FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Makeover for Crewe primary school

A team of enterprising learners in Cheshire have given a former primary school a new lease of life as a community facility. The eight foundation degree public and community service students from South Cheshire College, who called themselves ‘Decor8’, raised hundreds of pounds through raffles, tombolas and a community fundraising wall in a local supermarket […]

Lesson one: watch young adults on their smartphones

Technology offers learners different methods for coming to the same outcome. But no one is saying that it’s easy to find the right formula, says Carolyn Lewis What encourages trainers to use technology to support learning and assessment? It could be the number of statistics that are published on technology use, such as how many […]

Warwickshire’s shooters are on target

A group of newcomers to clay shooting started their competitive days with a bang when they won top prize at a schools’ challenge in Buckinghamshire. The first ladies’ team from Warwickshire College to enter the competition beat its nearest rivals by a full 10 clays. Paige Neale, Aimee Misters, Lottie Horrabin, Tori Frogley and captain […]

Middlesbrough recruits 50 new staff

A ‘courageous’ Teeside college is braving economic storms to recruit more staff and invest heavily in new buildings. Eleanor Radford finds out why A Teeside college principal admits that he’s taking a risk recruiting 50 new staff and pioneering a £20m investment. But Mike Hopkins, principal at Middlesbrough College, is “clear” student numbers will continue […]

Vision for adult learning across the EU

After a cautious start, David Hughes now has bags of enthusiasm for the European Agenda for Adult Learning. He explains why We were cautious when the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) was invited to act as the UK co-ordinator for the European Agenda for Adult Learning. Many years involved in administering and applying […]

Making it personal

The increased freedoms and flexibilities that study programmes will allow are to be welcomed, says Dean O’Donoghue. But how they will be judged by Ofsted? From September all post-16 providers will introduce 16 to 19 study programmes, coinciding with the raising of the participation age (RPA) and a revised funding methodology. The overall move to […]

A source of challenge to sound leadership

Good governance is about far more than a checklist: it is about supporting and developing an institution to enhance opportunity and success, says Dr Paul Phillips I have to hand it to chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw. He is a man on a mission, turning his attention to governance. At face value, he seems to […]

Deirdre Hughes, chair, National Careers Council

It’s the mid-1970s. You’re a pupil in Northern Ireland, at the height of the Troubles, nervous about the careers advice you’re about to receive. You’re told there simply are no jobs . . . anywhere. “There was high unemployment and, I don’t think I’m exaggerating, Northern Ireland was like a war zone,” says Deirdre Hughes, […]

Response to careers guidance ‘disappoints’

The Association of Colleges is “disappointed” by the government’s response to the education select committee’s report on careers advice in schools. The report, published last Monday, concluded that the quality of advice had deteriorated since schools took over provision from local authorities and Connexions last September, a move it called “regrettable”. In its response, the […]