Jess Staufenberg | FE Week

The FE Week Podcast: The great pay divide

Are staff struggling to make ends meet? Are they on unstable contracts? In the first of a new investigative series, journalist Jess Staufenberg takes a closer look at the state of pay in further education – where staff get on average £9,000 less than their colleagues in schools. Frontline lecturers, HR managers, principals, the sector’s […]

Jeff Greenidge, director for diversity, AoC

Jeff Greenidge tells Jess Staufenberg why encouraging non-racists to be more vocal about their opposition to racism is the crucial next step for the sector Just over a year ago, the first ever “director for diversity” was appointed by the Association of Colleges and the Education and Training Foundation – Jeff Greenidge. The former languages […]

Make 2022 the year FE is unchained at last

FE is the best place for adults to upskill – but it needs lobbyists in parliament, writes Andy Forbes This year, the FE sector has a real chance of moving centre stage. Why this year, you ask, after so many frustrating years of flatline funding and piecemeal initiatives? It’s a combination of things. Three things […]

Theory is being wrongly applied in classrooms

It’s easy to be blinded by the scientific theory and not think carefully about each learner, writes Jennifer Wilkinson It is no surprise that teachers, whose primary goal it is to help people learn, are fascinated with metacognition (the process that enables us to learn and even self-regulate). The very thought that we could somehow […]

Sustainability is now the ‘fourth functional skill’

Students at AELP’s first-ever green skills summit say sustainability should be learnt alongside English, maths and digital, writes Nichola Hay Last week AELP held its first-ever green skills summit. The event, sponsored by the Skills Network, was a success. But it also showed there’s still much work FE can do to help reach net zero […]

New branding isn’t enough to drive up demand for HTQs

Level 4 and 5 qualifications have historically suffered from a perception problem, writes Ian Pretty Next September, the first round of higher technical qualifications will kick off. But the overall level of demand for these qualifications needs a closer look. First off, HTQs are level 4 and 5 qualifications, such as higher national diplomas […]

The 3 top challenges to unlocking prison apprenticeships

Practical issues still remain to be worked through, writes Peter Cox “One huge benefit that apprenticeships would provide is hope, and sometimes hope is all you need to influence change.” This moving statement by former prisoner David Breakspear was submitted to the House of Commons education select committee’s inquiry into prison education. As National Apprenticeship […]

The OfS is – mostly – correct to say colleges should work closely with schools

The benefits run both ways – but the OfS should not expect colleges to drive school improvement, writes Marion Plant “Universities and colleges have a moral duty to put their shoulder to the wheel of improving that wider community they sit within, and as both educational and civic institutions, improving attainment in our schools is […]

Levelling up reforms don’t match scale of the challenge

Skills inequalities are holding back entire communities and cannot be solved on the cheap, writes Dean Hochlaf To level up the country, we need to level up skills. The much-anticipated levelling up white paper has made improving skills a core mission for the government, as it grapples with the entrenched regional inequalities which plague the […]