Opinion

Flaws in the benefits system are holding apprentices back

Cruelties in the way much-needed welfare is handed out to NEET families is preventing their children from social mobility,…

Expert Contributor
Expert Contributor
Opinion

ESFA misses chance to get tough on wasteful subcontracting

The ESFA must enforce rules that are supposed to be putting a stop to wasteful short-term subcontracting. The example…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
Opinion

Ofsted’s new provider monitoring and subcontracting visits explained

Paul Joyce, one of the inspectorate’s head skills honchos, lays out the thinking behind the two new forms of…

Expert Contributor
Expert Contributor
Opinion

How FE can help prepare the UK’s next generation of doctors

Medicine has long been the near-exclusive preserve of higher education, but the QAA’s Julie Mizon has big plans to…

Expert Contributor
Expert Contributor
Opinion

How WorldSkills is just like the Olympics

With over 100,000 people at WorldSkills 2017, you realise the size of the task facing our top apprentices as…

Expert Contributor
Expert Contributor
Opinion

Traineeships expose the need for T-level collaboration

In 2015 the government criticised colleges for losing out to training providers by only making up a third of…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden


Opinion

Only Ofqual should be allowed to regulate apprenticeship standards

Trailblazers can choose the body that regulates their apprenticeship standard. Only one of these is actually qualified to do…

Rob May
Rob May
Opinion

Should a college principal have multiple jobs?

Dr Sue Pember, director of policy and external relations at Holex, answers your questions on college governance, backed by…

Sue Pember
Sue Pember
Opinion

What lessons can we learn from end-point assessments?

End-point assessment is a vital part of any apprenticeship, and Thomas Burton explains how to get it right. The…

Expert Contributor
Expert Contributor
Opinion

Time to close the loophole that harms Catholic SFCs

A legal anomaly is stopping Catholic sixth-form colleges from reaping the benefits of academisation. Putting this right would be…

Expert Contributor
Expert Contributor
Opinion

Why is the IfA silent on end-point assessment concerns?

The issue of apprentices starting standards without an end-point assessment organisation in place was first raised by FE Week…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Opinion

Market or system – what’s the best model for FE?

Further education is increasingly being used as a laboratory between competing models of education, and the market model is…

Expert Contributor
Expert Contributor