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Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 826: 6th December 2025. Would A Skills Passport, Or Try Before You Buy Training, Bridge Employability and Skills Gaps?
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
Green Mindset Collective Report Countdown
A big week is coming. We have the countdown to the Green Mindset Collective report (it is launching on the 10th December and we have a collective reflective live stream with the report co-authors at 1pm on launch day of the 10th December if you want to join us). Exciting!
The Government will miss clean energy targets without skills shake up
Thinking of Green Mindset, clean energy and sustainability. There was a really interesting report out from the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee (ESNZ) this week. This is a massive opportunity for the skills sector... massive: The committee's main point is that the Government will only meet its clean energy 2030 or 2050 decarbonised building targets if there is significant new intervention in the UK workforce.
135,000 - 725,000 New jobs in the next four years, all with a skills or retraining need!
The ESNZ committee has savvily highlighted a similar skills and jobs need in a competitive market, eg the start of a Skills competition for labour. For example, there is a need for an additional 250,000 construction skills related workers to hit the Government's ambitious 1.5 Million house building targets.... but at the same time.... the Climate Change Committee estimates net employment gains from the energy transition will be between 135,000 and 725,000 new jobs in the next four years, but the vast majority of these workers will have to train or reskill.
Massive Retraining and Skills needs ... in the next Four Years!
Roll that back a moment... between 135,000 to 725,000 additional workers, all with reskilling and training needs ... in FOUR YEARS! The ESNZ committee has said that the Government might need to bring in skilled workers from overseas... but, this flies contrary to Government thinking (and the fast emerging Government opposition in the Reform party)... when we have the Keep Britain Working review, highlighting the cost of economic inactivity due to ill health is £212 Billion per year, or 7% of GDP, or 70% of income tax receipts... erm, we can't afford to import enmass the skills, we need to upskill and reskill.
... but do people know about how to start or step into these 135,000 - 725,000 roles, as these will be at all levels and specialist skill levels, from retro refit, to digging holes, to Agentic AI, to developing small modular nuclear reactors!
Skills Passports
Now the ESNZ Committee mentioned 'Skills Passports'... which makes sense, there are the CSCS cards in construction and Energy & Utility Skills has the EUSR Cards (Energy & Utility Skills Register) to check skills, CPD and competence. So this makes sense. ESNZ talked about a local plan for this. Is there a way to have Skills Passports, that have transferable skills? Or is there a cool way to advise, hey you have X, Y and Z skills and experience, with this short course (or long course), you could step into Z role and this career route (for young people and adults)? This could be massively transformational!
Try Before You Buy Training Scheme
Now, this is really interesting, ESNZ also suggested a 'Try Before You Buy' training scheme, and after giving this example, I think this is really worth looking at with greater depth: the committee highlighted that up to 70% of those embarking on construction-related FE and skills qualifications, do not complete or do not enter the Construction sector. The ESNZ Committee suggested that Government should expand and formalise ‘try-before-you-buy’ training opportunities. I think this is very interesting, especially if you can couple this with careers, advice and guidance... and a transferable skills tool for people, this is a game changer.
Interesting, why can't this be rolled out to all 'priority skills areas'? Could this reduce learner dropouts? Could this also reduce the amount of say Levy funds lost, especially as now the Levy funds need to be use it (or lose it), in a 12 month period. If someone could 'Try Before You Buy' into a sector, a scheme, a career... could this be a cool thing?
I mean, the financial mechanics would need sorting out for the delivery from a Provider... could providers receive upfront funding for 'Try Before You Buy' provision, with additional payments tied to completion and results in priority skills areas? This would make it financially viable while maintaining quality incentives and hopefully reduce no completion rates? A win, win potentially?
Could this help address local skills needs, help reduce the number of NEETs, help people have confidence to reskill and know they are not 'signing their life away' on a two-year or even an accelerated one-year course? Would this encourage more lifelong learning, reskilling and upskilling?
Ofsted, Highlighting a Massive Missed Opportunity
Other big announcements this week is the Ofsted Annual Report, which always makes me laugh, should Ofsted keep it real, and live their values... and also be grading themselves on these annual reports, against their own measures? I bet the education sector would welcome this. For me, outside the easy headlines, a big one for me in the Ofsted report, was what we knew already, but Prison Education... is a shocker!
Now when we have such massive needs in Construction, in Clean Energy and Utilities... hundreds of thousands of people are needed, all in really well paid, and all in demand long term jobs, with a career... eg it is a sustainable move to skill someone in these areas.
To then not have a massive push on sorting out training, skills and employability in Prisons (especially on Neurodiversity support, help with before Entry level 1 qualifications)... then this is a massive opportunity missed and is quite frankly a scandal. I have said it before, but this is 2025 (nearly 2026), not 1825!
