Fraser Whieldon | FE Week

How adult education added colossal ‘social return’ during lockdown

All over the country, ACL tutors didn’t just provide new online courses – they kept an eye on the vulnerable during the Covid lockdown, writes Anna Mimms Adult and Community Learning (ACL) changes lives. The Covid-19 crisis has seen ACL at its most responsive. We created online offers so fast that we surprised ourselves. In […]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 324

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Dan Lodge, Principal, The College of Richard Collyer Start date: September 2020 Previous job: Vice Principal (Quality & Curriculum), The College of Richard Collyer Interesting fact: His early working career started out in tourism in the Maldives, but now he’s happy to call West Sussex his […]

The training programme that stokes up the ‘engine room of FE colleges’

The middle tier of managers have become more and more pivotal as roles within FE senior leadership change. But there is “a price to pay” if colleges do not prepare staff for the job, according to the FE sector’s workforce development organisation. The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) spoke up for the leaders it calls […]

DfE to fund summer meals for vulnerable college students – but at a lower rate than schools

The government has announced it will provide extra funding for disadvantaged college students to receive free meals over the summer – but they will be given 60p less per day than school pupils. The Department for Education (DfE) this morning published details on how FE providers can continue to provide free meals over the 2020 […]

HS2 college at risk of insolvency seeks partner

The national college for HS2 is on the hunt for a provider to partner with following a grade four Ofsted report and warnings from the FE Commissioner it was facing “potential insolvency”. The National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure (NCATI) told FE Week it was “working through a shortlisting process for a new partner” […]

Locked-up and locked-down: how prison education has fared during Covid-19

FE Week takes a look at how prison education has adapted after face-to-face teaching was suspended following the Covid-19 outbreak Formal prison education was largely suspended almost four months ago as part of a wider national jail lockdown to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) advised the Justice […]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 323

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Baroness Nicky Morgan, Board Member, Careers and Enterprise Company Start date: July 2020 Previous job: Education secretary Interesting fact: Nicky was the first woman ever to chair the influential House of Commons Treasury select committee when elected in 2017 Glenys Pashley-Crawford, Governor, Blackburn College Start date: […]

Ofsted watch: Colleges see top results from last drop of Ofsted reports until 2021

General FE colleges received a string of positive results, including a grade one, in June from the last drop of Ofsted reports before inspections resume in 2021. However, the watchdog doled out a number of negative results to other providers, which included pushing two providers from grade two to grade four. Seventeen reports were published […]

Why we must avoid the ‘one size fits all’ approach to FE

Covid-19 has changed the way colleges work – and so will the upcoming FE white paper, writes Ian Pretty The past few months have been game-changing with colleges forced to modify almost everything they do in the wake of Covid-19. But more change appears to be on the horizon in the form of a new […]