8 Million More Reasons To Fix Numeracy. FE Soundbite 872
Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 872: 7th November 2026. 8 Million More Reasons To Fix Numeracy.
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
This week has been one with loads of big announcements from Awarding Organisations: NCFE named their new Exec team, with Philip Le Feuvre promoted to Chief Executive Officer, Kris Todd appointed Deputy Chief Executive, and Janine Oliver becoming the new Chief Commercial Officer… all handled really sensitively after David Gallagher recently passed away. Great appointments, reflecting NCFE’s values and 175 years of legacy, and handled with real sensitivity. Passing the baton is difficult to get right, so it’s good to praise the sector when it does… and this was one of those moments.
More exciting announcements in the AO World: TQUK is now VQA reflecting the changes coming in vocational and technical qualification reform… and PeopleCert appointed Paul Knowles to lead a new PeopleLearn division, which brings together Intertrain, TradeSkills4U, Gen2 and The Oxford Group under the same umbrella. The timing is interesting, with this being mid-sector ‘conference season’, with the AELP autumn conference this week and the AoC annual conference next week.
Numeracy: 8 million adults still have numeracy skills below those expected of a nine-year-old
We had a cracking exclusive from Lord Agnew, Chair of the House of Lords special inquiry Numeracy for Life Committee unpacking the ‘Making it Count: Numeracy for Life’ report. This report matters, as 8 million adults still have numeracy skills below what’s expected of a nine-year-old! Massive progress has been made … and interestingly, the Multiply programme was mentioned again. Now, in my role, you aren’t supposed to have favourites… but, I did like Rishi.. Multiply, KickStart (and rocking that hoodie)! I wonder if KickStart will be mentioned in the upcoming Milburn review?
Skills Minister Jacqui Smith shared to the Numeracy inquiry that around a quarter of vacancies caused by skills shortages are due to a lack of numeracy skills! This is significant.
GCSE Retakes and Small Groups
Beyond maths and numeracy, there were some really interesting findings, such as evidence from Get Further showing that one-to-one and small-group tuition delivers a pass rate for GCSE resits 55% higher than the national figure. Not unexpected, but significant, and it could be really helpful evidence for people like Milburn.
I am off to the AoC annual conference next week… so if you are around, say hi. I am trying to make time to be interruptible!
I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week!
Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles
The Youth Guarantee can do more than get young people into work By Professor Dave Phoenix, Vice-Chancellor of The Open University
NEET doesn’t happen overnight: Reflections ahead of the Milburn review By Dr Vikki Smith, Independent Education & Skills Consultant and Researcher
Learning for Life: How Employers are Building a Culture of Lifelong Learning By Alison Morris, Director of Policy at Skills Federation; Daisy Hooper, Director of Policy, Research and ER at LANTRA and Andy Hall, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at ScreenSkills
This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!
The FE Staff Colleges most need to hear from may be the Least Likely to take part By Jane Tidswell, Head of HE and FE at People Insight
Numeracy for Life: Summing up our inquiry By Lord Agnew, Chair of the House of Lords special inquiry Numeracy for Life Committee
Why SMEs Remain the Missing Piece in Apprenticeship Growth By Adam Herbert, CEO & CO-Founder, Go Live Data
What’s New in the World of FE?
Annoucements
Lords Committee Calls for National Year of Numeracy and National Adult Numeracy Strategy By the House of Lords
Building on ALN Reform: Creating Opportunities Throughout Adulthood By the Welsh Government
Appointments
Philip Le Feuvre is announced as new Chief Executive Officer at NCFE By NCFE
PeopleCert appoints Paul Knowles to lead new PeopleLearn division By PeopleLearn
Lifelong Education Institute appoints Alun Francis OBE as new Advisory Board Chair By the Lifelong Education Institute
Voices
By Danny O’Meara, Operations Manager, FE News and