6 JUN 2016

The Thrill of FE

As educators involved in the world of further education, we can at times become mired in the daily doom and gloom in the press about funding cuts, reviews and shakeups.

As educators involved in the world of further education, we can at times become mired in the daily doom and gloom in the press about funding cuts, reviews and shakeups. When this happens, it is easy to forget about the thrilling world that we are surrounded by – the exciting and dynamic field of young people’s education. We are truly lucky to be involved in this ever-changing and advancing field, just as we are fortunate to be surrounded by the clever minds and bright creativity of the students that we have in our lives, homes, and classrooms. For this reason, we have decided to spend time each month reflecting on the fun, thrilling and exciting aspects and stories coming out of the FE field. For our first post on this topic, we are exploring a whole range of dynamic ideas and achievements happening in the FE sector across the UK.

Horticulture at UK Colleges

The Chelsea Flower Show has recently finished so it is no wonder the media is abuzz with stories about the importance of gardening in our homes, parks – and yes, at our Colleges. As you can see from this article about Apprenticeship opportunities with Edge at the Eden project, more and more schools are offering gardening options to their students as a way to connect to nature, feed their future families, and possibly even one day enter a winning display into the CFS! With more and more universities and art schools offering degree programmes in horticulture, this could be a winning move.

Hospice Programme Nurtures Compassion

While you certainly do not usually see the word “hospice” in an article about thrills in FE, in this case, we think it is a suitable match. Five caring students from Barnet and Southgate College have been carrying out work experience placements at the North London Hospice over the past few months, a practice that is meant to help them prepare for a career in nursing but is doing so much more. The students are developing a real compassion for their patients, and gaining valuable life experience and knowledge that will help them throughout their lives.

“Hipster” locations?

We all know that the media loves to throw around buzz words like “hipster” and “up and coming,” but in the case of The Life Sciences UTC and the North Liverpool Academy Studio School, a sixth form College specialising in creative media, gaming, and digital technology, they just might be spot on as these colleges are located in Liverpool’s ultra trendy Baltic Triangle. The students there are often afforded opportunities to work with local artists and entrepreneurs on projects to help revitalise the area - on-trend education at its finest!

Share your FE thrills

In our May 'best of the blog' newsletter, we urged the Colleges in our network to ask parents, community members and students themselves to send in any news and contributions that highlight the exciting things happening in the FE sector. We are delighted at the responses we have received thus far and would like you to please keep them coming to info@www.onlyfe.co.uk! We would love to create a place where we can all share our best experiences in FE and rekindle the vigour and spark that makes us so happy to be in this line of work.