In this week’s new-look Tes Further, Ian Pryce, principal of Bedford College, writes about FE achievement rates, and how they may have created a lack of ambition in the sector (article free for subscribers). New research from the Education Datalab suggests that post-16 outcomes are worse in areas with colleges and without school sixth forms. Pryce writes: “The report speaks to a lurking fear that I have that, as a sector, we are nowhere near as ambitious enough for our students.”

Pryce believes that the root of the problem is the fear of failure and an obsession with success - or more specifically, achievement rates - prevalent in FE colleges up and down the country. “Too many of our incentives and punishments encourage us to settle for doing well at the lower levels and this needs to change,” he writes. But in such a climate, why take a risk?

GCSE ‘confusion’

FE editor Stephen Exley writes that post-16 providers are adopting a host of different entry criteria for the reformed GCSEs. Owing to the complexity of the new system, which numbers grades from 9 (at the top) to 1, instead of A* to G, a number of different approaches are being taken by colleges and schools across the country. And experts have warned that the system is proving hugely complex for students and parents to negotiate, too.

In his editorial, Exley writes about the approach of Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman, who seems intent on resetting relations with the FE sector. Rather than follow in her predecessor Sir Michael Wilshaw’s footsteps, Ms Spielman ventured for a “much more positive and purposeful relationship between Ofsted and the FE sector” in her first big FE speech at the Association of Colleges’ conference last week. “It’s early days, but the Ofsted reset appears to have sorted out the glitch in the system,” Exley writes.

Major trials

Meanwhile Exley and FE reporter Will Martin reveal that more than 13,000 students across the country will take part in three major research projects funded by the Education Endowment Foundation aimed at supporting those who have failed to achieve a good GCSE pass in Engish and maths. These include embedding contextualisation into students’ vocational subjects, and sending text message ‘nudges’ to students in order to boost attainment..

Pregnancy perils

TES columnist Sarah Simons writes that sometimes it’s better to think before you speak, especially when broaching a sensitive subject. Sarah recalls a time when she accidentally mistook someone who had just given birth to triplets for someone who was still pregnant. “Her face at that moment stays with me,” Sarah writes. “It’s worth erring on the side of caution when commenting. You could ruin someone’s day.” Listen to the TES FE podcast for more on this story.

It’s all about context...

Sean Vernell, a GCSE English teacher at City and Islington College, writes about the London FE providers that are giving the radical Nordic approach to ‘contextual’ learning a try (article free for subscribers). “Globalisation has made us far more interconnected,” Vernell writes. “To develop the global citizen, we need a model of education that mirrors the change in this globalised world”. 

The taming of the FErret

Finally, FErret has decided to don a ruff and quote Shakespeare - well, FE’s version of Shakespeare, anyway (article free for subscribers). If all of FE is a stage, College of Harnigey, Enfield and North-East London principal and TES columnist Andy Forbes is surely the Bard himself, as he has put pen to paper to wax lyrical about the seven stages of FE. Anon, read it here!

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

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