The organisation behind the UK’s successful EuroSkills 2016 has warned that a series of funding cuts has left it at a ‘tipping point’. Carole Stott, chair of WorldSkills UK, told TES that the body would struggle to replicate this success at WorldSkills without further funding from the government. Core government grants have dropped by almost half over the past four years - from £15 million in 2012-13 to £8.1 million in 2016-17.

Meanwhile FE editor Stephen Exley writes that the record-breaking performance of Team UK at EuroSkills is to the credit of Team UK, but the drop in funding that WorldSkills UK receives is “stark” (article free for subscribers). If the government wants Team UK’s success to continue, Stephen says, it’s time to stump up the necessary cash.

Dumpling buddies

TES columnist Sarah Simons visits the community group that is helping women from migrant communities to meet, learn English…and make dumplings (article free for subscribers). Heart and Parcel, based in Manchester, was set up by Karolina Koscien and Clare Courtney - two friends who worked together at a local restaurant and discovered that every culture has its own version of the dumplings, and creating an environment where women could learn English while cooking would help them contribute to their community. After her visit, Sarah says that she initially assumed she would have little in common with the women in the class. “As it turns out I had a wonderful morning sharing a meal and learning from the women in the group - celebrating our cultural differences can highlight just how much we have in common” she writes.

A plea to FE providers

Andy Mitchell, achievement for all coordinator at Bridge Learning Campus in Bristol, writes that FE providers need to do more to reach out to students from deprived areas (article free for subscribers). “In areas of multiple deprivation…it is often problematic to get students to properly consider where they can progress for post-16 education, or even to consider it at all,” Andy writes. The size of the challenge is “huge”, and if a real difference is to be made to Britain’s communities FE must take responsibility. Meanwhile, Paul Joyce, deputy director for FE and skills at Ofsted, writes that the rush to recruit puts quality of apprenticeships at risk. “With the rapid increase in apprenticeship providers,” writes Paul, “It is important that quality is not compromised.” 

Welcome to the ‘loonyversity’

Andy Forbes, principal of the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London, writes that students, their parents and teachers are often totally convinced that taking up a place at university is a better option than taking up an apprenticeship (which offers learners a salary of £9,000 a year, and a graduate salary of up to £60,000). Andy says that the sector needs to rally behind the message of Baroness Wolf, who has tackled the university issue head on with recommendations for new programmes of study for 16-18s. “Encouraging school leavers to go to university not only discredits the value of university but funnels people from predominantly disadvantaged backgrounds into a costly career quagmire,” he writes (article free for subscribers).

FErret

FErret - as a “loud and proud FE fanatic” - takes exception to Sir Michael Wilshaw’s recent tirade against the sector (article free for subscribers). At Ofsted’s recent annual report, Sir Michael said that FE should not be “let off the hook” over GCSE English and maths resists, and that the country could “no longer afford to accept such mediocrity on such a grand scale”. After receiving similar potshots from Ofsted HQ before (“All 16- to 19-year-olds should be taught in schools”; “Vulnerable young people end up ignored in large and amorphous colleges” etc.) FErret has grown some rather thick fur when it comes to Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector. But this feeling of indifference is not mutual. While in conversation with one of FErret’s TES colleagues, Sir Michael was heard asking: “Who is FErret?” In light of this, FErret is willing to make a deal with Sir Michael: say something nice about FE before you retire and he might consider revealing his true identity...

All this and much, much more in this week’s TES Further.

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