Two teaching unions have been divided over plans for sixth form college strikes next month.

The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) will not join National Union of Teachers (NUT) members in demonstrations over pay and pensions.

The NUT is due to strike on March 26, but the NASUWT executive voted on Friday (February 14) to keep its options open instead, saying Education Secretary Michael Gove had shown “goodwill” by agreeing to sit down for talks later this month.

Chris Keates, NASUWT general secretary, said: “Teachers will expect the Secretary of State to show that he is seriously committed to building trust and confidence with the profession by demonstrating in these meetings that he is prepared to listen to and address teachers’ deep concerns.”

She added: “We will expect the Secretary of State to recognise the enormous damage that has been inflicted on teachers as a result of the changes to teachers’ pay, pensions, conditions of service and job security since 2010.”

Strikes had been expected to hit sixth form colleges last week, but were put back to next month.

Graham Baird, HR director at the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association, said: “On behalf of sixth form colleges the SFCA has been monitoring the NUT position on the proposed strike action.
“The announcement that the proposed strike action is now planned March 26, rather than mid-February, at least provides additional time to allow for discussions to take place between the union and government to try to avert the proposed action.”

Christine Blower, NUT general secretary, said: “Mr Gove’s persistent refusals to address our ongoing dispute over pay, pensions and conditions of service, is unnecessary and deeply damaging.
“As a result, thousands of good, experienced teachers are leaving or considering leaving the job and a teacher shortage crisis is looming with two in five teachers leaving the profession in their first five years.”

A Department for Education spokesman said: “The unions called for talks to avoid industrial action, we agreed to their request, and those talks will begin shortly.
“It is disappointing that the NUT, unlike NASUWT, has decided to press ahead regardless with unnecessary strike action, which will only inconvenience parents and damage children’s education.”

The UK head of education for fast food giant McDonald’s is set to become England’s new apprenticeship boss, FE Week can reveal.

Sue Husband is to fill the shoes of David Way, who stepped down as director of the Skills Funding Agency’s apprenticeship division in August after 38 years in the employment and skills sector.

The agency put the director of apprenticeships and delivery services role out to advert in December with a £100,000 a-year salary.

Ms Husband is expected to have responsibility for the delivery of employer engagement and the National Apprenticeship Service with, according to the job advert “an outward-facing role with employers, colleges and training organisations, promoting the benefits of apprenticeships to employers and embedding the new relationship between the agency, employers and providers”.

She started at McDonald’s in 1987 when she was 16 years old and studying for her A-levels. She worked her way up through the company from serving customers and working in the kitchen to being appointed head of education in 2007.

Ms Husband was in charge of training at McDonald’s when its apprenticeship scheme received a grade two rating from Ofsted, in November 2010, following the company’s only inspection to date. According to her LinkedIn profile, her McDonald’s job title is national education manager at McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd — UK.

An agency spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Sue Husband will be taking up the post of director of apprenticeships and delivery service later this year. She is currently education manager at McDonald’s UK.”

The agency paid McDonald’s £10.5m in 2010/11, £6.8m in 2011/12, and £5.1m in 2012/13. As of January this year, the firm was allocated £4.8m for 2013/14 from the adult skills budget and £5.3m for 16 to 18 apprenticeships. Learndirect is a subcontractor allocated, as of January 2014, £4m for delivering online English and maths functional skills training to its learners.

McDonald’s offers level two intermediate apprenticeship in hospitality and catering.

The firm’s website said its apprentices “learn about customer service, food preparation and the importance of keeping things clean. They also find out about the business and what we do for local communities and the environment”.

McDonald’s is yet to comment.

A Humberside college chief has spoken out to re-assure learners and parents after a former member of staff was jailed for sexually assaulting a young girl.

Ex-Hull College theater technician Andrew Clark, aged 36, was jailed for seven years and four months at Hull Crown Court after pleading guilty to a number of sex offences involving a girl under the age of 13.

Clark, of Pelham Road, Immingham, was arrested on June 11 last year in connection with sex offences committed in the Cottingham area between June 30 and October 3, 2012.
He was charged in September last year with seven counts of sexual assault and pleaded guilty to the offences in December.

Hull College, where Clark worked from April 2012, has sought to re-assure the public that none of the offences related to any of its students.

He was sacked after less than six months at the college after police raided his home and found indecent images of children on his computer, for which he was given a caution.

College chief operating officer Lee Probert said: “Andrew Clark was previously employed by Hull College as a theatre technician. He had been subject to an enhanced CRB check before being offered the post.

“Mr Clark was dismissed in October 2012 in connection to a separate matter to his conviction – these did not concern any current or past students of Hull College Group.”

According to the Hull Daily Mail, Clark had previously taught music at Sydney Smith School, Anlaby, but his conviction did not relate to his time there either. He was sentenced on Friday, February 14.

Humberside Police’s DC Teresa Colledge, who led the investigation, said: “Myself and the officers that worked on this investigation welcome the sentence handed by the Judge at Hull Crown Court.

“Andrew Clark is a man who caused significant distress to a vulnerable girl and, all along he knew that everything he was doing was wrong and what potential harm this was causing to her.

“I am pleased that this Paedophile has been locked away for a number of years and does not pose any further harm to his victim.

“I also hope that this sentence will help bring some closure to her. This has been a harrowing ordeal for both her and her family. I hope this means she is now able to move on with her life in the most positive way possible.”

A Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) exemption for traineeships that was promised last year by Chancellor George Osborne is to come into force early next month, FE Week can reveal.

The government’s flagship youth unemployment scheme had fallen foul of a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) rule that limits to 16 hours the amount of time JSA claimants can train every week and still get benefits.

But trainees aged 19 and above will be exempted from Monday, March 3, in a move that includes all new and existing enrolments, according to a Skills Funding Agency spokesperson. The hour limit has been almost doubled to 30 hours a-week.

An exemption from the 16-hour rule for traineeships had been promised in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement in December, but delays in confirming when the exemption would be introduced had led to frustration in the sector.

The agency spokesperson said: “From Monday, March 3, the DWP is removing the ’16-hour rule’ for training that has applied to JSA claimants participating in traineeships in England.

“The removal of the ’16-hour rule’ applies only to the traineeship programme and includes all new and existing participants.

“It means JSA claimants aged 19+ will be able to participate in a traineeship programme for up to 30 hours a-week without affecting their JSA entitlement.”