Nick Linford | FE Week

Bravo principal in 120 breathtaking kickboxing bouts for charity

The principal of Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT) today took part in 120 two minute kickboxing fights to raise funds for the The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. Anthony Bravo is 6 foot 5 inches tall and was National Association of Kickboxing Champion in 1995, 1996 and 1997 (each year winner of two out of the three categories: […]

24+ loan applications up 46 per cent a-month

Nearly 16,000 people applied for the 24+ Advanced Learning Loan in August, up 46 per cent on the number of applications made in the previous month (10,772). Data Service figures further revealed just under half of the 34,700 loans applications since the programme launched in April were submitted in last month alone (15,725). Boston College […]

The wait for an outstanding indy goes on

After 131 Ofsted visits, independent learning providers (ILPs) are still waiting for their first outstanding verdict under the education watchdog’s current common inspection framework. The sector has failed to achieve a single grade one result since the start of the last academic year, when the new framework was put in place. But across the wider […]

Labour conference fringe event

Download your free copy of the FE Week 16-page Labour conference fringe event supplement on the future of apprenticeships, in partnership with Pearson. Click here to download (15mb) Introduction Welcome to this FE Week supplement on the Labour Party conference fringe, where FE Week ran its own event. This was our first foray into the […]

Uncertainty at Skills Funding Agency after job cuts announcement

More than 1,000 Skills Funding Agency staff are facing an uncertain future after workers were warned of job cuts in response to the “Civil Service Reform Agenda”. The agency is planning to “restructure” in two phases, initially losing at least 17 members of its 44-strong senior team. As part of our response to the Civil […]

FE Week at Labour Party Conference 2013

The FE Week team attended the first day of the Labour Party Conference in Brighton yesterday. We held a poll on the apprenticeship minimum wage during the day and a fringe event, sponsored by Pearson, in the evening. There will be plenty of photos and reporting in the next edition of FE Week (September 30), […]

Labour calls time on the level 2 apprenticeship

Labour’s Skills Taskforce, chaired by Chris Husbands, has today published a report on apprenticeships: A revolution in apprenticeships: a something-for-something deal with employers. Describing itself as a “strategy to dramatically increase the number and quality of apprenticeships in England” the report says: “to protect the apprenticeship brand, level 2 training should be renamed as a traineeship or similar.” “A universal gold […]

Veil ban college principal to retire

The principal of a Midland college at the centre of a row this month over the use of veils is to retire, FE Week can reveal. Dame Christine Braddock (pictured), principal at Birmingham Metropolitan College, will be stepping down at the end of the current academic year. The announcement comes just weeks after the college […]

Labour announce plans to create an apprentice for each foreign worker

Ed Miliband, the Labour Party leader, has announced plans to force firms to take on an apprentice every time they employ someone from outside the EU in the UK. A BBC report says that Mr Miliband has told the Sunday Mirror: “I want a high wage British economy, not a low wage brutish economy, and we’ve got […]