To qualify for an ALG, students must be over 19 and on a limited income. Since Bedford College started piloting ALGs five years ago, the number of claimants has risen steadily, mainly because the grants are better publicised.

A quarter of the college's 600 full-time adult students are getting ALGs this year, and 1,000 16 to 19-year-olds receive an educational maintenance allowance (EMA), also worth up to £30 a week. Hurer-Mackay believes it is wrong that she receives the same sum as a teenager ( Read more... )
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But even Arran Fewtrell, a manager at Corus Group, who sees the logic to this argument, takes issue with the idea of pausing production at a time when firms need all the business they can get. Corus's first reaction to the recession was to set up a strategy that included training staff in the interpersonal skills that would help shift its macho production culture towards the more self-aware one needed to make the company more innovative. "Production is our focus, it's where all the money is made. ( Read more... )
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"All the students here are passionate about learning, whereas at university their focus seemed to be the social scene," she says. "Also, all the staff here are supportive and have worked in the industry.

"At university, most of the lecturers hadn't, and I felt like I was paying all this money to people who didn't really understand the sector. They didn't even know my name because I was one of 200, and I didn't even really feel they cared whether I passed or failed. I want ( Read more... )
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Universities are already reporting sharp rises in the number of applicants for their postgraduate courses. Warwick University says applications are up 35 per cent on last year. The University of Hertfordshire, which already has a high proportion of postgraduates, has seen a 25 per cent increase. At Manchester Metropolitan, some 920 graduates re-enrolled in 2008, compared with 672 in 2007. The university expects some 1,500 of its graduates to enrol on postgraduate courses this ( Read more... )
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The measures, contained in the summer's Armed Forces Command Paper, mean that Government will pay the tuition fees for army staff taking GCSEs, A-levels, degrees or other courses. (These benefits are in addition to new army bursaries, which will give young people £1,000 a year to study at college, with an additional £1,000 if they complete basic military training.)

At the moment, those serving in the armed forces may have tuition fees fully or partially paid for some courses, ( Read more... )
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If students and some college leaders have their way, however, further education could soon have an independent ombudsman in the same way as other public services. Proposals from the National Union of Students for a new watchdog with similar powers to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA), which oversees higher education, have been well received in the sector.

Talks on the scheme began this week, and if they succeed, the ombudsman could form part of a blueprint for self-regulation ( Read more... )
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With plans under way to raise the leaving age to 18 and up to two million young people expected to take up college places by 2015, concessionary travel for all 16- to 19-year-olds across the country is a vital issue. The new Diploma starts in the next academic year and will see many more students travelling between schools, colleges and employers to gain their qualification. However, the travel topic extends beyond talk of education and opportunities.

Young people are some of the most regular ( Read more... )
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The show also boasted more than 80 seminars and workshops in continuing professional development, as well as a special one-off feature called Learning by Reading, with live demonstrations from children's authors and publishers.

The show's organisers were clearly keen to promote the National Year of Reading – that's 2008, in case you didn't know – dedicating the final day of the event to a series of seminars on how to motivate youngsters to read.

"This year's show reflected ( Read more... )
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But now Labour is about to rip up this system. Within two years, the LSC will cease to exist and colleges will rely on local authorities to fund pre-19 courses, and arrange for other bodies to pay for everything else.

The writing was on the wall for the LSC as soon as Gordon Brown split the Department for Education and Skills in two after becoming Prime Minister. Now, more detailed proposals in last month's White Paper have left colleges bemused and even a little angry.

"It's a complete ( Read more... )
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Many are concerned about the cuts in adult education. Enter a new national campaign run by The Independent's own sub-editor Nigel Pollitt. The campaign is the brainchild of adult learners seeking to defend traditional adult education from further cuts and to fight the idea that self-directed, online learning can replace professionally run classes for adults, as suggested in the Government consultation paper, Informal Adult Learning. Visit the campaign's one-stop shop website, www.saveadulteducation.co.uk, ( Read more... )
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It won't do her CV any harm either, says Vereen Ryan, director of student services at Tower Hamlets College – one of six colleges which have been supported by Volunteering England in a project entitled "Going Further" aimed at building a volunteering ethos in the FE sector. Since the project's introduction in January 2006, the institutions have created a rich mixture of volunteering opportunities, as Ryan exemplifies.

