The latest Exclusive Thought Leadership and Op-Ed Articles written by experts across Further Education, Work Based Learning, Skills, Employability & Apprenticeships
Being BAME at Oxbridge: #Brexit Will Mak…
Jul 23, 2019 / Featured Article
If you were to pause and think of the imagery conjured up by the word ‘Oxbridge’, it is certainly not that of an ethnically diverse, multicultural student community living in...
3 ways #EdTech is key to narrowing the e…
Jul 22, 2019 / Featured Article
Higher education has become a hot topic. Recently, we’ve witnessed politicians, students and educational leaders alike engage in spirited debate over the value of universities. However, it’s extremely hard to argue with...
In the Dark on #TLevels : #HE Wants a Lo…
Jul 22, 2019 / Featured Article
UVAC was established 20 years ago by the HE sector to champion higher-level vocational learning. Today we have 93 HEI members that support our agenda. T levels are new and design specifications...
Time to Reform Britain’s Fee-Paying sc…
Jul 21, 2019 / Featured Article
The Privately Educated Retain their Grip on the Top Jobs as ‘Old Etonian’ Boris Johnson prepares to be PM. AS Britain prepares for the selection of the Old Etonian Boris Johnson...
Major school survey identifies significa…
Jul 20, 2019 / Featured Article
Careers provision in England has improved over the last two years, according to a major survey of schools released last week. That research "Careers Leaders in Secondary Schools" carried out by...
Arts for the economy's sake: #STEM vs Cr…
Jul 20, 2019 / Featured Article
Arts for the economy's sake I spend a lot of time promoting STEM subjects, especially when it comes to encouraging girls and women to study them. With that in mind, it might...
5 Hot Topics For The Final Year Of Curre…
Jul 19, 2019 / Featured Article
Hot on the heels of Augar, Ofsted’s updated common inspection framework (CIF) and the long awaited 2019/20 Apprenticeship funding rules the All Party Parliamentary Group on Apprenticeships (APPG) 2018/19 has published its...
What can the next prime minister do to f…
Jul 18, 2019 / Featured Article
Focussing on lifelong learning will be crucial to reduce the divide between the country and make a success of life after #Brexit Whether it will be Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt...
How will an #EdTech Testbed help our col…
Jul 17, 2019 / Featured Article
Nesta is launching an ‘EdTech Innovation Testbed’, in partnership with the Department for Education, to help colleges and schools to try out technology products and support EdTech tools to generate...
Higher Technical Education – the Answe…
Jul 16, 2019 / Featured Article
The nature of work and the type of jobs in the economy have been changing for the last 40 years. And this rate of change is set to increase. The intense...
This is the rise of the humans! Dispelli…
Jul 15, 2019 / Featured Article
The world of work is about to enter one of the most turbulent transitions that we have ever experienced. Not since the first industrial revolution have we stood in front...
#Edtech - The Journey From Fear to Fanta…
Jul 12, 2019 / Featured Article
For leaders seeking to enable change through technology one of the most commonly heard phrases is ‘I’m all for change….. But’. This is something of a problem as technology is clearly...
#LifelongLearning in the Age of Speciali…
Jul 12, 2019 / Featured Article
Learning never exhausts the mind - Leonardo da Vinci #Lifelonglearning has only recently become a fashionable trend, yet it derives from the most timeless of all human traits: curiosity. There is an overwhelming...
Snake oil and scaremongers - Reality ver…
Jul 11, 2019 / Featured Article
The Association of Employment and Learning Providers has had a stream of providers get in touch over the last couple of weeks extremely worried about some of the interpretations being...
In the midst of a skills revolution we n…
Jul 11, 2019 / Featured Article
Time to reverse the decline As I talk to clients from across different sectors of our economy about their future skills needs a common theme emerges which is that, to survive...
#Apprenticeships have never been so impo…
Jul 10, 2019 / Featured Article
Skills Group's Industrial Programme Manager, Christian Snaith, offers his views on how apprenticeships and the encouragement of new talent into the Construction sector have never been so important to continue...
Strategic considerations relating to Int…
Jul 09, 2019 / Featured Article
Throughout this series of articles and videos we have spoken about the innovative services that the Intuitive Campus can power. We have shown how the Innovative Campus can benefit the students...
£100k - The true cost of a degree?
Jul 05, 2019 / Featured Article
The picture of the slightly awkward, smiling young person in mortar board and gown. Mum/dad/nan/big brother/sister by the side of the graduating student, each with an even broader grin than the...
Redefining the Role of #EdTech - The Ris…
Jul 04, 2019 / Featured Article
The future of education and learning I think it's really interesting at the moment. We're at a point in time where we are a few years into education technology and the...
Is there a Solution to the Forecast Over…
Jul 04, 2019 / Featured Article
Government needs to face facts – the £2.45bn raised through the Apprenticeship levy was never going to fund the delivery of the Apprenticeships everyone wants. The levy pot can’t at the...
