Now that the political party season is over and we look forward to the elections next May, what conclusions can we draw from their announcements and relative silence on education policy? There was very little said about FE and its role in upskilling adults and young people. In fact there was little about education from […]

If you are a teacher or trainer, there will be opportunities to help improve these skills, along with those of information and communication technology (ICT). This article will give you some ideas of how to embed these skills during your sessions, rather than treat them as separate subjects. You will find some useful web links […]

Below are some useful links to related educational and teaching orientated websites. Oxford University Press Educational publisher of textbooks, software and online resources from Primary to FE available to buy online. global.oup.com ForSkills Forskills provides a range of solutions to your Functional and Basic Skills needs. Including SkillsBuilder, SkillsAssess and SkillsTrack. www.forskills.co.uk The TES The largest network […]

The list of 245 eligible qualifications — part of the Study Programme implementation — includes 115 at entry level, 53 at level one, 24 at levels one and two and 53 atjust level two. Of these, 150 are for English, 89 are for maths and six are available in both subjects. In total, 17 GCSEs […]

              High quality delivery of English and maths programmes is essential for learners and employers. This guide sets out the key issues that all providers need to consider. The environment, in which English and maths programmes are delivered, is changing all the time, particularly in relation to GCSEs qualifications. […]

At last we’ve moved into the summer term and the rain has stopped! As we move into the season which sees us complete our current work and we start to plan for next year, I want to focus this month’s blog on the debate as to how we use technology in education more effectively. In […]

        The biggest question remaining in this debate is whether GCSEs or Functional Skills should be used to deliver maths & English training within Apprenticeships. As things currently stand, a recent GCSE at grades A*-C serves to exempt a learner from further study as part of their apprenticeship. If further study is […]

    And so, what happened back in March? Apprenticeship Week meant that there was an array of events and announcements from the government. Nick Clegg was seen working alongside construction apprentices building a wall and students in Derby giving their local church and community centre a facelift were featured in FE Week. I attended […]

As the year moves on, there is continued pressure on the sector to ensure that maths and English is at the heart of the curriculum, but uncertainty as to which qualifications will be available in the future. The debate on the universal use of GCSE as the qualification of choice for the sector for both […]

Let’s start with some good news. I was really pleased to see that Hawk Training have become the first independent training provider to be awarded an outstanding Ofsted Grade 1. I have worked with them in the past and know how committed they are to quality. They recognised early on that their vocational assessors would […]