FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Conservatives call on employers to take on more apprentices

Apprenticeships, apprenticeships, apprenticeships. The vocational qualification was at the forefront of speeches made during the Conservative Party conference in Manchester last week. The Prime Minister David Cameron called on large businesses to take on more apprentices during his speech on Wednesday. “When a balanced economy needs workers with skills, we need to end the old […]

FE Week reporter ‘Has a Go’ at WorldSkills London 2011

FE Week News Reporter Nick Summers gets into the spirit of WorldSkills London 2011 by ‘having a go’ at the trade skills on offer WorldSkills has been cleverly dubbed the ‘skills Olympics’ – but to think of it merely as a tournament would be short-sighted. The aim of the event is not only to inspire […]

NUS launches ‘Fair Necessities’ campaign at FEstival

It was a feast of further education (FE) as hundreds of youngsters flocked to Birmingham to launch a series of student-led campaigns for this academic year. On Monday, more than 200 FE student representatives attended the single largest National Union of Students’ (NUS) FE specific event, FEstival. It brought together Student Officers from Students’ Unions […]

Department for Education launch 16-19 Funding Formula Review

The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove has launched a consultation to reform and simplify the ‘16-19 funding formula’, for implemtation in 2013/14. The announcement, published by the Department for Education (DfE) last Thursday, states: “Proposals in the consultation include moving away from the current complex system of funding on the basis of ‘payment […]

An inconvenient truth

In August of this year the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a report of an enquiry into value for money in the education of those aged 16-18. It followed an investigation by the National Audit Office on the same subject but the committee itself took additional evidence from a number of expert witnesses. Sadly the […]

UCT sells Ufi Limited to Lloyds TSB Development Capital (LDC)

The Ufi Charitable Trust (UCT) has sold part of its business to Lloyds TSB Development Capital (LDC) for £40 million. Ufi Limited, which is known for its management of the Learndirect brand, was sold to the private equity house on Wednesday. Sarah Jones, Chief Executive of Learndirect, said: “The change in ownership will allow us […]

Talks to address apprenticeship concerns

Apprenticeship providers plan conference as criticism mounts over numerous “worthless” delivery models Training providers have called for talks on issues surrounding apprenticeships in the wake of heavy criticism. A conference led by providers is being arranged for early next year to discuss concerns such as short apprenticeships. It comes following numerous reports by FE Week […]

Exclusive World Skills Poster ~ support Team UK

DOWNLOAD, PRINT OUT AND PUT UP OUR ‘SUPPORT TEAM UK’ POSTER: CLICK HERE (8mb) The world’s biggest competition for young people with vocational skills is set to launch in London today. WorldSkills 2011, dubbed by many as the ‘skills Olympics’, will pit Team UK against some of the toughest and most skilled countries on the […]

WorldSkills London 2011: The people who make it happen

It takes a lot of people to run the globe’s largest skills competition – but WorldSkills London 2011 will not be in short supply of help. For this week’s event, held at ExCel London and dubbed the skills Olympics, around 2,500 volunteers have been recruited to ensure everything goes off without a hitch. From greeting […]