Opinion

Keeping apprentice assessment and commercial interests apart

How do you judge whether apprentices are truly prepared to qualify, and who decides? Iain Macdonald puts the case...

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
Opinion

‘Bite-size’ qualifications can bridge gap to full GCSEs

Post-16 learners need stepping stone qualifications to build up their confidence and skills before they re-take maths and English...

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
Opinion

Funding proposals put apprenticeship growth at risk

Plans to put businesses at the heart of future funding arrangements for apprenticeships risk driving away all but the...

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
Opinion

The impossibility of remaining silent in the face of injustice

Further education increases justice through its combined economic, social and moral purpose and, says Toni Fazaeli, to do this...

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News, Opinion

Hancock, Whitehead and the £40bn employer spend claim

Is the claim, most recently made in the Whitehead Review, that employers in England spend £40bn on training true,...

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
Opinion

Learners are going to need techno-maths skills to cope in the modern workplace

Steve McCormack concedes teachers haven’t always succeeded in demonstrating how maths skills will be relevant to students after they...

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
Opinion

The rise of the amateur — a primary tale

Former House of Commons Education Select Committee specialist Ben Nicholls is head of policy and communications at London’s Newham College....

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
Opinion

Functional skills can deliver what employers need

Parity should be maintained between how GCSEs and functional skills are valued by the government, says Stella Turner With...

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
Opinion

FE needs better support to help post-16s pass maths and English

The government, schools, trade unions, parents and carers all need to work together in a new drive to improve...

Nick Linford
Nick Linford