FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Learners get a bird’s eye view

MidKent College students got involved with wing clipping, hoof trimming and ear tagging when they went behind the scenes at a farm park. Animal management students also learned how to herd and vaccinate sheep, and muck out cattle at Farming World near Faversham, which is closed to the public during its off-season. Jessica Randall, 18, […]

Ploughing on, despite the weather

West Country farm mechanisation students dug deep when they completed a 24-hour ploughing marathon in challenging weather conditions. The 14 first-year students from Wiltshire College worked in shifts throughout the day and night to plough 184 acres and raise funds for Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Cancer Research UK. Agricultural engineering trainer Fred Gwinnett, who helped […]

UTCs: just what the local employers ordered

The Government might say it supports university technical colleges, but it needs to take heed of criticisms of its planned curriculum reform and removal of many vocational qualifications from school league tables, says Charles Parker Ask 14–year–olds what they think about having a longer school day and fewer school holidays and their answer is likely […]

Why I’m one of the lucky ones

Careers advisers too often ignore apprenticeships in professions such as accountancy and try to convince students that university is the only answer, says Alison Ryder Let’s be honest, most teenagers don’t think too much about their future while they’re at school. It wouldn’t surprise me if half of them pursue a career simply because their […]

Derwen College students sell it to the judges

Specialist colleges have launched their own national skills contest with two Shropshire students taking top prize in the national finals of the ‘Display your wares’ retail competition. Derwen College retail students Robin Ferguson, 22, and Emily Gray, 21, impressed industry experts from The White Room, The Co-operative Food and Selfridges with their flair at the […]

Advertorial: NOCN partnership to develop training

Apprenticeships will help to fill the gap created as workers with civil engineering skills retire, writes Graham Hasting-Evans Traditionally formal apprenticeships have by-passed civil engineering — until now. But all that is changing as the construction industry faces up to a ticking time bomb caused by a skills shortage and an aging workforce. Make no […]

John Bolt, former teacher and funding guru

It’s not an easy job getting audiences to master complex financial concepts. And you don’t normally expect to cross wit with funding systems. But as John Bolt hangs up his calculator and settles into retirement, the FE funding guru reflects on a career that he believes worked best laced with humour. “They liked the jokes,” […]

Ofsted success leads to government support call

The government has been urged to do more to promote sixth-form colleges after the sector’s second outstanding grade under Ofsted’s tough new inspection regime. Rochdale Sixth Form College, which has around 1,000 students, got grade one rankings across the education watchdog’s headline fields following its first inspection. “Teaching is energetic and often inspirational, and builds […]

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