GE2017 | FE Week

Tories are right to double the immigration skills charge

Conservative manifesto pledge: Double the Immigration Skills Charge to £2,000 to reinvest in FE and skills Steven Woolfe argues FOR I welcome the Conservative pledge to double the Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) to £2,000 per applicant. In many respects, our immigration policy has been filling in the gaps for many flaws within our education system. […]

Whether or not we create Institutes of Technology is not the immediate issue

Labour manifesto pledge: Abandon plans for new technical colleges and use funding for more teachers Sue Pember argues AGAINST The Conservative and Labour manifestos both advocate investing more in the future of young people and both embrace the concept of lifelong learning, which is to be applauded. However, the way they suggest this can be […]

Labour won’t reinvent the wheel – good, but which one?

Labour manifesto pledge: Abandon plans for new technical colleges and use funding for more teachers Mick Fletcher argues FOR If there is one thing that almost everyone in FE can agree on, it is the need for a reduction in the degree of turbulence faced by the sector. No-one is against change but there is […]

T-levels are great, but can government make them as prestigious as A-levels?

Conservative manifesto pledge: To replace vocational qualifications with T-levels that have 50% more teaching time Catherine Sezen makes the argument FOR In the run up to the general election the political parties are focused on the importance of skills; both employability and technical or vocational skills are on the agenda. Labour and the Conservatives explicitly […]

Don’t prioritise vocational over academic routes

Conservative manifesto pledge: To replace vocational qualifications with T-levels that have 50% more teaching time James Kewin argues AGAINST The Conservative party’s plans to introduce T-levels could eventually amount to an annual increase in funding of £500 million per year. While there is unquestionably a need to strengthen technical education in England, this should not […]

Are the party pledges for FE meaningless?

Both Labour and the Lib Dems have made some pre-manifesto pledges on further education, but these should all be taken with a pinch of salt, says Gemma Gathercole The opening salvos of the election campaign have been fired and now we’re getting to the good stuff – well, at least for policy geeks like me. […]