Author: Expert Contributor

Skills and the apprenticeship system in England must encompass level 8, ditching the notion that apprenticeships are primarily about craft and technical level roles, says Mandy Crawford-Lee The recent “wobble” by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) on whether to support the development of level 8 apprenticeships has been welcomed by some in […]

The WorldSkills competition has been a springboard for some countries to reform and develop their skills training, writes Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann, chief executive, WorldSkills UK I have been fascinated by how other countries use skills competitions to inform the development of their skills systems ever since my first speech as chief executive of WorldSkills UK […]

The new qualifications will be ready for teaching from September 1. Some aspects have stayed the same, but you need to be aware of a few vital changes, says Ian Sugarman Reformed functional skills qualifications in English and maths will be taught from September 1. The Department for Education and Ofqual have consulted on and […]

In terms of ensuring a pipeline for T-levels and enabling more young people to access level 3 study, the T-level Transition Programme is crucial, says Catherine Sezen There has been a lot of focus on T-levels over the past 18 months: level 3, rigorous, substantial study programmes with industry placements of 45 days. However, there […]

The Coates review recommended wide-ranging changes to prison education. So how are things progressing? Not as quickly as they should, says Francesca Cooney Three years ago, the ground-breaking Coates report Unlocking Potential set out a wide-ranging agenda for reforming and improving education in our prisons. This week the Prisoner Learning Alliance, a network of organisations […]

There are practical steps we can take to get traineeships back into the limelight – where they fully deserve to be. By Ceara Roopchand One of the dangers of sector reforms is the tendency for older programmes to be left languishing, often sidelined with the hope that they will continue to function without requiring too […]

The long awaited “skills index” is too high-level to contribute to any targeted policy decisions, says Tom Richmond “The Department for Education (DfE) has not defined what success will look like for the programme, in terms of intended impact on skills levels within the economy, nor what indicators they will use to measure success.” The […]

Many apprentices are missing their end-point assessments because they have not done their 20 per cent off-the-job training. The solution is to spend time at the planning stage, says Jake Tween We are reaching a pivotal moment with the new standards. The first large cohorts of apprentices are coming to the end of their programmes […]

Policy-making conducted in a bunker is a poor way to do business, says Ewart Keep. Instead it should be shared to include all stakeholders As the pages of FE Week repeatedly demonstrate, policy finds itself in a bit of a mess. Why did we get to this point? There are a host of reasons, but […]