Social Mobility and the Productivity Conundrum
So what’s going on? Record levels of employment, dramatic falls in unemployment, and yet no real rise yet in felt levels of wealth and well…
Nick Isles
Maths matters
Maths matters. The OECD’s PISA survey last year showed the UK lagging way behind Shanghai, Singapore, South Korea and Japan in terms of the standard…
Lessons from America
Last month I joined a group of colleagues from other UK HE and FE institutions (leavened with a smattering of folk from other parts of…
Are polytechnics back in fashion?
In a major speech about FE in Cambridge towards the end of last month Vince Cable, the Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills…
Recognising FE professionals
Almost without notice at the end of last month, the Government slipped out its new Further Education Workforce Strategy. For those interested you can read…
Do Labour’s 14-19 plans add up?
Last week the Shadow Secretary of State, Tristram Hunt, visited Milton Keynes College three days after publishing the final tract of the Husband’s Review of…
Breaking the glass floor – social mobility and FE
What has gone wrong with social mobility? And what should we do about it? The guru or czar on social mobility in the UK is…
Will it be Happy New Year for FE?
It is going to be an interesting year. The Government’s demand-led skills strategy will be given a boost when the announcement is made about funding…
Government cuts funding to 18 year olds
The Autumn Statement announced further budget tightening for the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BiS) and Department for Education (DfE) over the next two…
What’s ITE all about?
The Labour Party chose to launch its new manifesto for FE at the Association of College’s conference. New Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Tristram…