Welcome to FE Soundbite edition 680. What does Ofsted see as the future of FE and Skills? This is the weekly e-newsletter and e-journal brought to you be FE News ISSN 2732-4095. We know life is busy, so here is a snapshot of the latest announcements and cool thought leadership articles from influencers and cool thinkers across FE and Skills this week on FE News.

What does Ofsted have to say about Prison Ed, T Levels and Bootcamps?

We had a great Q&A Article with Ofsted's Paul Joyce, unpacking the recent Ofsted annual report, looking at Offender Learning, Bootcamps, T Levels and asking Paul for some insights and heads up on how to continually improve. Some people have said this is a must read! So check it out.

The Lifelong Learning Bill was Introduced this week

The Lifelong Learning (Higher Education Fee Limits) Bill has been introduced in parliament, which will allow for the Government’s Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE) to be rolled out from 2025... but it was a bit under the radar to be fair.

Only 4% of employers are spending their full Apprenticeship Levy funding

City & Guilds and the 5% Club released some interesting research this week called Levying Up, which found: A staggering 96% of UK businesses would like to see change to the Apprenticeship Levy... maybe because only 4% of employers are spending their full apprenticeship levy funding. The research also revealed that employers have spent an average of 55.5% of their apprenticeship levy funding in the last five years – meaning nearly half of the generated funding has not been used by Levy paying employers and risks going to waste.

Very cool thought leadership Articles this week:

We have had exclusive articles from the Qatar Foundation, IBM, Learning & Work, Ofsted, Instructure, RM, Cap Gemini and even Movember,... that is a whole bunch of cool influencers and thought leaders!

Interdisciplinary FE:

Ameera Al Aji from Qatar Foundation wrote a very interesting article: Further education is not ‘either or’: interdisciplinary integration is essential for future skills, Daniel Hill from Instructure wrote: EdTech: What’s needed to set students and educators up for success in 2023/ Charlie Levitton, from SMART Technologies wrote about: Supporting apprenticeship training provision with technology.

Economically Inactive - the UK's Shrinking Workforce

Did you know the UK is the only OECD Member country, except for Switzerland, to have seen a sustained rise in economic inactivity since the start of the pandemic? Learning & Work's Naomi Clayton wrote a really interesting article (seeing as I am nearly in the 50's group, alarmingly interested in): The UK’s Shrinking Workforce.

Are current assessment models problematic?

Ian Castledine wrote a great piece: Are current assessment models problematic for the future of England’s job market?

#TimeToTalk and Well-being

The team wanted to spend some time and focus on #TimeToTalk this week. We had great articles from  Sarah Coghlan from Movember: Five tips on how to safeguard your mental wellbeing during times of financial insecurity and my mate Nahla Summers: Talking is the Epitome of Kindness. Andy Goff from Cap Gemini wrote: Have you set your wellbeing objectives for 2023? Here’s why you can’t afford to skip this crucial business area

NAW - Ride of a Lifetime

Ahead of NAW2023, IBM's Jenny Taylor MBE reflects on her personal journey as an Apprenticeship Champion with 20 years’ experience behind her as leader of IBM’s Early Professionals Programmes: Ride of a Lifetime.

Artificial intelligence: What’s the impact for educators?

Gray and Leo take a look into artificial intelligence, the recent hype around ChatGPT, and the potential implications for educators both now and in the future. Artificial intelligence: What’s the impact for educators?

Overcoming ChatGPT Fear In 3 Steps

There has been a lot of hype about ChatGPT. So if you are a bit unsure about it or what it all about.. check out this article by Dan Fitzpatrick: Overcoming ChatGPT Fear In 3 Steps

WorldSkills UK Chief is stepping down

Neil has announced he is stepping down from the WorldSkills UK CEO role, which when you look at his time in post, a lot has changed and be implemented at the UK home for Global Skills competitions. We wish you all the best Neil for the next part of your adventure.

Wow, like a blast from the past for working parents - home schooling!

There was also teacher strikes this week, according to some figures 90% of schools were open... but my kids were home schooling and if you went outside, there were kids everywhere! It was like a blast from the pandemic past (accept kids were roaming the streets)... I mean honestly, how did the nation juggle home working and home schooling? What a nightmare! Oh yeah... and fund education better Gillian Keegan... I don't want to have many more home schooling days!

We had the first FE News Top 3

We had our first FE News Top 3 this week. This is the top 3 most popular thought leadership articles on FE News in January 2023. So check out who won. Interestingly, #ChatGPT was featured twice and alo Maths To 18 ... and I am thrilled that Neurodiversity and AI / ChatGPT was the most popular article of the month, two very interesting areas for me personally! ... so congrats to Prof Amanda Kirby, Saf Ali and Dan Fitzpatrick... you will forever be our first Top 3! Dan has also written a follow up piece Overcoming ChatGPT Fear In 3 Steps

Content Creator Academy Launched

We launched the FE News Content Creator Academy this week. This is a project led by the team to give back and help more thought leaders share their story, their vision and dreams for the future of FE and Skills. I hope you like it... you will need to log into your newsroom to have access and track your progress.

Next week is NAW 2023

Next week is the busiest week in the year for us at FE News... #NAW2023! Here is a tag page to check out all of the latest content.

We also have a very cool Livestream - the Future of Apprenticeships - the Apprentice Takeover! Produced and presented by Apprentices! Guests are Toby Perkins, David Hughes and Sue Pittock... its going to be awesome!