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‘Jobs’

Hundreds ‘fail’ to comply with wage rule

High street fast food business Subway was among hundreds of employers on the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) website advertising jobs that paid less than the national minimum wage, FE Week has discovered. The legally-required amount that employers must pay apprentices went up 3p to £2.68 on October 1. But many jobs — with start dates […]

News

Hancock tries out the apprentice high life

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock exchanged his suit for overalls to find out what life was like for an apprentice engineer as part of a job swap scheme. Mr Hancock switched places with City & Guilds apprenticeship champion of the year Jenny Westworth, aged 23, who works at BAE Systems. He said: “It was fantastic to […]

Bulletin

Free meals should go to all ‘poor’ 16 and 17-year-olds

Extending free school meals to full-time 16-to-18 year old FE students is a popular move across the political spectrum. Mark Corney puts the case for this applying to part-time students too. Everyone is claiming victory over the decision to extend “free meals” to poor 16-to-18 year olds studying at FE colleges. Costing about £40m per […]

Opinion

Uncertainty at Skills Funding Agency after job cuts announcement

More than 1,000 Skills Funding Agency staff are facing an uncertain future after workers were warned of job cuts in response to the “Civil Service Reform Agenda”. The agency is planning to “restructure” in two phases, initially losing at least 17 members of its 44-strong senior team. As part of our response to the Civil […]

News

Has online careers guidance lost face?

Schools weren’t the only ones frowned upon by Ofsted when it assessed careers guidance. The National Careers Service came in for criticism too and also needs careful consideration, says Stephan Jungnitz. If you’re working in the commercial sector, perhaps the quickest way to your P45 and the dole queue is to encourage potential customers to […]

Opinion

Virtually taking advantage of change

Change is inevitable. And preparing for it and adapting to it could lead FE to a bright future despite predictions of government funding cuts and evermore specialised training needs, explains Shaun Hughes. Of all the educational sectors, FE is widely recognised as having to change the most and evolve the fastest. So what are the […]

Opinion

Zero-hour review gets unions’ welcome

Further education unions have given a cautious welcome to newly-announced government consultations on zero-hour contracts and apprentice pay. A review of the controversial employment agreements over the summer has finished and Business Secretary Vince Cable said it was being followed up with a consultation, looking closely at “exclusivity” — whether the contracts were being used […]

News

Interview with Ofsted careers guidance report author

Q&A with Ofsted inspector Karen Adriaanse, author of the education watchdog’s report Going in the right direction? Careers guidance in schools from September 2012. The report, and Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw, was critical of schools for their careers guidance offering since they were made responsible for the service. Mrs Adriaanse, who is also Ofsted’s […]

News

Making maths add up in FE and skills

Picking up the pieces of school-leavers’ maths GCSE failings is a heavy burden for the FE and skills sector. It is also one in which Alex Falconer thinks improvements are needed. This year more than 550,00 year 11 pupils in England will complete their GCSEs. Most (86 per cent) will go on to training or […]

Opinion