Britain needs fewer rip-off degrees and more apprentices In a fast-changing, AI-driven economy, hands-on learning and real-world skills matter more than ever

📝NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP WEEK 📝

Spread the word, apprenticeships rock!

Britain has huge amounts of potential and as we look to the future, apprenticeships will be so important in helping out future generations unlock their talent.

Read more here

feweek.co.uk/britain-need...

City & Guilds CEO pay passed £525k before £166m sale, accounts show City & Guilds CEO Kirstie Donnelly’s pay surged past the half-million-pound mark before the charity sold its awarding and training business, accounts reveal.

📈 City & Guilds CEO Kirstie Donnelly’s pay surged past the half-million-pound mark before the charity sold its awarding and training business, accounts reveal.
feweek.co.uk/city-guilds-...

Opposition parties' skills policies in a changing political landscape A look at how the main political parties; Reform UK, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems and the Greens, are positioning themselves on FE and skills policies

Mapping the skills debate across the opposition benches - @jessjanehill.bsky.social @feweek.bsky.social looks at how today’s parties are positioning themselves on FE and skills.
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#education #educationnews

A powerful and important piece - thank you, Ben Bastin, for bringing such clarity to an issue that too often gets overlooked.

Find out more about our awareness week starting on Monday at specialistfe.com #ThePowerofSpecialistFE

How NEET providers are propping up a failing system An inside look at the pressures facing NEET provision, from pastoral care demands to restrictive funding rules

As youth NEET figures stubbornly hover around 950k, @jessjanehill.bsky.social goes behind the scenes to find out what it takes for FE providers to keep young people *in* education and training

feweek.co.uk/how-neet-pro...

Farage rides a turquoise tide but Reform's skills policy is lost at sea Reform insists that trade skills and industrial automation are the key to fixing 'broken Britain'

Reform UK are certain Nigel Farage will be the next prime minister. What would that mean for further education, skills and training?

Here's what @feweek.bsky.social's @jessjanehill.bsky.social found out at their party conference last weekend:

feweek.co.uk/reform-plots...

The Youth Guarantee and the benefits system - Learning and Work Institute

New @learnworkuk.bsky.social research with YFF shows only 1 in 4 NEETs is getting help to find work or education. Huge challenge w/ 1m NEETs, rising sharply since the pandemic. Government's Youth Guarantee in England needs to be expansive & more ambitious. learningandwork.org.uk/resources/re...

Reform’s turquoise wave is rising fast, but its education agenda is a choppy mix of culture wars, cuts and contradictions.
We investigate what the party leading the polls would have in store for FE and skills

Alun Francis, Social Mobility Commission chair and B&FC CEO Deprived areas need vision – not victimhood – to level up, and social mobility chair Alun Francis is delivering it with the first ‘Multiversity’ in Blackpool

"The inclusion I’m worried about is the poor kid that comes in wanting to work hard, but the rest of the class are messing about and won’t let them."

Great interview in @feweek.bsky.social with @alunfrancis.bsky.social. His knowledge and insights are fascinating.

feweek.co.uk/alun-francis...

GSAP: FE’s secret weapon for net zero training Former fisherman Mike Blakeley tells how he’s building the Green Skills Advisory Panel so FE and industry can make sense of often-conflicting green policies

Green Skills Advisory Panel: FE’s 'secret weapon' for net zero training.
More from @feweek.bsky.social @jessjanehill.bsky.social
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#education #educationnews

Thank you Stephen, it was a pleasure - you're doing a great job with, as you say, a fab team!

Thank you Jon

How to write for FE Week Your how-to guide to getting published in FE Week

Our commissioning editor @jessjanehill.bsky.social has put together this excellent how-to guide on writing opinion pieces for @feweek.bsky.social

We would *love* to see more of your views, insights and ideas published on our website and in our newspaper

feweek.co.uk/how-to-write...

ESOL is more than just a language—it’s about sustainability and future-ready skills!

Our Advanced #ESOL Practitioner, Sam Pepper, spoke with @feweek.bsky.social about how we’re embedding the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (ESD) into our lessons.