"We've trained 20 students like Nayema to be peer support workers ( Read more... )
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It's not just much of the general public who don't understand it, he says, it's many employers too. And that affects both people's motivation to train and recruiters' ability to take on the right people for the right jobs. The solution, he believes, lies in a much closer teaming-up of schools, colleges and universities. To illustrate his point, Hayes has a dream – and a very real aim – of his local college, Peterborough Regional College, getting a degree accredited by Cambridge University. ( Read more... )
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Many people have never set foot in a college before they apply to become a governor. They simply decide they want to help shape education in their area. Governors' meetings are usually held in the evenings, so people don't have to take annual leave from their paid jobs and common sense is a greater pre-requisite than understanding the intricacies of the Leitch report.

Over time, you'll be expected to get to grips with the basics of how the further education system works, but it's accepted ( Read more... )
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Today Kingston Maurward, which lies two miles outside Dorchester in Dorset, is a leading further education college, providing training in a wide range of industries including agriculture, horticulture, floristry, veterinary nursing and equine studies.

The impressive gardens, which cover 35 acres, including a five acre lake, are open to the public and make for quite an introduction to the estate. The formal gardens are laid out in the Arts & Crafts style of the Edwardian period and the extensive ( Read more... )
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Many organisations offer training in circus skills and most of these are, unsurprisingly, circuses. In the further education sector, circus skills tend to come into performing arts diplomas, although short courses in circus skills are offered in their own right by City Lit in London (www.citylit.ac.uk). It's not all about spinning plates, forming a human pyramid and painting on a clown face, though there is that too. Courses in circus skills are usually run by the drama or dance departments. Short ( Read more... )
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Every summer we see students celebrating A-level or GCSE results – it is imperative to give vocational students an equivalent platform which allows them to take pride in their progress. Their achievements are important and should be recognised. While we can't replicate the tension of a country-wide morning of A-level envelope opening (because vocational qualifications are awarded throughout the year) we can use national data to show the benefits they have brought and who is studying what ( Read more... )
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The Government put forward its Informal Adult Learning proposals in the wake of near-universal opposition to its plans to withdraw funding for people studying for qualifications no higher than those they already possess, and for non-vocational learners, and it's very hard not to see them as a cynical attempt to buy off critics concerned about the latter group.

The funding change itself is aimed at switching resources to first-time learners, but doing this at the expense of all other adult ( Read more... )
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Around 200,000 people study higher education in a college and more than half of all foundation degree students are taught by a college. By a neat coincidence today is the first day in which colleges can apply to validate their own foundation degrees, independent from universities.

Foundation degree courses usually take two years to complete, although part-time courses take longer. Most students sit the course while employed – the qualifications are designed in partnership with employers ( Read more... )
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"When the opportunity came up, I thought, 'Why not? It will be a challenge'," says Buckland. "Over the three weeks, we worked in around 24 government schools, introducing rugby to over 1,000 children. Some of the classes had over 100 students, most of whom didn't speak English, but they were so keen to learn and even now, I'd rather coach Africans than westerners. Every single kid reaches the best of their ability. The trip taught me I was a good coach, as well as how lucky we are over here. I managed to do well in college and I now work for the Rugby Football Union, where it's my role to develop rugby in Lewisham, however I see fit. It's the best job in the world."

Colleges throughout the UK are increasingly offering students the opportunity to go overseas, whether on cultural, educational, charitable or exchange-based trips. In the last year alone, Cornwall College has enabled performing arts students to visit Zanzibar, where they did a play about Aids awareness; animal management students to attend a seminar with David Bellamy in Corfu; beauty therapy students to visit New York; and hospitality, travel and tourism students to visit Amsterdam and Paris.

"Colleges are aware that we live in an increasingly interconnected, global world," explains Frank McLoughlin, principal of City and Islington College. "Equally important for a lot of these trips is the moral imperative. There's also a ripple effect of excitement – when some of our students recently went to China, everyone in the college wanted to know about it. It's hard to exaggerate this outcome – you have to remember that many of our students have never been abroad before."

Paul Atkins, lecturer at Warwickshire College, decided to send his class of 14 to Tanzania for 10 days last year. "They're on the International Baccalaureate course, and we felt we weren't doing enough internationally. The focus of the trip was helping to build a local school, but they also went on a safari and spent four days climbing Mount Meru," he says.

Nicola Hisom, 18, enjoyed the fundraising element, as well as the trip itself. "We did a sponsored swim, cake sales and more," she says. "When it came to the trip itself, the most memorable part was the mountain climb. It really tested our limits of endurance and taught us a lot about ourselves and others. One morning at dawn, we saw Kilimanjaro in the distance. It was really unforgettable."

Some college trips lead directly to further training and even careers. "The key reason we take the college's football squad out to Phoenix every year is to impress scouts in order to secure coveted scholarship places," explains Dave Spence, a coach at Preston College. "One ex-student impressed so much on his trip to the US that he is now a star player for Beckham's LA rivals, Chivas USA."

