Jessica Hill | FE Week

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 […]

Private equity and training: a complicated relationship explained

The last ten years has seen a gold rush of global private equity (PE) companies seeking to make the most of the opportunities presented by the apprenticeship levy by pouring their money into England’s independent training providers. But PE owners are being hit by a double whammy of lower profit margins in the apprenticeships training […]

Colin Booth, chief executive, Luminate Education Group

Colin Booth’s 40-year career has taken him from teaching anything anybody would pay him for, whilst living homeless in his Ford Cortina, to becoming chief executive of one of the largest college groups and a national leader of further education. But recent months have been the toughest of all with his Luminate Education Group facing […]

A break with tradition: the crafts fighting for survival

The biggest losers in the government’s mission to boost apprenticeships are traditional crafts for whom the term “apprenticeship” was initially intended. We investigate how longstanding training going back to the Middle Ages is now under threat. Crafts passed on since England’s original national apprenticeship scheme was introduced in 1563 are now considered too small in […]

Skills and training: the centrepiece of Brabin’s northern project

The mayor claims to have used her adult education budget to target areas where change was needed most, but is keenly eyeing more powers to make a difference

Ian Pryce, chief executive, Bedford College Group

Ian Pryce believes FE “hasn’t been good” at telling the story of how 30 years of college independence from government changed it “out of all recognition”. The chief executive of the Bedford College Group, is determined to redress that in his final FE Week interview as he approaches retirement. There is a perfect synchronicity to […]

Destination defund: the fight to save travel and tourism courses

High-profile workforce shortages in the travel industry haven’t stopped the government’s plans to defund rafts of popular courses. Jessica Hill investigates what’s next for travel and tourism training. When stories about long queues at UK airports hit the headlines last summer, travel woes were blamed on staffing shortages across the industry. But with the government […]