Author: FE Week Reporter

If you relied on mainstream press and broadcasting media, you’d be forgiven for thinking that apprenticeships were something from the past, says Professor John Field What a mess we’ve made of apprentice- ships. The Select Committee on Business, Industry and Skills found that a sizeable minority of apprentices receive no training whatsoever; the system is […]

Eleven months down the line and plenty to be done on apprenticeships, says the chair of the BIS Committee, Adrian Bailey  It is fair to say that the past few years have been turbulent for everyone, especially businesses, employees and young people. It is perhaps timely, then, that in the month when some green shoots […]

Careers guidance should be boosting apprenticeships, says shadow minister Gordon Marsden  The BIS Select Committee has provided a detailed and disturbing commentary of this government’s handling of apprenticeships and highlighted a number of persistent shortcomings. The committee came down hard on the government for lacking a coherent over-arching strategy for apprenticeships as well as highlighting […]

If colleges want to improve, the leadership team must be honest and open about its weaknesses says Matthew Coffey.  Ofsted’s How Colleges Improve report, published in September, was commissioned by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service to highlight how colleges can build on best practice and ensure the education they are providing is at least […]