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26 April 2026

Author: Jess Staufenberg

It’s disappointing to hear Andrea Jenkyns trot out the same old lines on BTECs

Are ministers clear on the difference between technical and applied general qualifications? asks James Kewin It was fantastic to see so many MPs at last night’s parliamentary debate on the future of BTEC qualifications. The debate was triggered after the #ProtectStudentChoice petition secured 108,349 signatures earlier this year. Despite the intense heat and political drama […]

5 actions we will be pressing our 6th education secretary on

There are some big decisions which would have been made this summer if the previous DfE incumbents had stayed in post, writes David Hughes James Cleverley’s appointment to education secretary makes him the sixth person in that post in the six years I have been at AoC. Not a great recipe for continuity, certainty and […]

The need for a careers-led education system is staring us in the face

Last month’s Times Education Commission presented a model for education very similar to UTCs, writes Simon Connell As we come to the end of another academic year, the UTC programme was very proud that UTC South Durham contributed to the Times Education Commission’s final report, published last month. The 14-19 school was part of a […]

Caretaker Cleverly may soon find his department at the centre of the Tory battle

With billions of tax cuts promised, who will put their head above the parapet and demand some proper spend on FE? asks Tom Bewick When the government is in full meltdown, Monty Python style moments of British humour are never very far away. The new junior education minister, Andrea Jenkyns MP, it appears, gave the […]

Focus feature: T Levels two years on

Teething problems and tweaks notwithstanding, FE providers are unexpectedly positive about the biggest new technical and vocational qualifications in generations. How can DfE get them right in the long term? Jess Staufenberg finds out “What’s been really good about the T Level is it’s not just learning from a textbook. It’s been about learning through […]

How can we make sure professional discussions are valid in end-point assessments?

Professional discussion can play a valuable role in student assessment but only if used carefully, explains Paul Kelly Essentially a two-way conversation between an assessor and a candidate, professional discussion is often used as part of end-point assessment (EPA) for apprenticeships. Taking the style of an interview, the assessor asks an apprentice a series of […]

To the new skills minister – scrap the 67% apprentice achievement target

Some providers are already getting 96% of their apprentices past the finish line. Why is the target so low? asks Iain MacKinnon Are we really OK with one in three of all apprentices failing to pass their apprenticeship? That’s the target the now former skills minister, Alex Burghart, set out for the sector last week. […]

CPD is about taking teaching from the ‘parlour’ to the ‘kitchen’

A history of CPD in FE reveals huge changes in attitudes – but we still need to scrap mistrustful auditing, writes Alison Scott I started out in FE back in 1979 as an English and liberal studies teacher, and the CPD I remember then was ad hoc and thin on the ground. New teachers were […]