which ended with the students ‘rescuing’ their tutor. Conducted by two CSAR volunteers, deputy team leader Rick […]

Power of the student-spoken word

The power of the spoken word was the theme of a Croydon College conference that saw learners who struggle with English address a 100-strong audience. Fifteen learners on an English for Speakers of Other Languages (Esol) curriculum put in extra study to develop their listening and speaking skills and to speak at the Power of […]

NCFE and LifeSkills get Sunday Times Top 100 recognition

An awarding organisation and training company are celebrating after being recognised among the best places to work according to prestigious lists compiled by The Sunday Times. Newcastle-based NCFE was ranked 70th on The Sunday Times top 100 charities to work for, while Basildon-based independent learning provider LifeSkills features at number 94 in the paper’s list […]

Ofqual launches consultation on life after QCF

Ofqual is asking for views on its plans to replace the Qualifications Credit Framework (QCF), which is due to be scrapped. The qualifications watchdog launched a three-month 19-question consultation today on the successor to the QCF, which it says it wants to be “simple and descriptive”. It is proposing that all regulated qualifications should be described by a […]

ETF English and maths review finds Functional Skills ‘not broken’

The system of Functional Skills qualifications is “not broken, but could be improved,” according to the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) review of non-GCSE English and maths, out today. The review, launched in January and led by former Jersey principal Professor Ed Sallis, was tasked with examining the perception and value of non-GCSE English and […]

Government cuts could ‘decimate’ adult education by 2020, AoC warns

Continued cuts to the adult skills budget risk wiping out adult education and training in England within five years, the Association of Colleges (AoC) has warned after research showed 190,000 course places could be lost in 2015/16 alone. The AoC has published research based on data from its 336 member colleges which points to a […]