What has happened this week in FE.. outside of the Skills Bill becoming law & Ofsted’s 5 year strategy? – FE Soundbite edition 642

Skills and Post-16 Education Act (Skills Bill) receives royal assent

Wow, what a mega week it has been. FE Soundbite was designed to give you a snapshot of the latest news and most interesting opinion pieces (in the media world called Op’eds) – but my word, what a busy week of big announcements and really interesting thought leadership articles we have had on FE News. So… kicking off:

The Skills Bill

The Skills Bill (Skills and Post 16 Education act) becomes law and has received Royal assent. So what does this mean?

We have a cool sector reaction article around the Skills Bill becoming law here… with several insights from experts and stakeholders from across the sector. We also had an exclusive article from Jennifer Coupland from IfATE on the Skills Bill titled: IfATE will drive up quality and unite the skills system.

Ofsted has a new 5 year strategy

Ofsted also announced their five year strategy this week. Louise Doyle from Mesma wrote a very interesting piece exploring the new Ofsted strategy titled Ofsted: A Force for Improvement?

Girls don’t like hard maths.. erm what??

Jo Foster had a really timely piece reacting to some quite strange statements from the social mobility commissioner this week who said that girls do not choose physics A-level because they dislike “hard maths”.… erm, sorry, what?!? … pardon? .. Is this the 21^st Century or did I just wake up in a dream and in reality it is the 18^th Century?.. surely a social mobility commissioner can’t say that?

Jo writes a very cool reaction piece here: I am not ‘totally fine’ that only 16% of girls study Physics

Outside of the big announcements on the Skills Bill and Ofsted (and two cool exclusives unpacking both announcements), we also had  some really interesting exclusive articles this week:

AELP’s Jane Hickie wrote a cool exclusive on recruitment and retention challenges for ITPs and the entire economy, Paige Johnson, Vice President, Microsoft Education wrote a really interesting piece titled: Rethinking Education: the keys to unlocking equity and inclusion.

Anna Clark from MK College wrote a very popular piece called the Apprenticeship Levy isn’t working!

Jordan Richards also wrote a piece around alternative career pathways which is well worth a check out.

Professor Eunice Ma wrote an article on:  Serious games: a transformative way to engage new audiences and tackle social problems head-on

A bit of a Gavin Special mention:

There are soooooo many great exclusive articles this week, but I think one of my favs… and it needs a special mention is this brilliant article by Ken Warman: The Post-Covid Future of Work: Implications for FE… now you know I love to explore the skills and employability needs for the future of work and this piece is brilliant in my opinion.

We also have had loads of cool FE Voices articles this week

A stand out for me was the announcement on Additional Support for Ukrainian Higher Education Students in England.

Anne Longfield’s Commission on Young Lives calls for end to ‘exclusions culture’ as part of a new era of inclusive education to tackle scourge of teenage violence and exploitation, thousands of new Apprenticeships roles at the Civil Service.

Graham Hasting Evans wrote a cool open letter regarding the recent consultation on Level 2 qualifications and below in England, Adrian Grove from Qube says: Scrapping Level 2 Qualifications would be a Disaster on a National Scale and the Lifelong Education Commission says: Revamping Higher Technical Education (HTE) could be key in the Government’s plans to revolutionise UK Skills, according to new report

 So loads for you to check out in this week’s FE Soundbite e-journal brought to you by FE News.