Author: Expert Contributor

What is the purpose of FE & Skills Providers? Local economic improvement? The national economy? Supporting local businesses? Guaranteeing gainful employment? Delivering social mobility? All of the above? No organisation, and no sector, would attempt wholesale strategic change without understanding where it has been, but most importantly, where it is going. Further Education and Skills […]

Writing his first opinion piece as the new apprenticeships and skills minister, Robert Halfon sets out his case for “boosting social justice, economic productivity, and our country’s skills base”. My passion for apprenticeships and skills started before I was even elected, when I went to visit a charity in my constituency who were helping young […]

After this morning’s apprenticeship levy update from the Department for Education – which FE Week was the first to report on – the CBI was quick to reiterate its call for the levy to be delayed. Here Neil Carberry explains why a levy that puts quality and system design first can only be achieved by […]

There was much to welcome in the Sainsbury Review proposals for technical education, according to Graham Hasting-Evans, but he thinks the idea of licensing a single awarding organisation for each of the 15 new “high quality” vocational routes is a poor one. Here’s why: The fact the UK does not perform well in the world […]

Paul Noblet from Centrepoint, which recently carried out research into how traineeships are being implemented, argues that it is a good thing that traineeships aren’t just geared at helping to boost apprenticeship starts. The government’s ambitious plans for creating three million apprenticeships must not lead training providers into the trap of chasing outputs rather than […]

Wirral Metropolitan College is the only college to have had its traineeships rated in a headline field under the new Ofsted common inspection framework, and received a “good”. Its director for traineeships, Di Fitch, explains what makes a good traineeship programme Wirral Metropolitan College was keen to take up the opportunity to provide traineeships when […]

Traineeships are useful, but pre-apprenticeships could be a better fit suggests Catherine Sezen. The benefit of a traineeship is that it gives an opportunity for the young person and their employer to gain experience of each other through a short-term agreement rather than a permanent job. The student gains work skills and the employer has […]

Phil Hatton calls for greater consistency with how Ofsted inspection teams report on the implementation of the anti-terrorism Prevent duty. Ofsted’s eagerly awaited report into how the Prevent duty is being implemented across FE was published this week. The intent come September is clear, that the inspectorate should “raise further its expectations of providers to […]