Jessica Hill | FE Week

Too few workers leaves childcare ‘revolution’ in peril

The early years sector is facing debilitating staff shortages. Jessica Hill speaks to sector leaders about how reforms to training could help, or hinder, flagship childcare reforms Qualification reforms intended to train more early years workers could spell a “dumbing down” of the profession and will still leave the sector drastically short of the number […]

Starting the weekend early at Derwentside

If you enter Derwentside College after 2pm on a Friday, you’ll find it empty. The principal, Chris Todd, will be on his way to pick his seven-year-old son up from school and take him to the beach. That’s because Todd, who is determined to prioritise well-being among his staff, allows them to finish early on […]

National Star College: teaching students how to speak up and fight back

Dan, who has cerebral palsy and communicates with the world through technology that tracks his eye movements, giggles with delight as he shows me how he can now open the curtains all by himself. Until now, the nineteen-year-old National Star College student, who has a penchant for Harry Potter and country music, has had to […]

Rotheram: the ‘apprentice’ mayor

Liverpool City Region metro mayor Steve Rotheram is donning a hi-vis vest, trowel in hand, and reminiscing to local college students about the hard graft of his first job as a bricklayer and how he’d be incapable of it today. His attempts at bricklaying in front of young learners (and cameras) at the City of […]

The story of PiXL: how the pursuit of excellence found new meaning

On a mission to help school and college leaders solve shared problems together, Pixl chief Rachel Johnson talks to Jessica Hill about resilience, leadership and building on a legacy through tough times. The dramatic moment when Rachel Johnson announced she was taking over as school and college leadership network Pixl’s new chief executive was one […]

Darren Hankey, Hartlepool College

Darren Hankey is keen for his students to grasp the tantalising opportunities to acquire net zero skills that are emerging in his region as a way of pulling themselves out of poverty. In the college’s 175-year history, Hartlepool has gone from being an industrial powerhouse to one of England’s most deprived towns. Students’ behavioural problems […]

Why young asylum seekers and refugees are struggling to access college courses

Young people fleeing conflict, oppression and destitution in their home countries are arriving in England in record numbers. In the year to June 2023, 4,513 16 to 17-year-olds applied for asylum, up 7 per cent on last year. Eighty-three per cent were unaccompanied. Another 72,391 adults sought asylum, up 19 per cent on last year. […]

From rebellious pupil to champion of specialist colleges

Clare Howard, chief executive of Natspec, the body representing specialist colleges, is determined to get their voices heard. But she has been having a tough time of it lately. Further education may feel overlooked by the DfE when compared with schools, but specialist colleges sometimes feel like the ultimate Cinderella service of the education world. […]

LSIPS: a chance to change, or a chance missed?

Gillian Keegan is determined that local skills improvement plans will ease the nation’s skills crisis. Jessica Hill lifts the lid on the negotiations between the worlds of business and skills. The LSIPs designed to address the nation’s skills shortages “have to work” and “will work”, Gillian Keegan told FE leaders in her inaugural speech to […]