📖 Read more 👉 bit.ly/FEWeekESOL

Dear Chancellor, There is no question that the economy faces considerable challenges and you will have tough choices to make in the weeks ahead. It is essential that reductions in spending do not become quickly counterproductive by storing up bigger financial pain in the near future. And not only financial pain but a human cost too. The proposed cuts to adult learning are a case in point. They are not efficiency savings as the sector is already running in the most streamlined manner possible. The Adult Skills Fund faces a 2%/3% cut across all the Combined Authorities coupled with a 6% cut for non-devolved ASF across the rest of the country. This will impact courses due to begin in September – courses which would support some of those in our most disadvantaged communities. At the WEA alone this will reduce learner numbers by at least 2,000 (out of a current 30,000 each year). This would scale up to tens of thousands of lost learners across the sector. This at a time when other Government policies are trying to encourage people towards adult learning. The announcement of the 6% ESFA cut came on the same day as the announcements on benefits reform. Those reforms seek to support and motivate people with disabilities and long term medical conditions into work. That requires having the tailored courses available to them in the neighbourhoods in which they live – something which the community adult learning sector currently specialises in but would not be able to do if budgets are cut. The benefits of adult learning are well understood. In the last iteration of the WEA’s Impact report we found that 42% of learners on our skills courses went on to get a job or go into further education. More broadly, 83% of learners reported increased wellbeing and 91% visited their GP less often than the national average. All of these impacts save the Treasury money and are further scaled up across the community learning sector. Follow the weblink to read the full letter.

Ahead of the Spring Statement, our Chief Executive and General Secretary, @simonparkinson.bsky.social, has written an open letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves outlining the benefits of adult learning.

Read letter online: thewea.info/chancellor_l...

#adulteducation #budget #springstatement

Former apprenticeship boss avoids director ban A former apprenticeship training provider boss avoids a second director disqualification after arguing £1m in erroneous claims submitted without his knowledge

A fascinating view into a world of apprenticeship funding claims gone wrong, how the ESFA investigates and whether expensive "errors" should amount to a disqualification for the directors responsible.

feweek.co.uk/former-appre...

Colleges face staffing crisis as government solutions falter High vacancy rates in colleges are causing courses to be scrapped and agency costs to soar

This #CollegesWeek2025 is an opportunity to celebrate the staff who work in our Colleges supporting adults & young people to make progress in their lives.

However there aren't enough of them. This excellent piece by @jessjanehill.bsky.social is a must read

feweek.co.uk/fe-college-t...

Thanks Maddie! Indeed there aren't

Can anyone or anything stop AI cheating in exams? - Inside Your Ed Although this year’s exam season has largely passed without incident or drama, many exams and assessments throughout our education system are potentially facing their greatest ever threat in the form ...

Yup - a great article from @jessjanehill.bsky.social.

So great, in fact, that she joined me and @drthomaslancaster.bsky.social for an episode of my podcast on the issue of AI cheating by students.

Cracking discussion. And terrifying in places.

www.buzzsprout.com/1874905/epis...

That discussion is becoming ever more pertinent!

The schools waging war on smartphones As fear mounts over the impact of smartphones on young people, what does being a phone free school really mean?

For Schools Week, I delved into how much time pupils are really spending on their phones in schools.
Does being a 'phone free school' really mean pupils are phone free?
And does the answer lie in 'banning' phones, or should schools take a different approach?
schoolsweek.co.uk/the-schools-...

How Hullraisers took Hull College to top dog from underdog The story of how Debra Gray and her Hullraisers transformed Hull College

College turnaround: The Hull Story

feweek.co.uk/hullraisers-...

Day in the life with an ESOL teacher The highs and lows of a typical day for an advanced ESOL practitioner in London

🦋 Our senior investigations reporter is now on Bluesky

Follow @jessjanehill.bsky.social and check out her latest feature for @feweek.bsky.social uncovering the realities of teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages

feweek.co.uk/a-day-in-the...