York College
‘apprenticeships’
“As the popularity of apprenticeships increases, how can the sector ensure everyone has access to them?” That was the question on everybody’s lips as the impact of race, gender or disability on whether learners start an apprenticeship provided the focus of debate at the Apprenticeship equalities conference on Tuesday April 29, held by the Trades’ […]
News
Business Secretary Vince Cable delivered a speech last month at Cambridge University entitled Where next for Further and Higher Education? Mark Corney looks in detail at what Dr Cable said. In 1976, Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan began a ‘great debate’ on education with a speech at a college in Oxford. Nearly 40 years on, […]
Opinion
Former Rolls-Royce apprenticeships learning and development manager Neil Fowkes has been appointed director of apprenticeships and engineering at Derby College. Mr Fowkes studied at Mackworth Tertiary College, which is now part of Derby College during his own apprenticeship, and has worked in engineering for the past 27 years, initially at International Combustion and then Rolls-Royce. […]
Movers and Shakers
The University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCas) has welcomed an invitation for talks on promoting higher apprenticeships. The organisation, which already matches learners to some higher-level FE courses under the banner of UCas Progress, responded to a call from Business Secretary Vince Cable for it to cover higher apprenticeships. Dr Cable, during a University of […]
Skills Minister Matthew Hancock has revealed hopes for 5,000 new traineeships through the employer ownership pilot (EOP) scheme. He said National Grid, Everton Football Club, Somerset-based electrical installation firm Rogers Restorations, and Berkshire-based construction and engineering firm Costain aimed to create the traineeships. The announcement was made during the Minister’s speech at a UK Commission […]
Features of Ofsted’s new data dashboard have been leaked to FE Week, revealing a focus on English and maths up to level two, and data on local enterprise partnerships (Leps). The dashboard, which is due to launch on May 12, has been developed to allow leaders, governors, and members of the public, to access key […]
The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) has called for the introduction of an apprentice charter and job outcome payments. In his response to the government’s consultation on apprenticeship funding reforms, Niace chief executive David Hughes (pictured) welcomed the government’s commitment to encouraging employer investment in apprenticeships, but said it needed to go further. […]
Skills Minister Matthew Hancock has confirmed that Essex-based charity Prospects Learning Foundation is to become the first new FE college in more than 20 years. The announcement that the independent learning provider’s proposed incorporation has been officially rubber-stamped follows a full public consultation earlier this year. The move was first exclusively revealed by FE Week in July […]
More than 1,000 FE and skills staff took part and vast majority revealed concerns about levels of institutional funding. It was the same story with worries over learner funding. External bureaucracy worried 95.6 per cent of respondents while the pace and volume of change concerned 91.9 per cent. The broad government direction of travel for […]
