Expert Contributor | FE Week

It’s time for a national adult learning strategy

Compulsory under 19 education alone cannot address the UK’s growing skills shortages; we must take the opportunity to work with government to develop a national lifelong learning strategy, says Ruth Spellman. In an interview last week, skills and apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon reassured us that “lifelong learning is firmly back on the government’s agenda”. The […]

How will the NHS spend its apprenticeship levy?

The NHS will build strong partnerships with colleges and training providers, as long as they are honest about their capacity, says Lucy Hunte. With the imminent introduction of a public sector target which will require all public sector organisations to have 2.3 per cent of their workforce on apprenticeships, the NHS will have an estimated […]

Institute for Apprenticeships silent on learning difficulties and disabilities

The Institute for Apprenticeships has been silent on learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, and that’s simply not good enough, says David Harbourne When I was still at school, I helped a partially-sighted boy practise reading. Both of us had ambitions, but he faced more challenges than I did. It was a lesson I never forgot. […]

Technical Education Panels: Why pay for advice that is already free?

For two years, employers have been working hard on the new technical education panels – the government’s offer to pay professionals to do the same undervalues their contribution, says Iain Mackinnon. This is all very odd. The Department for Education wants to waste our money paying for expertise it could get free of charge. In […]

Training provision must adapt to demand

The skills sector needs an effective market strategy that drives employer investment and supports providers to deliver high quality at scale, says Pippa Morgan. This week saw the launch of the government’s industrial strategy – and it was great to see skills feature so highly in it. For businesses, a stable, long-term strategy designed to […]

Industrial strategy? FE needs proper funding

Government’s ‘new industrial strategy’ is another grandiose vision that lacks funding and changes nothing in practice, says Sally Hunt. When it comes to government policy on further education, things move at a fast and furious rate. Initiatives arrive like buses, a few at a time, and usually revolve around fixing the mess the last lot […]

Ofsted reports require improvement

Quality checking of Ofsted reports is not robust – they are far too variable in both form and content, says former Ofsted HMI Phil Hatton. Last week’s FE Week story about Ofsted backtracking on its report into Yeovil College exemplifies the way it does not pay enough attention, post-inspection, to ensuring that reports read well […]

The Institute for Apprenticeships is a shambles

The government’s handling of the Institute for Apprenticeships has descended into complete shambles. Even though it will be charged with implementing a flagship policy, it has yet to advertise for a permanent chief and deputy chief executive, and we now have less than three months before it goes live. The muddle has been there from […]

How we challenged an Ofsted report and won

Sometimes it’s worth challenging an Ofsted report, says John Evans. One of the many dilemmas that principals must struggle with is when to appeal against an Ofsted decision. You have to balance the emotional response to the feelings of being unfairly treated with the knowledge that Ofsted seldom admits to being wrong. My college was […]