JL Dutaut

  • Victoria Copp-Crawley, principal, Ashford College

    JL Dutaut meets a college leader with a healthy disregard for the academic/vocational divide When your path through life and career isn’t a straightforward one, it’s easy to be jealous of someone like the new principal of Ashford College, Victoria Copp-Crawley – someone for whom what to be ‘when you grow up’ was clear from…

    5.00 Sep. 22nd, 2020 | Profiles

  • Sending a hundred students home so soon was a reality check

    One case of Covid-19 among the staff had an immediate impact on how we could run the college, writes Sam Parrett With great anticipation and excitement, last week saw the re-opening of all our college campuses and schools. After months of forced closure, staff have worked tirelessly over the summer break to prepare sites for…

    5.00 Sep. 20th, 2020 | Opinion

  • Without a clear plan for virus control, colleges have been left to guess

    Lack of a blueprint for keeping colleges safe partly explains why one college even considered ‘alternate weeks’, writes Stuart Rimmer My great friend Craig, who features in many of my stories, is a builder. I was chatting to him about restarting college life and how government kept issuing guidance after guidance through the summer. He…

    5.00 Sep. 19th, 2020 | Opinion

  • How can we be in financial intervention yet ineligible for Covid relief?

    Being turned down twice for relief funding feels like we are losing out partly because of our hard work, writes Chris Malish As lockdown began to really bite in April, the announcement of the ESFA’s post-16 provider relief scheme was welcome. The aim of the extra cash was “to continue to retain capacity within the apprenticeships…

    5.00 Sep. 19th, 2020 | Opinion, Uncategorized

  • Lockdown learning actually suits some students better

    It’s worth bearing in mind the lessons of lockdown as we all return to the ‘new normal’, writes Amanda Wayling There were some very surprising outcomes from our remote teaching and learning experiences over lockdown – including that some of our learners engaged in ways that we couldn’t ever have predicted. The rapport between teachers…

    5.00 Sep. 12th, 2020 | Opinion

  • Digital must underpin all aspects of college life

    Digital learning has shown its potential, and while issues of equity remain now is the time for colleges to make the transition permanent, writes Sally Dicketts Colleges play a significant role in building communities and supporting their local economy, and the COVID-19 pandemic has brought this sharply into focus. Innovative practices were rapidly put in…

    8.01 Sep. 14th, 2020 | Opinion

  • Now we must pick up the pieces of our broken system

    The results are in but the work of ensuring students rebuild their confidence has only just begun, writes Liz Bromley This week, teacher assessments plus adjustments by the qualifications regulator have caused GCSE grade inflation by some 20 per cent between grades 6 to 9, with more than 25 per cent more students receiving grades…

    8.19 Aug. 21st, 2020 | Opinion

  • Profile: Nav Chohan

    FE Week meets a principal whose small and perfectly formed college provides a fitting platform from which to launch a big recovery The miracle college turnaround. The supersized provider. The super-principal. The disruptor who transformed the system. We’re all guilty of fetishising the big and bold stories. You won’t find that here. Instead, you’ll find…

    16.07 Jul. 16th, 2020 | Profiles

  • Profile: Samantha Knowlton

    FE Week meets a principal who has found her place at the intersection of education and industry As we begin our interview with the awkward launch of a video conferencing call, I can’t help but notice a splendid triptych of Earth from space on Samantha Knowlton’s office wall. I want to ask about it, but…

    11.10 Jul. 7th, 2020 | Profiles

  • Profile: Sarah Stannard

    FE Week meets a principal with a history of bravely sailing against prevailing winds. Is her ship about to come in? Sarah Stannard learnt resilience young. The principal of City College Southampton, who cut her teeth in the business world before moving into leadership in FE, was brought up by a Navy man and strikes…

    9.06 Jun. 30th, 2020 | Profiles

  • Profile: Professor Matt O'Leary

    Matt O’Leary transformed the use of lesson observations in FE, despite sector leaders who were initially reluctant to listen. And he’s far from finished, as Jess Staufenberg discovers There are few academics who can point to a seismic change in Ofsted’s approach to further education and say “I did that”, but Matt O’Leary, despite his…

    10.26 Jun. 23rd, 2020 | Profiles