The students enjoy having a taste of American life too, as Josh Cartman 19, explains: "It's a surprisingly different culture and my host family were great. They even took me down the Grand Canyon in the snow."

At West Nottinghamshire College, travel and tourism students get to pick where they want to go for their annual trip. "We were given a list of criteria and we chose the Gambia," says Lucy Giles, 18. "We did so much in a week – including visiting a crocodile park, helping a school for deprived children and learning loads from the local holiday rep. We all came back realising how lucky we are, just having simple things like a range of clothes to choose from."

Some students even get to visit more than one country as part of an overseas programme. TyneMet College has just introduced a two-year programme to educate students on global pollution and climate change. Run between three schools and colleges in Norway, Italy and North Tyneside, each group of students gets to stay with local host families and attend seminars, as well as visit local areas. "We have students studying anything from psychology to biology – global warming is something that affects us all," says Anne Briffa, the lecturer heading the programme at TyneMet. "But besides learning about global warming, there are other benefits. It raises confidence, teaches an understanding of other cultures and improves social contact. Some students are already visiting each other off their own backs this summer."

Even if students want to go abroad independently, colleges are increasingly supporting them. Doncaster College, for example, recently part-funded a student to spend five weeks in Costa Rica helping to build a school.

Regardless of the purpose or the destination of trips supported by colleges, one phrase that comes up time and time again among students is "eye-opener." Becky Harris, an 18-year-old A-level student at Cornwall College who recently went to Zanzibar with her class is no exception.

"It is quite incredible how much you learn in such a short space of time," she says. "And these are lessons that we'll carry with us for life."

'It made me realise how lucky I am'

Ammar Ahmed, 18, studied A-levels in biology, chemistry, physics and English combined at John Leggott College, Scunthorpe. Last year, he was one of three students from the college to take part in the Prime Minister's Global Fellowship scheme, which involved him spending six weeks in Brazil.

"The idea of the trip was to enlighten college students about living in a global economy. We got a choice of going to Brazil, China or India, where we stayed with a host family and worked for a global organisation. It wasn't easy to get on the programme – there were almost 1,000 applicants for 100 places.

The six weeks were split up into three phases of two weeks each. The first involved getting to know the culture. We got to learn some Portuguese to help us. The next phase involved us moving in with our host family and experiencing proper Brazilian life in a way that you wouldn't as a tourist.

The last two weeks were spent doing an internship in a company. I went to Cadbury. We saw how they work and we had to analyse our experiences to learn from them. One of the things that really struck me is the diversity of the people at the highest levels. Another was the competition for jobs. One job tends to attract two to three thousand applicants.

From September, when I've finished my gap year, I'll be training to become a doctor and I feel this trip really helped. It made me feel very lucky I'm getting the opportunity at all and I also learned something from the dedication of the people in Brazil, who think nothing of travelling four or five hours to go to school. It's made me more determined than ever to make the most of the opportunities that come my way."

Malcolm Koroma, 17, is studying a BTEC National Diploma in dance. Last April, he was one of 10 dance students, two music students and four members of staff from City and Islington College to visit Beijing, as part of an arts exchange programme.

'The China trip really helped with my career plan'

"Each of the lecturers that went with us to China have different dance styles and the idea was to teach them to the Beijing students at one of the schools that performed at the Olympics. In turn, the Chinese dance students taught me and the other students. We got to witness some of the dance routines that were actually performed at the Olympics.

Those of us who wanted to go on the six-day trip had to document the reasons why. I was dying to know what China was like and was keen to experience a new country with completely different traditions. It felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Just seeing how their schooling is so different, and getting to play traditional Chinese games with the students, was amazing. We didn't share a language, but I was surprised how much we could communicate.

We also visited the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, as well as other cultural hotspots and markets. We got a good taste of culture and everyday life.

The dancing was the highlight, especially seeing the two completely different styles – I think the Chinese students felt that too. Another good thing to come out of the trip was meeting new people in the college. Before, I'd only really said 'Hi' to them.

I'd like to go into choreography and teaching – maybe in schools or youth clubs, and I think the China trip really helped with my career plan. Not only will it stand out on my CV, but I've learned more communication skills and learned about dancing in a completely different culture."

Dan Richards, 27, is studying the Foundation Construction Award in wood occupations at City of Bath College. Last November, he and five other students, along with two members of staff, went to the Gambia to help build a marketplace in a small village.

