Follow the adventures of FE Week’s biggest and smallest fan!
Mostly this week I have been learning that autumn leaves are crunchy“
And also you can follow our FE Week mini-mascot on Twitter @daniellinford
Follow the adventures of FE Week’s biggest and smallest fan!
Mostly this week I have been learning that autumn leaves are crunchy“
And also you can follow our FE Week mini-mascot on Twitter @daniellinford
FE Week held an evidence gathering session at the House of Commons on Tuesday to allow college principals, agency officials and front and back bench MPs to discuss the Government’s most recent policy U-turn.
The ‘clarification’, which covers all 19+ Skills Funding Agency funded learners, including those seeking fully funded English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses, has caused widespread confusion for further education (FE) providers during enrolment. The session was an opportunity to discuss the impact of the sudden changes and what could be done to improve funding regulation in the future.
It’s ridiculous that people don’t know if they are charging for fee remittance or not. We need to get some clarity on the situation.”
Many speakers argued that the Government announcement was ‘dripped out’ and inconsistant. The clarification, which was released discreetly on the Skills Funding Agency website in August, was poorly publicised and left many FE colleges confused going into the peak enrolment period.
Heidi Alexander, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: It’s ridiculous that people don’t know if they are charging for fee remittance or not. “We need to get some clarity on the situation.”
Although the government U-turn has been welcomed by most FE colleges, some of the witnesses at the session emphasised that the ‘rescue’ of ESOL courses could be short lived.
Sue Rimmer OBE, Principal and Chief Executive of South Thames College said: “We need to know what’s happening next year.”
Dan Taubman, Senior National Education Official for Further Education and Lifelong Learning and lso involved with the Action for ESOL campaign added: “Nobody knows what the financial situation will be next year. “We have only won the battle, we haven’t won the war.”
Much of the discourse fell back to the issue of clarity within the funding policy. Stephen Hewitt, Strategic Funding, Information and Enrolment Manager at Morley College said: “There are lots of things that we are not quite sure about. “It’s the most ramshackle thing that I’ve had to work with in the last 15 years in the sector.
“Saying it will be all okay is something I find very hard to believe.”
As an example Susie Kusnierz, Head of ESOL at Lewisham College, added that although the situation with course fees had been remedied, there was no clarification on how the policy would affect other learner costs, such as examination fees.
Both clarity and flexibility are needed to develop successful Esol courses. During the session many of the speakers seemed to be at odds with one another about which ideal should be prioritised in the future.
Sue Rimmer argued that each local community is unique, and that FE providers couldn’t help or empower communities without certain freedoms.
Andy Wilson, Principal of Westminster Kingsway College added that the sector had experienced tighter regulation whilst Labour was in power. This resulted in “huge rulebooks” and a tendency to prioritise performance targets; a landscape which many FE providers would probably wish to avoid in the future.
Toni Pearce, Vice President for FE at the National Union of Students was keen to bring the focus of the talks back to the impact and needs of students. She said: “We’ve talked about what’s best for colleges, but what about what’s best for students?”
If this had happened to schools or universities there would be flaming pitchforks
Toni said that she was concerned that the FE sector was being directed and driven by the private sector, and not the needs of local people.
Joy Mercer, AoC’s Director of Education Policy said that the current level of funding provides an insufficient number of hours needed to learn the English language. She said that “way more than 72 hours” were required, and asked how attendees would feel about trying to learn Japanese in a similar time frame.
The latter part of the event topic touched upon the role of large corporations, asking why they weren’t being forced to provide some sort of cash contribution to the delivery.
Sue Rimmer added that big businesses were ‘taking money for what they should be doing anyway.’
Stephen Hewitt suggested that help should be prioritised for small and medium sized corporations. He said: “If this had happened to schools or universities there would be flaming pitchforks. It’s always FE that gets messed around.”
Gordon Marsden, MP for Blackpool South and Shadow Minister for Further Education and Skills was present for the opening remarks of the debate.
He said that there was “a very broad philosophical debate to be won here”, and that he would continue to press the government on the issue. At the end of the session John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington asked for suggestions on how these issues could be discussed further, putting forward the idea of an early day motion as an example.
David Hughes, the new Chief Executive of NIACE responded by asking that John Hayes, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning conduct a lessons learnt investigation into how the original policy change was introduced and why it took so long to undo.
See more photos, by Laura Braun, here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/feweek
The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has announced that £25 million in Renewal Grants is to be made available to colleges.
The SFA Chief Executive, Geoff Russell, has written to eligible colleges to notify them of the funding.
He said: “This allocation is part of our continuing support and commitment to colleges in the modernisation of the FE estate, so as to ensure that high quality learning environments can be provided for all learners.”
Every eligible college will be given a capital grant of £100,000 via the scheme in November.
Colleges will need to contribute at least two thirds of the project cost themselves in order to be eligible.
The SFA says the money will need to be used by colleges in the following areas:
• Improvement in the condition of the college’s estate.
