FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Institute for Learning question £6k ITT qualifcation

Questions have been raised over the further education (FE) sector’s ability to attract experts into teaching in the face of proposed government reforms. The Institute for Learning (IfL) has expressed concerns about proposed teacher training reforms and the implications of funding changes for initial teacher training (ITT). In responses to two government consultations – Attracting, […]

NCFE in partnership with Reed

An innovative collaboration between an employment and skills provider and a national awarding body will be unveiled this week. NCFE and Reed in Partnership say that the partnership will have a profound impact on how colleges support students from learning into the workplace. It is due to be officially revealed at this week’s Association of […]

Will ‘change’ be the buzz word at AoC conference?

November is always a busy month for the FE world, not least because the sector’s AoC Annual Conference thrusts FE policy into the spotlight. This year looks like being no different with the Chancellor’s Autumn Financial Statement, details on the education and skills component of the Growth Plan, an updated Skills Investment Strategy, a participation […]

Provider owner also set-up awarding body

The owner of one of the UK’s largest and “fastest growing” vocational training providers has also created his own awarding body. Gerard Syddall is a company director and 95 per cent shareholder of Elmfield Training Ltd. As reported by FE Week in June and more recently in the TES magazine, Elmfield Training took more than […]

Peter Lauener, CEO, Young People’s Learning Agency

Numbers have always been Peter Lauener’s thing. His first job, at the age of 13, was checking calculations on pension funds for his father, who was an actuary. “We (Lauener and his brother) were paid two and six an hour which was big money in those days, so we’d happily spend three hours in an […]

FE charity in administration ~ FE Week investigates

Learning and Skills Network (LSN) placed in administration after turnover dips by £29 million in two years and pension liability leaves an £8 million hole – but it is ‘business as usual’ for staff as buyers are sought. Struggling for income and with a crippling multi-million pension liability, a charity with more than 25 years […]

Government gives go ahead to FE college merger

The merger of two further education (FE) colleges has been given the go-ahead. Stroud College and Filton College will, from February 1 next year, be legally known as South Gloucestershire and Stroud College after the proposed merger was agreed today by John Hayes MP, secretary of state for further education, skills and lifelong learning. Both […]

Establish an FE newspaper? Where did that come from?!?

FE Week has been a remarkable journey for me, personally. I am all too aware that some college principals are confused about my intentions, and wonder where Nick ‘Meddling’ Linford will pop-up next. Now feels the right time to explain more about me and what FE Week is all about. I had wanted to set […]

Delivery of FE to radically change by 2020, says new report

A report predicts that most further education (FE) establishments will need to radically change the way they deliver course content to keep up with future of technology. The report, commissioned by Access UK, who supply HR software to the FE sector, predicts a rise in connectivity as technology becomes available across all platforms and devices, […]