FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Vocational skills celebrated on VQ Day

This year’s VQ Day was a chance to celebrate technical, practical and vocational learning. But it was also a chance day for business secretary Vince Cable to remember the difference that further education made to his parents’ lives. “My mother and father both left school at 15 to work in factories and they progressed in […]

Havering College students shine at showcase

Graduating students from Havering College have showcased an amazing diversity of talent at this year’s Free Range exhibition in London’s Brick Lane. The show at the Old Truman Brewery provides a platform where emerging artists and designers from colleges and universities can gain exposure to thousands of visitors. Lucy Dodds, a graphic design student, was […]

Skills provision for the unemployed

Skills provision for unemployed adults has never been more important. Skills allow people to escape the low pay, no pay cycle in which those with low skills can all too often find themselves trapped. They also allow them to work in a new occupation if poor health or changing economic demand means that they cannot […]

Sweet taste of victory for squad UK

Forget the Olympics, this summer’s top event is learners, apprentices and employees competing for a place in Squad UK for WorldSkills Leipzig 2013. WorldSkills, the biggest international skills competition, is held every two years in one of 61 member countries. About 1,000 young people aged 18 to 23 compete for medals in more than 40 […]

Sara Mogel, principal, West Cheshire College

“I did it for all the wrong reasons,” says Sara Mogel of her decision to go into education. After a degree in economic and social history at Kent University, she did a teacher training course in the mid 1970s, purely because it came with a full grant, and having just married an American who didn’t […]

New apprenticeships are flying high

When Vince Cable and John Hayes announced the second list of successful higher apprenticeship bids last week, everyone should have taken note and appreciated the real transformation that is taking place. It is not simply the growing list of occupations likely to attract the attention of young people and their parents. It is also the […]

Staff and students lobby MPs over FE loans scheme

Staff and students are campaigning against the introduction of FE loans today. Protestors have written to the skills minister John Hayes asking for “urgent clarification” on whether the scheme will result in fewer places at FE colleges and independent training providers. They will also be lobbying MPs in their local constituency. Toni Pearce, vice president for […]

Chesterfield College promotes equality through learner voice

Chesterfield College had led a national conference on how to promote equality through the learner voice. The event, organised with the help of LSIS, Doncaster GTA and Pinnacle Training Solutions, was a chance for professionals to learn and share equality best practice. Steve Kelly, director of learner experience at Chesterfield College said: “Promoting equality is […]

Government considering apprenticeships at level 6 and 7

The government says they are “looking” at introducing apprenticeships at level 6 and 7. A source from Number 10 said the new levels would widen access routes into specific trades such as construction, advanced engineering and financial services. “Economic flexibility and social progress depends on there being a choice of excellent academic courses and strong […]