Careers Advice and Guidance... and Work Experience Opportunities
Another really interesting area of the Ofsted Annual report was their highlight on Careers Advice and Guidance ... and work experience areas highlighted by Ofsted. Eg Some young people are very unlikely to receive any kind of careers education, advice or guidance after they have left school.
This is outrageous! We are at the start of the 4th industrial revolution. The world of work, the skills needed (as highlighted above in Clean Energy and national security.. eg it is that important)... has highlighted the massive adult skills retraining need. To not deliver this at scale... and well.. to post 16 (Ofsted are no doubt highlighting 16-18 year olds in colleges), is outrageous, but we have a massive need for adults to reskill, to upskill.
Surely we Need Careers Advice and Guidance... and Break The Cycle Support in Prisons?
If people in Prisons, are locked up for 22 hours at a time... not given access to training, basic English and Maths retraining support. The Justice committee, highlighted just three weeks ago that 50% of prisoners are not involved in prison education or work. This is outrageous! If this is happening, you can bet that Offenders aren't also receiving any sort of advice on Careers Advice and Guidance or support to break the offending cycle. We are not giving them a chance basically!
Where do we start?... sorting out the quality of training (as Ofsted says the training is pretty dire), or do we need to look at bite sized chunks, or 'Try Before You Buy'... surely, there could be ways to develop a Skills Passport whilst learning in Prison, to be ready to step into a sustainable career and well paid job as soon as they leave prison? Surely this will help break the reoffending rate (when 80% of offending is reoffending, according to the Justice Committee), surely this is well worth looking at?! There has to also be a long-term cost saving in all of this, as well as not just doing the 'right thing'?
We really need a joined-up approach to lifelong learning, skills, careers advice and promoting a culture of 'have a go' or 'Try before you buy' training... to bridge the massive skills gaps that are already here, but also to adjust to the massive disruption that we are starting to see due to automation, AI and entry-level roles.
I hope you enjoy Soundbite this week... and I hope I see you on the live stream launching the Green Mindset Collective report on the 10th December.
Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles
Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week
To Address our Skills Crisis UK Businesses need to Look Inward By Dr Chibeza Agley, Co-Founder and CEO, Obrizum
Never Let the Solution Become Part of the Problem: Rethinking Reasonable Adjustments in Further Education By Nathan Whitbread, The Neurodivergent Coach
A Finance Director is for Life, not just for Crisis By Ian Pryce
This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!
Have We Clicked Too Far? By Emily Warburton, CEO of Number22
Does the Budget deliver Skills and Curriculum Reform? By Heather Akehurst OBE, Open Awards
Protecting Learners and Staff: Why Wellbeing and Drink-Spiking Awareness Must be on Every FE leader’s Agenda By Julie Barker, COO of AUCSO and former Non-Exec Director, College and University Business Officers (CUBO), and Chair of The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO) and Dawn Dines is Founder and CEO of Stamp Out Spiking
What’s New in the World of FE?
Announcements
DfE Launch A National Conversation On SEND Reform By DfE
Reports
Youth Trends Report warns of “converging crises” facing young people and calls for urgent Government action By Federation of Awarding Bodies, NEBOSH and Tim Oates CBE
Ofsted Annual Report: FE Quality Rises To 88%, Prison Education and Post-16 Careers Guidance Needs Improvement By Ofsted
Education and Business Leaders Urge Government to Back SME Apprenticeships to Boost Growth and Youth Opportunity By Edge Foundation
Bold new plan needed to help 60,000 more people into work in Wales and tackle economic inactivity By Learning and Work
Energy Security and Net Zero Committee: The Government will miss clean energy targets without skills shake up By ESNZ Committee
Voices
Another jobs tax – how the Budget fails to deliver growth or jobs By Lee Biggins from CV Library
The Green Mindset Collective report countdown: Four Facilitator Voices: Creating the Foundations for the Green Mindset Collective Report – The Changemaking Power of 3%. The Four Facilitators from the Collective share their groups ideas and solutions to help create the report we are launching on 10th Dec.
In The Know
We are launching the Green Mindset Collective report in partnership with ETF on Wednesday, 10th December. If you want to join the report co-authors live to unpack the report. Join us at 1pm on Wednesday 10th December for the Collective Reflective.
Join us on Feb 12th in London for our SEND collective intelligence event. Where you’ll co-create strategies and policy recommendations alongside sector leaders. This isn’t lectures, it’s rolling up sleeves and making real change. This isn’t just SEND, this is Neuro-inclusion and breaking down the silos to help every learner, not just 16-18, but all life long. This is a massively important Collective, so help shape the report!
We hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week. Stay curious, keep innovating, and let’s shake up the world of FE together, and catch you next week!
By Danny O’Meara, Operations Manager, FE News and | 