Opinion

Taking a leaf out of Bridgwater’s nuclear skills delivery book

With Skills Minister Matthew Hancock having announced plans for a nuclear college, Mike Robbins looks at whether he should...

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
Opinion

Skills shortage presents urgent opportunities for FE sector

The Employer Skills Survey has thrown up some interesting statistics about the state of the UK economy and its...

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
Opinion

Securing education for young offenders — learning first, detention second

The education of young offenders looks set to improve drastically with the government’s announcement of Secure Colleges, where the...

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
Opinion

Keeping the pressure on homophobia in a time of funding constraints

Pressure group Stonewall’s annual list of the top 100 lesbian, gay and bisexual-friendly employers included just three FE and...

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
Opinion

No letting up on England’s poor adult literacy and numeracy

Adult literacy and numeracy levels in England came out badly under the scrutiny of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation...

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
Opinion

Keeping the apprenticeship wage up to date in the workplace — and online

It took the National Apprenticeship Service, and the overarching Skills Funding Agency, three months to act over a 3p...

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
Opinion

Marketing ‘FE’s best-kept secret’ — have we got the seven Ps right on traineeships?

Why have traineeships had such a poor take-up, asks Ruth Sparkes. Traineeships were supposed to be ‘the next big...

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
Opinion

Rate cut impact report leads to more questions and criticism

The Department for Education would have been hoping its impact assessment of the controversial 17.5 per cent funding rate...

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
Opinion

Working backwards to move forwards on attracting ‘elusive’ 16 to 18 apprentices

Providers delivered less 16 to 18 apprenticeship provision last year than they had initially expected. It resulted in a...

Nick Linford
Nick Linford