FE Week Reporter | FE Week

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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Funding rethink

For Michael Davis, the Richard Review got it just about right In politics, consensus is a rare thing. And consensus on something that actually matters is even rarer. That’s why apprenticeships, with their broad cross-party support, are a cherished area of relative stability in the turbulent waters of FE and skills. For the Prime Minister, […]

The AELP wishlist for the election

Having long called for a pre-apprenticeship programme, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers can claim a victory in the government’s new traineeship scheme but, says Martin Dunford, there is much still to do We may be two years away from a general election, but the political manoeuvring has already started. Labour and the Liberal […]

The apprentice voice

Learning providers know full well the value of their provision and so too does 19-year-old apprentice James Davies As an apprentice currently working with HIT Training, I’m lucky to have first-hand experience of working with a provider and would absolutely recommend the apprenticeship route as a credible, viable alternative to anyone who may feel that […]