A decade ago, digital skills were often seen as specialist knowledge. Today, they sit alongside English and maths as essential workplace literacies. Sustainability is now...
Before our sector rushes to introduce apprenticeship quality measures, it’s time we made better use of the strongest public indicator we already have. An industry...
The UK’s labour market currently faces a growing contradiction. At the same time as businesses report persistent skills shortages, nearly a million young people aged...
As apprenticeships are, by definition, an employment-based programme, you might reasonably expect the pattern of apprenticeship starts to broadly track trends in the labour market. Having worked in the sector for over 20...
AI is beginning to shape young people’s transitions from education to work. Increasingly, career development practitioners are using large language models to support guidance sessions and for resource creation...
The Skills White Paper claims colleges have been treated as "second rate" despite impressive results compared to others. Does our misaligned quality model and music...
There is a persistent and costly misunderstanding at the heart of workforce design in Further Education. We continue to measure people against roles that were...
The quality of initial teacher training (ITT) in further education (FE) is again under review, but this time with a sharper regulatory edge. From 2026,...
At Milton Keynes, we were the first FE College Group in the country to receive the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) inspection, and I’m delighted to...
Geoffrey Hinton and I have something in common. We both studied and worked in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence department at the University of...
Exclusive thought leadership articles written peer to peer by leading experts about the future of education and the future of work. Experts writing op’ed and thought leadership articles on apprenticeships, skills and employability.
Elizabeth Taylor shares the views and insights of the ERSA Women’s Employability Forum on barriers and remedies to women’s employment. More than 25% of working…
The arrival of Pat McFadden in the DWP has got everyone in the tertiary education sector talking. How is his beefed-up Skills policy responsibility going…
The hidden majority We often discuss support for neurodiverse students who have been diagnosed. The more important question is, how are we going to support…
The Career Development Institute (CDI) is urging career advisers across the UK to embrace a human-centred approach in the face of rapid digital change. The…
As a freelance education consultant with over 20 years’ experience in Further Education, I’ve spent my career helping institutions design the best possible provisions to…
As the new academic year gets underway, it’s not just grades that provide barriers to entry. The digital divide is no longer a side issue…
When the Education Select Committee published its report Solving the SEND Crisis (18/09/25), it gave national prominence to challenges long recognised within further education (FE)…
Gen Z and Gen Alpha make up the largest proportion of today’s student population and they care deeply about engaging with organisations that “do the…
Accessibility is no longer a “nice to have”; it is essential. As education and skills providers increasingly deliver information and services digitally, the question is…
Work experience should open doors, not reinforce existing barriers. But too often, young people are locked out of early career opportunities due to cost, location,…
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