'I liked the idea of having an impact on people's lives. i knew it would be an experience'

"I jumped at the chance of the trip. I liked the idea of having such an impact on people's everyday lives and I knew it would be a cultural experience. All of the students and some staff got heavily involved in fundraising, including a sportathon. That was fun in itself.

The first thing that hit me when we arrived was the heat. I've lived in Australia, but this was something else. The village was in the middle of nowhere and when we were driving down the track to get there, all these people were running after us jumping on the back of the bus. It turned out to be an introduction to the local people's welcoming attitude.

The work itself was hard. I've done a lot of carpentry and labouring, but with no power to do things like mix cement, the job was no mean feat, especially in the heat. But by being resourceful and through team-building, including with the locals, we almost finished the market. In fact, working alongside the Gambians was the highlight for me – although we didn't share many language skills, carpentry is a global language. I liked the fact that we were able to show each other new ways of working too.

Another highlight for me was getting to know my fellow students. I'd been worried that, as most of them are around 18, we'd have nothing to talk about, but we got on really well. Although we were only there a week, I missed the sense of community I'd experienced as soon as I came home. Since the trip, I've been raising money for another project to help build a school in Malawi."

Earlier this year, after protracted wrangling with the University and College Union (UCU), the college management finally agreed to allow suitably qualified lecturers to move up to the top of the pay scale – Spine Point 41, for those who follow these things. But there was a catch. The pay award was discretionary. Only those lecturers who could demonstrate their eligibility would receive the award. And the way we were required to demonstrate eligibility was... to fill in a form.

Like most teachers and lecturers, in the last few years I have had to fill in an ever-thickening blizzard of forms. Forms to enrol students; forms to monitor students' progress (complete with "Smart" targets); forms to record achievement and retention data; survey forms and questionnaires galore, not to mention the Ucas forms I help students fill in – and now a brand-new four-page form to demonstrate that I merit a pay award which, considering that I have worked at the institution for 18 years, I might reasonably expect should be granted as of right.

It is often said, dismissively, that forms are merely hoops to jump through. This is perhaps truer than is realised. Making someone jump through a hoop is a graphic image of exercising power. Forms demand time, effort and concentration – and there are penalties for getting them wrong. It is rare in educational institutions for power to be exercised in its cruder forms; those at the top of the hierarchy do not usually harangue, abuse or bully the toilers at the chalk face. But making us fill in forms is a subtler exercise in power. The form-filler is nearly always acting under duress, and is often, as in this case, a supplicant.

As must already be apparent, on this occasion my form-filling skills were adjudged deficient – along with some 30 of my colleagues. My form failed on two counts: using IT skills in my teaching, and enhancing students' educational experiences. Swallowing my outrage, I lodged an appeal (this necessitated filling in another form, naturally), and in due course was brought face-to-face with two stern-faced stooges who proceeded to grill me as if I had attempted to file a false insurance claim.

Staunchly supported by a union representative, I pointed out that I had used IT in a variety of ways, as detailed on my form, including use of the college electronic system blackboard. But the fact that I had not posted a course outline (even though it was nowhere stipulated on the form that this was the only admissible kind of IT use) counted against me. On the enhancing learning point, my form stated that I'd arranged theatre trips for students – but owing to a deficiency of imbecilic literal-mindedness, I had omitted to explain exactly how literature students who were studying King Lear might benefit from a trip to the theatre to see King Lear. At the hearing I duly spelt this out – only to be told that new evidence was inadmissible as it was not included on the original form.

So my appeal was turned down – although I am allowed to fill out another form to reapply next year. At the end of the hearing, one of the stooges unbent sufficiently to reassure me that the college did indeed appreciate my work, but that the application for the pay award was "form-driven". At the time I was too gobsmacked to reply. But the only appropriate response would have been: "Well, it shouldn't be form-driven, should it?" If a form does not sufficiently demonstrate the applicant's eligibility, then they should be allowed to re-fill it until it does (provided they don't write lies on it). Assuming, that is, that the college is serious about giving the pay award to all the lecturers who deserve it.

Management must have known when they made it a form-driven process that there would be some lecturers who'd fail to make it through that particular hoop – leading to the invidious consequence of lecturers with the same or superior qualifications, capabilities and length of service as their colleagues being paid at a lesser rate (around £2,000 a year pro rata) for doing the same job. It's evident that this is not the way to produce a loyal or contented workforce. On the other hand, it does save money.

Of course, I am not saying that the college is more interested in saving money than in the principle of the thing. But if that were the plan, a form-driven process would be a neat way to accomplish it, wouldn't it?

Useful things, forms.

The writer is a lecturer at Westminster Kingsway College. The fee for this article has been donated to UCU