Potteries Educational Trust
‘apprenticeships’
The Skills Funding Agency is very proud of themselves, and they will want to share their success. They will tell you repeatedly that in 2013/14 (assuming they still exist after the recently announced review) more than 7,000 different qualification rates will be just 30 (see table below right). This, they will say, is proof. That’s […]
Uncategorized
An innovative collaboration between an employment and skills provider and a national awarding body will be unveiled this week. NCFE and Reed in Partnership say that the partnership will have a profound impact on how colleges support students from learning into the workplace. It is due to be officially revealed at this week’s Association of […]
News
The owner of one of the UK’s largest and “fastest growing” vocational training providers has also created his own awarding body. Gerard Syddall is a company director and 95 per cent shareholder of Elmfield Training Ltd. As reported by FE Week in June and more recently in the TES magazine, Elmfield Training took more than […]
The merger of two further education (FE) colleges has been given the go-ahead. Stroud College and Filton College will, from February 1 next year, be legally known as South Gloucestershire and Stroud College after the proposed merger was agreed today by John Hayes MP, secretary of state for further education, skills and lifelong learning. Both […]
FE Week has been a remarkable journey for me, personally. I am all too aware that some college principals are confused about my intentions, and wonder where Nick ‘Meddling’ Linford will pop-up next. Now feels the right time to explain more about me and what FE Week is all about. I had wanted to set […]
Opinion
An enquiry into apprenticeships will be launched by the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee in the new year. Adrian Bailey MP, chairman of the committee, made the announcement at the ‘Real or Rebrand?’ apprenticeships debate, organised by FE Week, at the House of Commons last week. Although terms of reference for the enquiry […]
“I always think the best test of a person is not when they’re winning; it’s how they recover from defeat and adversity,” says Rob Halfon. And he would know. It took him three attempts to win his seat in parliament. On his second go, he lost by just 87 votes. But the Harlow MP, best […]
Profiles
In the last few weeks, the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) revealed to FE Week that a review was underway into short apprenticeships. Delivery models, the NAS said, which do not come up to scratch with specific guidance in the Specification of Apprenticeship Standards for England (SASE) may need to change or face the loss of […]
The number of learners starting workplace learning continues to thrive despite the government’s focus on increasing apprenticeships. The number of new starts in Train to Gain/ Workplace learning fell to 444,700 in 2010/11, a figure still higher than the record number of new apprentices, a total of 442,700, praised by the government last week (see […]