Employers need to tell schools and colle…
Jul 04, 2019 / Featured Article
We were surprised at the British Chamber of Commerce & Indeed’s findings last week. Their research found that it's taking some businesses up to 6 months to recruit skilled staff and...
What makes a really good initial assessm…
Jul 03, 2019 / Featured Article
In terms of effective practice is around initial assessment. I get asked all the time about, "What makes a really good initial assessment?" Essentially, it's about NOT concentrating solely on English...
Understanding the differences between an…
Jul 03, 2019 / Featured Article
As the Government moves from Apprenticeship Frameworks to Apprenticeship Standards by 2020, Joanna Jagiello, Head of Marketing & Engagement at Protocol and Sam Taylor, Head of The Assessors Guild give some useful advice about...
How to reach and engage hard to reach yo…
Jul 02, 2019 / Featured Article
Our remit, in the main, is to focus on young people who need a little extra support. Not just those who've been challenged by the education system because of behaviour, although...
Learning throughout life – Inspiring s…
Jul 02, 2019 / Featured Article
We often talk about lifelong learning, and the importance of providing opportunities for people to learn throughout their life course. There are plenty of reports which set out the evidence;...
Sturgeon’s criticism of external #RoAT…
Jul 02, 2019 / Featured Article
At last week’s AELP National Conference, Sheila Sturgeon, a Senior Policy Advisor at the Department of Education, warned providers against using external bid writers to apply for a place on...
Changing the Rules to Get Prisoners into…
Jul 01, 2019 / Featured Article
Offender Learning and Apprenticeships We support prisoners into employment, but holistically. Helping the whole person to deal with their complex issues but progress through to employment. There are 80,000 people in prison...
Mind the Gap: The importance of diverse …
Jul 01, 2019 / Featured Article
Under-privileged students are at a severe disadvantage As the student body becomes more diverse we must have an academy which matches it. Children from underprivileged backgrounds are severely disadvantaged when it comes...
Succeed at Remote Online Study While Tra…
Jun 30, 2019 / Featured Article
In 2017 I seem to be doing what my peers could only dream of: working at a remote digital marketing job while traveling the world. But I wasn’t feeling fulfilled at...
To achieve top quality it’s never enou…
Jun 29, 2019 / Featured Article
To be perfectly honest the only reason I turned on the tv for the men’s FA Cup Final was because I fancied watching it. And I was really glad I...
Sequencing the #Apprenticeship Curriculu…
Jun 28, 2019 / Featured Article
One of the key things about the education inspection framework, if we look at the quality of education judgment, there's an element in there in terms of the intent, implementation...
FE has suffered decades of shocking negl…
Jun 28, 2019 / Featured Article
What’s at the end of the tunnel for further education? The treatment of further education (FE) is nothing short of shocking and the recent Augar report is a condemnation of what...
New EQA Framework for #Apprenticeships f…
Jun 27, 2019 / Featured Article
End-point assessment (EPA) is one of the key aspects of apprenticeship standards – providing a robust and independent test that an apprentice who completes their apprenticeship is fully occupationally competent. Given...
#Gamification - Make Education Engaging …
Jun 27, 2019 / Featured Article
In April, Damien Hinds, the UK’s Education Secretary, called upon schools, businesses and technology developers to “realise the huge potential of technology to transform our schools so that teachers have...
Overcoming the Three Major Challenges fo…
Jun 26, 2019 / Featured Article
How can we bring apprentices, SMEs and micro businesses together? Over the last two years there's been a dramatic fall in the number of small businesses that have recruited, and trained...
Playing as a Team: The New EQA Framework…
Jun 26, 2019 / Featured Article
Being an End-Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO) and working with a range of different External Quality Assurance bodies (EQA) can often feel like playing on a football team where all the...
Reading the runes for #Apprenticeships #…
Jun 25, 2019 / Featured Article
Given the ongoing political uncertainty it is not a surprise that neither officials nor Ministers were able to lay out clear plans for the future at this year's AELP Annual...
Clearly the money is going to run out - …
Jun 25, 2019 / Featured Article
I think we're at a really important period, particularly around work-based learning where there's apprenticeships, traineeships, adult education budget, all the policies could be really good. They're doing the right things...
ESFA to review 16 to 18 #Levy transfer r…
Jun 25, 2019 / Featured Article
ESFA’s Keith Smith showed a strong willingness to address policy and funding rules to ‘make sure the system works’ and Apprenticeships work. Keith highlighted one such policy and funding rule...
Employer-led end-point assessment extern…
Jun 25, 2019 / Featured Article
Following the publication of my introductory article on end-point assessment external quality assurance, here is the next article in the series on external quality assurance (EQA). This article is from the...
