education leadership

Teaching leadership early: the missing piece in youth employability

Leaders in education and industry are ready to play their part in tackling the UK’s alarming levels of youth unemployment and underemployment. Helping those young people to see their own potential as future leaders is a critical first step.

Do you want to be part of The Bedford College Group’s next chapter?

At The Bedford College Group, we are passionate about transforming lives and communities through education. As one of the largest College Groups with an income of just under £100 million and serving nearly 1.1 million people across Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, we are at the forefront of driving educational excellence and social change.

Gill Alton, chief executive, TEC Partnership

After 35 years in the sector, Gill Alton, CEO of TEC Partnership, retired last Friday. She talks to Jess Staufenberg about leadership – and keeping it snappy One night, when she was working in the hotel sector, Gill Alton and her staff heard a commotion from an upstairs bedroom. A group of Welsh rugby fans, […]

Whistleblowers in FE are vital for sector scrutiny

Whistleblowers aren’t treated with much respect in the UK, even though they generally have good intentions. Dame Ruth Silver wants this to change Even for a sector with adaptation in its DNA, these are challenging times. In addition to the day-to-day pressures of accountability, budget cuts and curriculum change, sector leaders have had to deal […]

FE leaders need mental health support too

It can be lonely at the top, admits former principal Neil Bates People who have headaches but describe them as migraines have probably never suffered from a real migraine. People who sometimes feel a bit down and say that they are depressed have probably never suffered from depressive illness. My friend Joanne has a migraine […]

Healthy organisations need healthy leaders

The whole character of an institution is shaped by its leaders’ ethics, writes Dame Ruth Silver Leadership and mental health are subjects close to my heart and involve questions of trust, openness, civic responsibility and ethical engagement in further education. The issue is of current concern. In recent years, FE staff have been pushed towards […]

Machiavellian advice for college principals

Principals are often maligned, but they’re only mirroring government policy, argues Damien Page It is not hard to find criticism of college principals: academic literature is littered with it, the trade press is awash with it, social media thrives on it, and the staffrooms of colleges mutter it constantly. Principals are greedy, overpaid, uncaring, narcissistic, […]

How to get more women into FE leadership

Getting more women into leadership positions is a multifaceted challenge, but there are some practical steps leaders in FE can take, writes Pauline Odulinski We are all familiar with the concept of the glass ceiling and know that women advance less far at work. They also continue to be paid less than men for doing […]

Wellbeing applies to staff as well as students

Improving staff wellbeing is not only vital to college success, it’s our moral duty as FE leaders, says Stuart Rimmer At the recent AOC annual conference, its president Ian Ashman declared 2016/17 the year of mental health in FE. This was an important, welcome and long overdue step that has been superbly received by the […]