Further Education

We pay to train Big Mac staff

Published: 05 October 2006

Why is the fast-food giant providing classes at the taxpayers' expense?

Smash the glass ceiling

Published: 14 September 2006

A new Masters programme is designed to get more women into top arts jobs. Caitlin Davies reports

Further education: the Olympics start here

Published: 07 September 2006

Colleges are laying on a host of sports-related programmes as 2012 approaches, finds Neil Merrick

Basic Skills: Baby, I've got to do some learning

Published: 27 July 2006

Help is at hand for new parents and others who have a reason to improve their skills, says Rosie Freeman

Leading article: Power to teach

Published: 20 July 2006

Now that teenagers aged 14 to 16 are able to opt to be educated in further education (FE) colleges, lecturers are being confronted with the kind of difficult behaviour that previously only teachers in schools saw. So, it is right that the Government should legislate to give FE lecturers the power to restrain unruly children who need to be removed from the classroom or otherwise controlled. It was a anomaly that they were required to teach disaffected youngsters without being able to do so effectively. Lecturers need the same powers as teachers. When will the Government decide that they also need the same pay?

Whatever happened to A-level choice?

Published: 13 July 2006

FE colleges are being pragmatic, if myopic, by only offering vocational courses, says Neil Merrick

Postgraduate Lives: Felicity Ford, masters student at Oxford Brookes University

Published: 29 June 2006

'I want to turn my arthritis into an asset'

Home Learning: You might learn more by remote control

Published: 22 June 2006

Distance learning is flexible, cheap and convenient. No wonder it's on the increase

Somerset College: The building blocks of a sustainable future

Published: 01 June 2006

One college is leading the way in pioneering new techniques in construction, says Neil Merrick

A message from Dr John Brennan at the Association of Colleges

Published: 01 June 2006

In 20 years' time half of our population will be 50 and over. This demographic time bomb requires action

Take a break - and learn something

Published: 01 June 2006

Belly dancing, using the internet, or arts and crafts? Enrol on your dream course

Tutorial colleges: 'The teachers treat you with respect'

Published: 01 June 2006

Tutorial colleges are just crammers, right? No; they are chosen by the brightest students, says Alex McRae

Colin Carnall: Business schools must be more focused on the design and delivery of training

Published: 01 June 2006

Director of Warwick Business School Executive Programmes

John Brennan: American community colleges have a great deal for us to admire and emulate

Published: 04 May 2006

Britain and the United States have long had a close relationship. For years our schools and colleges have built strong links with partner institutions across the pond. And we have much to learn from each other, particularly in further education. I was fortunate enough to attend last week's annual convention of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in Long Beach, California. Most people in the UK will not have heard of the AACC or the college system it represents. Community colleges are the equivalent of our further education colleges and there are many interesting parallels and contrasts between their system and ours.

Will the voters come out to save courses?

Published: 04 May 2006

The axing of up to half a million classes could yet become a political hot potato, reports Nick Jackson

Postgraduate Lives: Charlotte Miller, student at the Royal Veterinary College

Published: 13 April 2006

Walking with elephants and dinosaurs

Thanks for free tuition; now give us the funds

Published: 06 April 2006

What do college principals make of the Government's proposed reforms? Neil Merrick hears their views

Leading article: Someone must pay for courses

Published: 30 March 2006

The Government's White Paper on the future of further education is right to single out staying-on rates at age 16 as the most pressing issue to be tackled. We cannot tolerate a situation in which countries such as India and China are expanding their education systems, but we lag behind at 24th out of 29 industrialised nations for the percentage of young people staying on in full-time education and training. This week's announcement that A-level courses are to be provided free to youngsters up to the age of 25 is imaginative.

Contemporary music academies give stars of future a chance to be heard

Published: 23 March 2006

If you were searching for the best spot to establish a school for popular musicians, you might not immediately think of Guildford, the Surrey hometown of corporate commuters. The Home Counties are where rock royalty retire to vulgar country mansions to count their money; not, surely, where the guitar heroes of the future are bred?