FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Lambeth College use partnerships to crack the employability challenge

As young people struggle to enter the labour market, colleges and other providers are doing all they can to help their students become more employable. But what if the employers won’t play ball? Furious debate continues around what triggered the summer riots and how to prevent further unrest – too often generating more heat than […]

Managing the college reputation

The one major problem with burying your head in the sand … it raises your backside in the air. This provides a perfect target for people to start kicking it – and you don’t get to see them coming. PR is always going to be a balancing act between selling your successes and dealing with […]

August riots ~ more fall out for further education colleges?

As half of the 1,700 people arrested after the August riots were under 21, colleges may find that some of their students or applicants were involved. Can colleges take action regarding misconduct occurring outside their premises? Should they do so? Can you take action? Colleges can “police their own gates” and take action under their […]

DfE denies FoI from AoC

The Department for Education (DfE) has declined a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Association of Colleges (AoC). The AoC asked to see the list of applications to set up free schools for 16-19 year-olds next September, but the DfE has refused to disclose details.

Let’s talk about sex

Young people are full of contradictions. Confident, yet uncertain. Outgoing, but easily embarrassed . Streetwise, yet naïve. Talk to them about S E X and all their contradictions all roll into one. At a time when UK teenage pregnancy rates are the highest in Europe – in England alone 90,000 girls and young women under […]

Not a happy holiday

Employees at Darlington College are being asked to take eight days of unpaid leave in a bid to save money. As reported in The Northern Echo, the college has published a consultation that would force over 500 workers to take holiday without pay. The proposal is in reaction to a contract which the college lost […]

Dan Taubman, senior national education official, University and Colleges Union

The best career decision Dan Taubman ever made, was “not becoming a principal.” When the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was abolished, where he had worked in adult education for more than 15 years, going into college management seemed like a natural progression. But he was “lucky,” landing the job of union official for further […]

Vandals confuse new college for mosque

Bournville College was vandalised several times last week after youths mistook one of the buildings for a mosque (as reported in the Birmingham Mail). The golden conference centre in Birmingham, which opened this month as part of a £1 billion regeneration of the area, has had windows smashed and panels ripped off on numerous occasions.

BBC Radio 4 Apprentice programme sparks debate

A BBC Radio 4 programme has sparked concerns about the delivery of retail apprenticeships for learners already employed. The show, headlined ‘The apprentices’ and broadcast as part of the ‘In Business’ programme last Thursday (repeated on Sunday), spoke to a number of figures in the further education (FE) sector about the issues surrounding retail apprenticeships. […]