Artificial Intelligence Safety and Apprenticeship Starts Plummeting: Soundbite Edition 719

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 719, 4th November 2023: Artificial Intelligence Safety and Apprenticeship Starts Plummeting

This is the weekly e-newsletter and e-journal brought to you by FE News: ISSN 2732-4095. We know life is busy, so here is a snapshot of the latest announcements and epic thought leadership articles, from sector influencers and cool thinkers across FE and Skills this week on FE News.

Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week

One of our top three picks of the week is ‘When is a policy not a policy – when elections are coming’ by Chris Cherry, Director, Red Cherry Projects. The last few weeks have seen a lot of policy announcements fuelled by the various party conferences. But how much attention should these announcements really get? In this article, Chris delves into some of the inner working behind the run up to a general election and why we should always add a pinch of salt to the policy recipes.

Another of our top three picks is The Power of Inclusive Leadership: Building Stronger Teams and Organisations by Anju Virdee, National Head of Leadership Development Design & Development and Jeff Greenidge, Director for Diversity and Governance at The Association of Colleges. They discuss inclusive leadership – an approach that values and incorporates diverse perspectives, backgrounds and experiences – how to achieve it and its importance in the FE and Skills sector.

Our final top three featured articles is Where is test security going in the age of AI? This exclusive piece talks through the challenges and innovations that are reshaping the future of secure testing practices. John Kleeman dives into the world of artificial intelligence and its profound impact on ensuring fairness and integrity in educational assessments.

This week, we have also had some other epic exclusives:

Joining the dots to improve local education and the economy

Where is test security going in the age of AI?

Uptake of arts subjects is falling: How can we help young people to access creative careers?

UVAC Response to IFS Report on Investment in Skills

Can Teaching Creativity Through Collaboratives Close the Gap for Tomorrow’s Innovators?

Shining a spotlight on EDI excellence in practice

How education can help bridge the United Kingdom’s digital skill gap

What’s New in the World of FE?

This week, we had our Top Three most popular exclusive articles of October! The winner of this month was ‘Inclusive leadership and culture in the further education and skills sector’, by Dr Katerina Kolyva, Chief Executive, Education and Training Foundation & Professor Jo Maher, Principal and CEO at Loughborough College. Check out the rest of October’s Top Three here.

There have also been a number of developments in the world of artificial intelligence, coinciding with the Bletchley Park AI Safety Summit.

One of these developments being that the UK’s AI skills base will be future-proofed with a £118m boost to skills funding.

Every teacher in England is also set to benefit from new resources powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), supporting them to plan lessons and build classroom quizzes, and helping to reduce workloads.

Apprenticeship starts in England SMEs plummet since introduction of Apprenticeship Levy, CIPD report shows.

The number of apprentices starting in small businesses has plummeted since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in 2017, with 123,800 apprenticeship starts in SMEs in England in 2020/21, compared to 241,000 in 2016/17, a fall of 49%.

On top of all this, AELP also announced their new Chief Executive Officer! Read more about Ben Rowland here.

We have had some epic FE Voices this week also!

• Mindfulness practices in academic settings: Enhancing student and faculty wellbeing
• A Citizens’ Curriculum for Wales?
• Creating a Culture of Support: Strategies for Promoting Academic Institution Wellbeing

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this week’s soundbite. Now that you’re all caught up on what’s going on in the FE Sector this week, we hope you have a restful weekend!

Finley Vile, Platform Growth Manager, FE News

Holly Wheaton, Digital Project Manager, FE News

Alex Anderson, Junior Project Manager, FE News