Covid | FE Week

Millions lost in fraud from Covid apprentice payments

Independent covid counter-fraud report finds only £1 million recouped in apprentice incentive scheme

Judge upholds 71-year-old teacher’s Covid complaints

The teacher argued that she had been subjected to indirect age discrimination

Let’s extend the post-16 phase from two years to three

A pilot for a longer learning period after GCSEs is worth considering post-Covid, writes Joe Hallgarten When it comes to post-16 learning, it’s two that’s a crowd, not three. I’m talking about the two-year 16-to-19 phase. In reality it is about 20 months long. A couple of weeks after their GCSE results, most students are […]

As we emerge from the pandemic, student enrichment is needed more than ever

To secure better funding for enrichment we need more robust evidence of its impact, writes Eddie Playfair Students’ experience of college is so much more than just the courses they study. Colleges provide a hugely comprehensive range of additional opportunities which support student development in all sorts of ways. These are often labelled “enrichment” and […]

‘Civil servants spend too much time in a room with other civil servants’

After four years in the job, Jonathan Slater was unceremoniously sacked as permanent secretary of the Department for Education. Now he’s calling for better accountability within the civil service Jonathan Slater, former permanent secretary at the Department for Education, is on the phone to one of his daughters. He and his family have just moved […]

The government’s delay to Covid testing for students with training providers is disgraceful

We can ask why Covid testing is delayed for those on work-based learning routes – but there is no good explanation, writes Jane Hickie I guess we should be used to it by now. Ever since the pandemic began, hundreds of thousands of apprentices and learners with independent training providers (ITPs) have been at the […]