JL Dutaut

  • Only research can stop more product recalls in FE policy

    The prominence of technical and vocational education in this electoral campaign is significant for the sector, writes Andrew Morris, but if reform isn’t informed by research, history will repeat itself “You’re joking! Not another one?” Not the words of Brenda from Bristol, but those of Professor Gareth Parry as he opened the recent Learning and…

    5.00 Dec. 9th, 2019 | Opinion

  • Profile: Corrina Hembury

    Corrina Hembury has seen it all: Jess Staufenberg meets the training provider managing director who started as an apprentice Corrina Hembury “started everything young”. She began teaching at 19, got married the same year and was a qualified teacher by 21. Despite “loving school”, she only managed half a term of sixth form before switching…

    5.00 Dec. 10th, 2019 | Profiles

  • T-levels aren’t just about economic sense but social justice too

    While T-levels have suffered criticism and setbacks, the UK government’s plan to revolutionise vocational education can benefit employers and students alike. I should know, writes Alfie Earlam, I’m one of the few lucky students trialling them and I couldn’t be happier T-levels will be introduced in autumn 2020, replacing a wide range of qualifications. In…

    5.00 Dec. 7th, 2019 | Opinion

  • Northern Ireland’s colleges are more important than ever amid Brexit uncertainty

    Amid Brexit chaos and the continued suspension of the Stormont assembly, what Northern Ireland’s colleges need most from this election is certainty, writes Marie-Thérèse McGivern Brexit has created huge tension across the whole of the UK, but probably nowhere more so than in Northern Ireland, a region that voted in its majority to remain in…

    12.00 Dec. 6th, 2019 | Opinion

  • Colleges need certainty to deliver promise of social mobility

    Welsh college principal, Mark Jones has a few requests to put to the new prime minister, and some leadership advice for the new incumbent at number 10 With responsibility for education in Wales devolved to the Welsh Assembly, colleagues in other areas of the UK may feel that the outcome of the Westminster election is…

    11.25 Nov. 29th, 2019 | Opinion

  • Employers must be at the heart of the vocational education system

    Over the last few years we’ve seen a lot of experimentation with England’s much maligned vocational education system. If these innovations are to be successful they need to involve employers to a much greater extent than is currently the case, writes Tristram Hooley. The clue is in the name; ‘vocational education’ is only useful if…

    5.00 Nov. 30th, 2019 | Opinion

  • Perceptions of engineering hold the sector back

    To highlight the diversity of engineering careers that shape the world around us, the Royal Academy of Engineering recently celebrated This Is Engineering Day. But we have a problem, writes Rhys Morgan. There just aren’t enough young people joining the industry According to the latest data from EngineeringUK, we need up to 59,000 additional people…

    5.00 Dec. 1st, 2019 | Opinion

  • Apprenticeships suffer too many unintended consequences

    It seems the three main political parties have fallen out of love with apprenticeships, writes Karen Redhead, and the unintended consequences of reform may not be helping Four years and two general election campaigns ago, Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats competed to outdo each other on apprenticeships. While the debate has moved to a much…

    16.26 Nov. 27th, 2019 | Opinion

  • The skills sector needs to remove its apprenticeship blinkers

    The skills sector is still stuck on seeing apprenticeships as a NEET policy rather than the industrial strategy policy it has become, writes Mandy Crawford-Lee, and that’s leading to bad policy. For most people in the skills sector, the priorities for apprenticeship are seen as providing training for the 16 to 18 ‘guarantee’ group, supporting…

    10.05 Nov. 27th, 2019 | Opinion

  • The future of colleges: Can edtech deliver its utopia?

    Technology has transformed further education. But at what cost, asks JL Dutaut. The history of edtech is after all a story of failures Paul Feldman, chief executive of Jisc, further education’s main technology body, wrote last month of the sector’s role in addressing the demands of a changing world of work and the importance of…

    5.00 Nov. 19th, 2019 | Feature, News

  • Profile: Ali Hadawi

    Ali Hadawi left FE for business. But as the principal of Central Bedfordshire College tells Jess Staufenberg, something just didn’t feel right Ali Hadawi tried to leave teaching once. It didn’t go well. He was in his third job in FE after starting off as a lecturer at Sheffield Polytechnic (as it was then) during…

    5.00 Nov. 19th, 2019 | Profiles