York College
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Staff at Lambeth College who went on a five-week strike towards the end of last academic year will be able to vote from Monday on whether to walk out again — a week before scheduled talks. University and College Union (UCU) members walked out indefinitely on June 3 in a dispute over new staff contracts. […]
News
Governors should “be a bit braver” when challenging colleges on teaching and learning, according to former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills chief Dr Sue Pember. The ex-head of FE and skills investment and performance at BIS, who is now a governance adviser at the Association of Colleges (AoC), said governors should trust their instincts […]
More than 800 apprentices were today in the dark over their qualifications and job future after Skills Funding Agency (SFA) lead contractor Phones 4u plunged into administration. The Staffordshire-based mobile phone retailer was placed into the hands of administrators PwC on Monday (September 15) after network operator EE joined Vodafone in cutting ties with the […]
A number of University Technical Colleges (UTCs) were running at around 10 per cent capacity last academic year — while the overall enrolment figure plummeted to just 30 per cent, FE Week can reveal. Figures, supplied to FE Week under the Freedom of Information Act, indicate there was a total capacity of around 9,500 places […]
Wigan and Leigh College has started the new academic year with a new principal, Michael Sheehan. Mr Sheehan, who has previously led Pendleton College in Salford and Runshaw College in Lancashire, has replaced Catherine Hurst, its principal of six years, who left in July to “explore new challenges”. In a statement, the college said Mr […]
Movers and Shakers
The funding, teaching and organisation of adult literacy and numeracy programmes are in need of government action, says Adrian Bailey. Problems with reading, writing and maths can have a huge impact on people’s daily lives, including getting and keeping a job, understanding bills, forms and documents, and guiding children through education. It can affect adults […]
Opinion
Study programmes will be “central to inspections” from this week as Ofsted seeks to challenge a slow response to the initiative. Lorna Fitzjohn, Ofsted’s director for FE and skills, told FE Week in an exclusive interview that providers should expect to see their ratings fall if they had not made enough changes to curriculum to […]
Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw has told of his shock at GCSE English and maths attainment levels and teaching quality — and just days later figures for 2012/13 revealed nearly half of 16 to 18-year-olds without at least grade C in GCSE English or maths failed to repeat or even study alternative qualifications at the […]
An improvement plan aimed at turning around the fortunes of an inadequate-rated university technical college (UTC) has been ripped up and rewritten by its new general FE college sponsorship team. Ofsted inspectors revisited Central Bedfordshire UTC to see how it was getting on after the grade four result, but branded its improvement plan “not fit […]
