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23 April 2026

Future shock?

The 157 Group will next week publish the results of a project in which aspiring FE leaders across the sector envisage what the sector might look like in 2020, as Christine Doubleday explains It seems that everyone has something to say about further education. We must get unemployed people into work; we must repair the […]

Stepping up to the challenge

Only one company can claim to have the official apprentice team of the year, but the benefits of the Brathay Apprentice Challenge go far beyond awarding a title, writes David Way In just two years, the Brathay Apprentice Challenge has become one of the highlights of the apprenticeships, calendar. This year, plastics manufacturing firm Innovia […]

Why I want to be an FE principal

Succession planning is a key leadership challenge. So perhaps it’s time that the sector looked beyond senior management and encouraged middle management and lecturers, says Nikki Gilbey I am 27 and I want to be the principal of an FE college. I know that this is a long-term goal, as I am at the start […]

Keeping up the good work

Now that Learning and Skills Improvement Service funding has ended, the Education Training Foundation must continue to support the Black Leadership Initiative, says chief executive Rajinder Mann. Since 2002 the Network for Black Professionals’ (NBP) Black Leadership Initiative (BLI) has worked in FE to address the under-representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff, […]

Careers advice is an investment for life

A changing labour market makes the National Careers Service vital for both young people and adults in middle life, says David Hughes An Aspirational Nation, the first report from the National Careers Council, comes at an opportune time. On the one hand, the Commons Education Select Committee has captured a cross-party consensus that careers education […]

Making sense of the T word

The T word may strike fear into some work-based learning providers, but help is at hand to make sense of technology and to find out how it has benefited others, Stan Unwin Provision of work-based learning (WBL) has some way to go in making the most of what advantages the (appropriate) use of technology can […]

Event proves a piece of cake

More than 500 delegates attended the 11th national conference of the Association for Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), described as a “terrific” two days by outgoing chief executive Graham Hoyle. The event in London was chaired by Chris Humphries CBE, the chairman of National Numeracy and the founding chief executive of the UK Commission for […]

Nic Dakin, MP for Scunthorpe

It’s not easy to lead 2,500 students and 250 staff, head up hundreds of local authority staff or train to be an accountant. Yet Nic Dakin has done all three. The 57-year-old has also taught English for 30 years, spent four years as principal at John Leggott College in Scunthorpe and was North Lincolnshire council […]

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