FE Week Reporter | FE Week

FE reaches the parts others can’t reach!

Could a revolution in the promotion of FE be brewing? Graham Morley looks at how colleges could learn a lager lesson or two. Anyone who visited the Skills Show 2012 at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre in November could not help but be impressed by the spectacle of thousands of young people ‘having-a-go,’ they also competed […]

Michael Davis, CEO, UK Commission for Employment and Skills

The phrase “experiential learner” is one that Michael Davis drops into conversation just as the interview draws to a close. The reference, coming amid discussion of his management style, had been preceded by a notebook scribble that read: “Loads of learning experiences.” The striking thing about this was not the interviewer’s perceptive (if somewhat simplistic) […]

A framework for Ofsted success

The fear an Ofsted inspection can strike into the hearts of principals is well-known in FE. But could that be changing under the new way of assessing colleges? Stuart Rimmer explains his experience of the revamped inspection framework and the improvements he sees within it. “They are coming” — it was a simple statement from […]

What it means to offer a true apprenticeship

We need to send out a clear message about apprenticeships — don’t dumb down the brand, says Graham Hasting-Evans. An independent review of apprenticeships published in November called on the government to improve their quality and make them more focused on bosses’ needs. Its author, Doug Richard, entrepreneur, educator, former Dragon’s Den star and founder […]

Clawback ‘possible’ on £91m overpayment

Providers who shared in a £91m Skills Funding Agency overpayment could yet be asked to hand back some of the cash while current allocations could also be reduced, FE Week can reveal. The agency published details this month of providers who received funding for education in the 2011/12 academic year that they had not delivered. […]

Inspection ‘delight’

The principal of an FE provider said she led her centre to an outstanding Ofsted inspection result by focusing on teaching and learning. Maria Gilling, 52, principal at Walsall Adult and Community College (WACC) (pictured right), said she was “delighted and really proud” of her staff for achieving grade 1 — outstanding — in 23 […]

Let’s make the FE Guild representative

As the FE Guild goes through its early stages of formulation Robin Landman OBE considers an opportunity for the group to create a representative FE workforce. As we approach the beginning of the brief consultation period for the proposed FE Guild we need to give some serious collective thought to what this new FE formation […]

Providers ‘anxious’ over growth cash

Training providers said they could be left thousands of pounds “out-of-pocket” after the government unexpectedly doubled functional skills rates. The Association of Employment Learning and Providers (AELP) is currently in talks with the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) about the impact English and maths rates more than doubling has had upon growth requests from providers to […]

Audit exposes ‘£40m’ ESF error

European funding could be at risk after a government audit uncovered “potentially” £40m-worth of errors over money dished out by the Skills Funding Agency, FE Week understands. The situation was described as “significant and potentially damaging” to the reputation of the UK government and the agency, according to correspondence leaked to FE Week. Errors were […]