FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Dearne Valley College open new ‘Job Zone’

The new Job Zone initiative at Dearne Valley College has been officially opened by local MP John Healey. The service has been created in conjunction with Job Centre Plus and will help students find out about progression opportunities, part-time work and Apprenticeships. The MP for Wentworth and the Dearne Valley said: “Compared to the rest […]

Jan Hodges, CEO, the Edge Foundation

The chief executive for the Edge Foundation talks to FE Week. If her parents had got their way, Jan Hodges might have gone into banking. While they valued education and were ambitious for their children, having left school at 15 and had “basic manual jobs” for most of their working lives, they were keen for […]

Ufi charitable trust to be ‘catalyst’ for technology

Ufi charitable trust is to use the £50 million it made from the sell off of Learn Direct to pump prime “innovation for scale” in the FE and Adult Learning sectors. Ufi, the “big idea” of Gordon Brown, which he hoped would match Harold Wilson’s Open University idea, was finally broken up last year when […]

Government must work harder to protect the apprenticeship brand

The NAO report reemphasises the criticisms we have made for many months over the Government’s handling of Adult Apprenticeships. The committee shared our concerns that nearly 1 in 5 Adult Apprenticeships lasted less than six months, which we pressed the Government on for months, backed up by the investigative work of FE Week that put […]

Poor information on vocational courses given to students

A third of pupils have never been presented with the option of taking up a vocational course, according to research published ahead of Vocational Qualification Day. The independent education foundation Edge surveyed 500 A Level students and found that 77 per cent were even discouraged from pursuing a vocational path. Almost a quarter thought their school […]

Ufi launches chartiable trust

Ufi has launched a charitable trust to help solve the UK’s “chronic skills deficit” and high levels of unemployment. The charity, launched in London this morning, will fund initiatives which improve the accessibility and delivery of adult learning through technology. The Ufi Charitable Trust has been created through the sale of learndirect and says it will aim […]

Hats off to Kensington and Chelsea College

Kensington and Chelsea College’s award winning millinery department is celebrating a string of successes as its student designs continue to dominate the London fashion scene. Fenwick – one the of the UK’s top department stores – has sought out hats designed by the college’s millinery students to sell in store. Miss Finch said: “I think […]

Royals visit Newham College fashion show

The Queen was treated to an exhibition of designs by students from Newham College’s fashion and tailoring department. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip inspected garments at the Fashion and Textile Museum during her Diamond Jubilee tour in Bromley. Banuja Selvarajah and Jonathan Allen (right) both had the opportunity to speak to the royal party. Banuja […]

UKCES survey highlights ‘skills potholes’ in the UK

More than two in five businesses operating in the UK do not provide training opportunities for their staff, according to research by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES). The survey, one of the largest ever undertaken in the world, also found that less than half of people in semi-skilled roles had received training […]