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Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 802: 28th June 2025 | Are The Skills England Priority Areas Linking To The Industrial Strategy? Exclusive with Phil Smith (Chair of Skills England) on the Industrial Strategy, how Skills England's priority areas are linking to the Industrial Strategy, Bolt On Training, Interdisciplinary, AI and NEETs. Exclusive with PAC Chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown on T Levels, Ofsted on AI. A packed Soundbite this week
This is the weekly e-newsletter and e-journal by FE News: ISSN 2732-4095. We know life is busy, so here's a snapshot of the latest announcements and epic thought leadership articles from sector influencers and thought leaders across FE and Skills this week on FE News.
Gavin’s Reflective Perspective
I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week. Oh my life, what a week.
Are The Skills England Priority Areas Linking To The Industrial Strategy?
Simple Answer from me, is yes! I completed probably my best interview in nearly 22 years this week with Phil Smith CBE (Chair of Skills England). Phil, is brilliant. We recorded this literally under 24 hours under the Industrial Strategy was released and he chatted through how the Skills England priority areas, link to the Industrial Strategy, we chatted about TECs (Technical Excellence Colleges), as we have had the CTEC (Construction TEC), but in the industrial strategy there was a mention of a DTEC (Defence Technical Excellence College)... is this the pattern for the future for the priority areas? Phil explains it.
We also talked about AI and Digital (as he is ex Chair of CISCO, erm, he knew his stuff), we also discussed NEETs, Economically inactive and Skills England working with DWP strategically. I loved Phil, I think this is a start of a bromance here! He was brilliant! Check it out, it's 14 mins of pure diamond encrusted Gold.
PAC: Govt MUST Inject Life into T Levels
The Public Accounts Committee released their report on T Levels.. basically, The Government MUST inject life into T Levels. The Department for Education (DfE) is confident that it can significantly scale up T Level enrolment to 66,100 by September 2029, from 25,508 in September 2024 (significantly fewer than DfE’s original ambition). To put into context.. the amount of learners on T Levels is 2%'ish of the learner intake.
We have an exclusive from Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee unpacking the report.
Erm, this was just on Friday!
Industrial Strategy
So the big one... that everyone was waiting for was the Industrial Strategy. The Industrial Strategy commits to £1.2 billion additional investment in skills per year by 2028-29. Nice!
New DTEC (as per Phil's video)... it's out at last... now hopefully we will hear more on the Growth and Skills Levy. Like, what is it?
Exclusives - I loved Rob Nitsch's article on EPA and the new Era for Apprenticeship Assessment. Rob smashed it out of the park with this article. It is probably our most popular exclusive article this week (seeing as who we had write and interview... this is pretty cool)!
So I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week.
Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles
Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week
The New Era for Apprenticeship Assessment By Rob Nitsch, Chief Executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB)
From Promise to Practice: Making T-levels Work By Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee
Phil Smith on Skills England’s Priority Areas, the Industrial Strategy and Bolt on Training By Phil Smith CBE, Chair of Skills England
This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!
Failing: Totally. Utterly. Absolutely. The Lessons That Remain. By Mandeep Gill
Closing the Gap Between Young People’s Job Aspirations and Labour Market Realities By Elena Magrini, Head of Global Research at Lightcast
From Barrier to Bedrock: Rethinking Functional Skills in Light of Ofqual’s EPA Reforms By Lindsey Poole, Functional Skills lead, academic mentor at the University of Exeter, and specialist in adult apprenticeships and inclusive curriculum development.
A Deep Dive into Workplace Needs Assessments: Understanding General Health and the Positive Impact on Staff By Nathan Whitbread, The Neurodivergent Coach
What’s New in the World of FE?
AELP National Conference 2025
Ben Rowland Discusses Resilience at the AELP Annual Conference
Announcements
The Industrial Strategy commits to £1.2 billion additional investment in skills per year by 2028-29 By the Department for Business and Trade
2025’s Modern Industrial Strategy By the Department for Business and Trade
DWP launches new Construction Skills Mission Board to recruit 100,000 more workers annually By Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Ofsted to Strengthen Inspections Through new Team Structures By Ofsted
40,000 Welsh jobs supported by £600m this government term By the Welsh Government
Insights into Industrial Strategy 2025: Focusing on Skills and Promising 1.1m New Well-Paid Jobs By the Department for Business and Trade
New Global Talent Taskforce Launched with £54m Fund to Attract Top Prospects By The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology(DSIT)
Reports
T Levels: Govt MUST Inject Life into Technical Qualifications to Address UK’s Skills Gaps By the
House of Commons
AI in Education: How Schools and FE Colleges are Making it Work By Ofsted
Mind the Gap: Employers and Gen Z Out of Sync on Skills By The Open University
NCFE's Aspiration Awards
National Education Awards Celebrate Inspiring Learners and Educators
Young learner overcomes a serious car accident and brain injury to win national education award
Career transformation leads to national award for social housing apprentice
Voices
Unlocking UK Learner Mobility By Stephan Fortier, Regional VP UK and Europe at Instructure, the makers of Canvas
In The Know
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Are you going to join us on the 30th October in Manchester, for the Green Skills, Green Mindset Micro Collective. This is in partnership with our friends at Education and Training Foundation. Come and join us to help shape this massively important report, particularly after Skills England have highlighted the massive need in this massively important area. Spaces are limited, so I'd recommend booking early!
We hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week. Stay curious, keep innovating, and let's shake up the world of FE together – catch you next week!
By Danny O’Meara, Digital Project Manager, FE News
By Gavin O’Meara, CEO and Founder, FE News and FE Careers
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