• Clear and direct benefits to learners, in particular learners with learning difficulties and disabilities.
• Contribution to economic and social regeneration to local communities in rural and urban areas.
• Reduction in estates’ running costs and carbon emissions.
• Improvements must be complete and fully operational in time for the start of the 2012/13 academic year.
• The funding is not to be used for any previously approved project.
Eligible colleges can also apply for an Enhanced Renewal Grant, which will give a maximum of £2 million – provided they can match the allocation.
They will be judged through a challenge fund with the following criteria:
• Renewal, modernisation of the FE estate.
• Economic Growth.
• Promoting skills/specialisation.
• Improving facilities for learners with disabilities.
The Renewal Grant is part of the ‘New Challenges, New Chances’ scheme announced by John Hayes, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning on 16 August.
The programme is a £100 million Capital Programme delivered over two years from this month.
Bedford College Student of the Year Deji Tobais has got through to the second stage of selection for Olympic Torchbearers.
The international sprinter remains hopeful of a place in the 2012 Olympics squad – and now also to carry the torch across the UK.
He was nominated by Bedford College in response to a nationwide appeal for Olympic Torchbearers and is now among 2,012 individuals who have made it through the second stage out of 28,000 who were put forward.
Deji was a semi-finalist in the World Junior Championships in 2011 and has just competed in the European Junior Championships.
Chief Executive Ian Pryce said: “We are a winning team here at Bedford College and this acknowledgement of the contribution made to the community by our staff and students is well deserved.”
Fellow College Director Tom Kay, who is in charge of the sports and related departments added: “To be the first past the finishing line in front of so many others who have been bidding to be part of the Get Set team is a fantastic reward for sports head Phil Newman and his team. Special thanks to our Sports Co-ordinator Michael Cox who runs sports studies and enrichment activities at the college and in local schools.”
Students from Bedford College have represented their country in a variety of sports over the past decade – so becoming part of the “Olympic Dream” is a fitting reward for the college.
A group of dance students are stepping up preparations to perform to an international audience at WorldSkills 2011, after being selected from almost 200 UK schools and colleges to ‘showcase’ their skills alongside the competitions.
The Leeds City College Dance Collective will be showcasing an exciting multimedia dance piece entitled ‘Maps of Identity’, which mixes live dance with film, at the world’s largest skills competition for young people on October 8th.
The 12 Dance and Performing Arts students, who hail from a diverse range of backgrounds from Leeds to Poland and Zimbabwe, created the piece to celebrate the diverse student demographic at the College and explore how their geographical and cultural roots have shaped their lives.
Lecturer Briony Marston said: “It’s wonderful to be a part of this prestigious, high profile event. Performing at the WorldSkills will be a fantastic experience for them and undoubtedly enhance their studies.”
A new season of ‘Animal Fun Day’ short courses at Shuttleworth College is about to begin.
Young people aged 11-16 get the chance to peer into the lives of all sorts of animals, including creepy crawlies and slippery snakes.
Carl Groombridge, lecturer said: “This is a chance for young people to get up close to exotic creatures that they may otherwise only see on the TV.
Carl said: “The Animal Centre is home to just about every family of species in the world and habitats include a topical rainforest setting where recorded sounds of the forest give an added dimension to the environment.
“It offers young people a unique opportunity to learn about animal welfare and conservation – but with the magic ingredient of fun. It’s a chance to have a “hands on” experience with creepy crawlies and slippery snakes and discover the secrets of these exotic creatures.”
Animal Fun Day is on Saturday 29th October from 9.30am until 12.30pm.
Graphic Design students from Birmingham Metropolitan College were given the chance to showcase their talents at a landmark city development, after creating a multimedia presentation which encouraged them to turn The Cube ‘inside out’.
The Cube has introduced many firsts to Birmingham during its development including the state of the art architecture, the first Marco Pierre White restaurant in the city and one of the UK’s first automated car park systems.
The work of three students, Bradley Caine, Elsie Ofori and Ben Colman was selected for a forthcoming city exhibition to be held later in the year.
Teenagers from Newham College have received National Citizen Service certificates signed by David Cameron after raising £550 for the Richard House Children’s Hospice.
Their work was part of the government’s National Citizen Service and its ‘Summer of a Lifetime’ programme aimed at young people.
Steve Smith, a deputy director at the college said: “It’s great that the Prime Minister has recognised the positive efforts of young people.”
The scheme included a week of activities such as archery, canoeing and mountain biking at Brenscombe Outdoor Centre in Dorset. Summer of a Lifetime’ is pilot project delivered in partnership with the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust and voluntary sector organisations, Local Authorities and FE colleges.
Electro-pop band, KOVAK were given the star treatment by Media students from Central Sussex College, when they met for a publicity masterclass.
With a day of photography, interviews, performance, and a podcast, the students needed to maintain a professional, yet creative approach during the session held at Brighton’s KOMEDIA.
KOVAK, who are due to release their second album will look closely at images from the day, and possibly use students’ ideas for their new album cover.