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‘apprenticeships’

The post-Incorporation college: a not-so-sleeping giant

Leeds City College is one of the single largest providers of apprenticeships in the UK following the launch of the Apprenticeship Training Agency — jointly owned with the local authority — and the creation of the Food Academy at city centre restaurant Flannels. Now the third largest college in the UK with more than 40,000 […]

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How do you solve a problem like ‘college’?

Public confusion about the identity of a “college”, poor media perception of FE and a lack of skills among college press officers combine to prevent the sector getting better media coverage, it is argued. A brief study of journalists’ perceptions of the sector for FE Week points to a continued poor understanding among news editors […]

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Fair funding leads to focus on learners

Incorporation in 1993 gave colleges the welcome ability to respond quickly and flexibly to changing circumstances. Colleges became legally free to adjust their staffing, to reshape delivery methods and remodel their estates as needed, without unnecessary restraint from local bureaucracy. By itself however, this operational autonomy would have been insufficient to guarantee responsiveness to the […]

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Seeking solutions in testing times

It’s not just a lack of government cash that is bringing about a redefinition of the relationship between learner, state and employer One thing’s for certain: there will be no money for immediate initiatives in FE for the next five years. Colleges will have to find new roles to ensure they are a central part […]

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The day a cheque for £1.8m arrived

Julian Gravatt remembers the first week of Incorporation. The reforms may be a distant memory, but they still pack a punch to this day For someone like me, who joined a college in 1992 to help it with self-government, Incorporation was a big deal. All the staff at Lewisham College had a letter to tell […]

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Twenty years of freedoms and constraints

The government announcement of a new FE commissioner to reform inadequate provision in the latest skills strategy Rigour and Responsiveness had mixed responses. Sector leaders saw it as a necessary evil, while employers, notably the CBI, see it strengthening their hand as a counterweight to college freedoms in New Challenges, New Chances. The timing of […]

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Keeping our eyes on the prize

What did Incorporation do for sixth-form colleges? Well, says David Igoe, few principals and governing bodies would choose to go back to local authority control In 1992, sixth-form colleges came under schools regulations and were funded and administered through the local authority. Incorporation in 1993 came, therefore, as both a surprise and a shock, not […]

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Schools advice plea as 16 to 18 apprenticeships keep falling

A continued drop in 16 to 18 apprenticeship starts has prompted a call for the government to clampdown on schools that are failing to promote vocational options. The number of under 19 apprenticeships started in the first half of this year was provisionally put at 69,600 — a 12 per cent drop on last year’s […]

News

A new focus for governors in a new era

On the first day, conference chair Professor Bill Lucas and Exeter College principal Richard Atkins talked about the sector’s renewed focus on teaching and learning. Delegates also heard  more about the new Ofsted common inspection framework from senior inspector Beverley Barlow. They also took part in interactive and workshop sessions. The major theme of the […]

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