Jess Staufenberg | FE Week

Parents of older learners will be sceptical about the SEND review

The fight for resources becomes harder the older students become – making the SEND review especially critical for this group, write Rachel Amos and Janvi Patel With a long trail of delays behind it, the government’s SEND review is billed to finally arrive this year, evaluating the support system for those students with special educational […]

It’s time to talk about intersectionality in FE

The intersection of different identities is barely mentioned or discussed in FE, writes Joyce I-Hui Chen The first time I heard the term “intersectionality” was at workshops that explore intersectionality accessibility. The term was first coined by US academic and civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 to describe how an individual’s differences, such as gender, […]

The lifelong loan entitlement doesn’t fit around the situations of learners

Minimum eligibility requirements are being applied in a generic way, writes Marius S. Ostrowski A flagship item in the government’s recent Skills and Post-16 Education Bill is the lifelong loan entitlement. This is a system of financial support that allows people to take up to four years of additional courses to retrain and upskill. But […]

FE has been highly responsive in the pandemic – now to face climate change

With the government’s final climate change strategy due next month, Tim Oates says sound policy is needed for FE to shape the green economy The global pandemic has prompted a discussion in England about schools and “the future of assessment”. But there are bigger, global questions around the future of education that we need to […]

Let’s extend the post-16 phase from two years to three

A pilot for a longer learning period after GCSEs is worth considering post-Covid, writes Joe Hallgarten When it comes to post-16 learning, it’s two that’s a crowd, not three. I’m talking about the two-year 16-to-19 phase. In reality it is about 20 months long. A couple of weeks after their GCSE results, most students are […]

Focus feature: The realities of research in FE

Despite a lack of funds and interest from above, research in FE is being kept alive by grassroots groups of lecturers and dedicated academics. Jess Staufenberg meets the movers and shakers to find out if it’s enough “There is no, as far as I know, ‘WonkFE’,” Phillip Augar said, from inside a cosy wooden lodge, […]

Derwen College, West Midlands

A multi-award winning college on the remote border with Wales has flung its doors open to the public in every possible way. Jess Staufenberg explores the grounds It would be easy to see Derwen College as a hidden-away, far-flung provider which even its own locals might forget was there. First off, it’s by far the most remote […]

We desperately need parents to control student device use at night

Parents want us to help their struggling child – but worrying habits at home are the biggest problem, writes Emma Boulton Roe We are fighting a losing battle. Another student of mine is struggling. Lethargic, desperately trying to focus and depressed. Not meeting his potential. In fact, he is far from being the best version […]

The government must act quickly if targets for electrical vehicles are to be met

We are on countdown to 2030, when no more new petrol and diesel cars will be allowed – but apprenticeships are lagging, writes Sue Pittock At the conclusion of the Commons passage of the skills bill, the government said the new “future skills” unit within the Department for Education will give schools data to show […]