The essential role of Teachers in the #F…
Jun 24, 2019 / Featured Article
How can we adapt learning to meet the needs of global education in the 21st Century? I think global education is a bit of a misnomer because there's one thing about...
World-class apprentices require world-cl…
Jun 24, 2019 / Featured Article
Training world-class apprentices World-class apprentices require world-class training. However, I am often asked in my role as WorldSkills UK Training Manager how do you prepare an apprentice to compete on the...
An Intuitive Campus Needs Wireless, But …
Jun 22, 2019 / Featured Article
My colleague Ben Pammenter mentioned in his last article the importance of creating an integrated, intuitive campus that can transform the student experience. The intuitive campus uses pre-existing technology to take...
Aligning your marketing and recruitment …
Jun 22, 2019 / Featured Article
Have you aligned Candidate Marketing and Recruitment? I was with the marketing manager of an apprenticeship training provider last week who was proudly telling me that they were getting 700 applications...
Joysy John discusses the role of #AI in …
Jun 21, 2019 / Featured Article
Where do we see AI playing a role in education, both the current state and the future? We believe that it's about solving real challenges in education, for learners, for teachers...
It’s the learners who are at the foref…
Jun 21, 2019 / Featured Article
In May, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) launched its report which explored the trends and implications of 16-19 education funding. Within the report, it was revealed that Education for 16 to...
How Investment in #EdTech is Driving Inn…
Jun 20, 2019 / Featured Article
The education technology "EdTech" market is something that, particularly in Europe, is highly fragmented and there are a lot of young companies. We looked back at some of the EdTech startups...
Continuously Re-thinking and Adapting Ad…
Jun 20, 2019 / Featured Article
As automation technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) continue to take on some of the more demanding tasks carried out by humans, traditional jobs are being redefined and the demand for...
#EdTech is not the lifeblood of the Four…
Jun 19, 2019 / Featured Article
We are living in a truly unprecedented time. One that is, and will continue to, radically change the way we work, the way we live, and the way we communicate...
Feast and Famine: Re-balancing funding i…
Jun 18, 2019 / Featured Article
Policy-makers like to refer to ‘unintended consequences’ once the faults in their policies become apparent to all. The job of an economist (if not that of a politician) is to consider...
How will the #AugarReview affect further…
Jun 17, 2019 / Featured Article
We’ve heard a lot about the Augar Review in the past couple of weeks. Most of the headlines have focused on the impact it will have on higher education, but the...
The 3 sets of relationships we all have …
Jun 16, 2019 / Featured Article
YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH WORK Have a look at this diagram: It represents the 3 sets of relationships we all have with work: 1. Contracted This is the employment contract - the one we sign...
24% of pupils admit to having taken drug…
Jun 15, 2019 / Featured Article
Drugs have been part of our culture since the middle of the last century. They were made popular in the 1960s by music and mass media. They invade all aspects...
What can educational practitioners learn…
Jun 14, 2019 / Featured Article
CONTRARY to popular belief educational practitioners and social enterprises can learn much from the research produced by university academics. Increasingly social research can have a significant impact on policy development and...
Millions are unhappy at work, but some a…
Jun 13, 2019 / Featured Article
A staggering 4.3 million UK employees report being unhappy at work – 13% of us nationwide – and over 15,000,000 days are lost per year due to reported mental health problems caused...
5 Steps to Introducing the Concept of Gr…
Jun 12, 2019 / Featured Article
Grading is a new concept for apprenticeships. It’s a key feature of the new (end-point) assessment approach. But are you, as a trainer, looking at ways in which you might introduce...
Skills Devolution – Dividing Opinion o…
Jun 11, 2019 / Featured Article
The national landscapes of policy and practice in the realms of further education, higher education and skills have become especially volatile, uncertain and complex spaces in recent times. Against a backdrop...
Lifting the lid on external quality assu…
Jun 10, 2019 / Featured Article
An insight into external quality assurance of end-point assessment This article is the first in a series of articles on the External Quality Assurance of End-point Assessment of apprenticeship standards. The series...
Changing the score: Music education must…
Jun 09, 2019 / Featured Article
Customer experience has transformed business practice and elevated consumers’ expectations in recent years. The modern consumer, empowered by new technologies, demands more than value-for-money products: they expect fast digital interactions...
Smart Classrooms Allow Teachers to Perso…
Jun 08, 2019 / Featured Article
Back to the classroom - under the hood of tech-powered teaching and learning There has never been a tougher time to work in education. In the face of dwindling budgets...
FE News are always keen to engage with experts who would like to contribute solution led, peer-to-peer thought leadership content, sharing best practice, innovation and emerging technology within education, training and employment.
Feature articles need to be 650 - 2000 words and be exclusive to FE News. We also need the Name, Job title and Organisation of the author and have an accompanying image, usually a head shot of the author 750px by 570px. Contact editor @ fenews.co.uk for more details on how you can get involved.
