Where is the Interdisciplinary and Intersectionality Skills Plan for Change?
I was asked by Ben Smith to give a talk at the AO Forum in London this week. Ben was great as he gave me full permission to be ‘brave’ and not give the usual opening keynote speech. Yep, not only was I give a speech. It was the opening Keynote to the entire event. No pressure then.
I didn’t want to give the usual speech, or opening keynote. The audience was Awarding Organisations and those supporting AOS. This was somewhat tailored towards them.
I mentioned some of the wild ideas that I had and to my surprise, people seemed to want to know more, so if you weren’t there, here is my ‘Gavin takeaway.’
Getting lost in the noise of the Jigsaw pieces
There are so many announcements affecting the Awarding Organisation market, including the obvious Curriculum and Assessment review, changes in duration of Apprenticeships (shorter duration Apprenticeships and changes in priority pilot areas like Construction). Adult funding cuts… but then there are the announcements, but lacking detail on The Growth and Skills Levy, what is covered, what is happening with Level 7 (personally, cutting all Level 7 is a massive mistake, AELP think this will save maybe £200M a year, but the Levy was based on the Richards Review on Employer choice and employers value higher level Apprenticeships). Now, do we need more incentives, such as those being offered in the Construction Skills Apprenticeships, but specifically for key priority areas, for SMES, or to encourage employers to support young people? Absolutely.
Is there a need to Support Educators, Employers with the new needs from NEETs?
If you speak to anyone supporting the new cohort of learners in education, whether in college or with Training Providers. There will be a pattern, from anyone in the country that highlights that the new cohort of learners need more support to be not just work ready, but learner ready, shorter duration attention spans, lacking of digital skills, many learners have mental health and wellbeing challenges and to take that further, many educators are starting to ask for training to deal with trauma… in learners and to help them navigate this more. This is very interesting.
What support is being put in place for this? It is essential that this is addressed.
We have just had the latest ONS Figures again and Learning and Work have calculated that we now have 1.2 Million NEETs. 3 in 5 of these NEETs have never had a paid for job. To me, this means we need to add layers of support. Incentives for employers, support programmes for educators, colleges and training providers to provide the additional needs that learners require. From mental health (where a sticky plaster doesn’t cut it)… to digital skills development. Also, how do we equip our Educators to navigate this?
What is the FE, Skills and Employability joined up Plan for Change?
We have all heard about a Plan for Change, from everything when Youth Guarantee is mentioned, Apprenticeships, but also Housing and Construction, infrastructure. The Plan for Change is the New Government (not so new, a year is fast approaching) Ronseal, it says it on the tin.
What are the drivers, one massive one is the Welfare Bill. Learning and Work have anticipated the Welfare Bill will be £100M by 2029 – 30 and is up 40% since 2013!
We have 1.2 Millions NEETs. Which lets put into context is roughly the same number of 16-18 year old students in FE and Skills!
Now we have Pathways to Work and Get Britain working and this is looking at joined up approaches to work, from health and wellbeing to employment support. There is a lot of talk of reducing waiting lists for health care.
But, is there going to be the dedicated mental health and wellbeing support for educators to deal with the new cohort of learners, who all seem to be unsurprisingly effected by the Covid pandemic changes. Where is the joined up thinking on Digital Skills development, on mental health and wellbeing support and ongoing CPD to Educators? Mental health doesn’t magically get better on one Cognitive Behaviour Therapy session or giving someone the blue pill, instead of the red one! It is a long process.
Joined up to the health system is great, but where are the cross and intersectionality support?
Skills Crisis: 20% of all Adults lack Basic Digital Skills
A very unusual situation is currently unfolding. Where there is an explosion in new technology, AI has exploded on the scene and is now truly starting to transform the World of work. This isn’t new, AI has been around since the 50s. AI automation, your sat nav, Alexa, Netflix suggestions, all AI, nothing new. GenAI, is coming up to three years old, again not new. Agentic AI has been a game changer in 2025 and the explosion of Humanoid Bots that are starting to hit the scene in 2025. The co-bots that Charles McIntyre talked about in 2018/19 are becoming a reality!
… but… there is a growing Digital Skills Gap.
A massive one, according to the Digital Poverty Alliance: There are 7.5 million people, 18% of UK adults, lack the basic digital skills required for work. The CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance, Elizabeth Anderson also highlights that the digital ‘pipeline’ is also being effected, 94% of girls and 79% of boys (when they are aged 14) are no longer study Computing. Also only research by the DPA indicates that only 17% of teachers have received formal training in digital skills. Elizabeth highlights, is the Curriculum and Assessment Review hitting the right notes. Looking at this. Erm no. Let’s not even get into the Elephant in the room that 30% of young people can’t achieve a pass grade in English and Maths GCSE after 11 years of school!.. yet schools still receive more money, more higher pay than Educators in FE and Skills, who also have to have dual professionalism.
Debunking the Digital Native Myth
Digital Poverty Alliance are not alone in these findings. In NCFE’s No one Left Offline report… They found 1 in 5 people don’t have the digital skills necessary for modern life. So that is ordering your shopping, getting NHS support or a prescription. Alarmingly the No One Left Offline debunks the Digital Native concept, as the NCFE research found that over 50% of respondents aged 18 and under lacked the essential skills required for modern life, despite often being assumed to be ‘digital natives.’
Where is the joined up support here. We need to rapidly deploy a digital skills training programme to bridge the growing gap. 7.5 Million adults. Or 20%, is a significant portion of the nation. Where is the Plan for Change on the Digital Skills gap?
Explosion in GenAI growth and the growing AI Gender Gap
Nikolaz Foucaud, Managing Director EMEA for Coursera unpacked two interesting reports from Coursera showing some rapid changes in AI.
The Coursera Job Skills Report 2025, between 2023 and 2024, saw an 866% spike in demand for courses in Generative AI, making it the most popular course topic across the entire Coursera portfolio. Which isn’t surprising. What is surprising.
However, the Coursera GenAI Gender Gap Report revealed that although enrolments in generative AI courses on Coursera in the UK rose by 227% over the past year, only 31% of those learners were women. This figure closely aligns with the global average of 32%, underscoring a persistent gender disparity within one of the fastest-growing areas of technology.
Where is the Plan for Change to address a growing Gender Gap in AI skills? As everyone knows just how much AI will transform the workforce, the future of work, skills and general life. I can cite numerous studies on this topic. However, there is little information on how to address the Plan for Change regarding the AI Gender Gap.
Surely there is yet again another Skills gap and skills need here?
CoBots
I interviewed Charles McIntryre from Ibis Capital and EdTechX, on the 4th July 2019, in those heady days before the pandemic. Where he literally blew my mind with the concept of Co-bots and growth of AI in Education.
Charles’ vision for the future took 6 years, but it is here now. We have seen massive spikes in Humanoid bots hitting the scene, from Optimus, to Unitree G1s (have you seen the Kung Fu videos of the G1’s .. they are impressive), to Boston Dynamics and Hyundai to BMW and the figure 02’s increasing productivity by 400% in BMW factories.
Now, who are accrediting the ‘skills’ of these walking talking bots?
The global AI market is projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2030. If you add in Robots, Collaboratively working with AI packed, walking, talking, machine learning bots. Who are Accrediting these Skills? Who Could?? Surely this is a multi-trillion opportunity for Awarding Organisations?
What Opportunities and New Skills Offerings Do Co-Bots offer?
Surely there is a need for new Leadership development courses, on not just leading people and teams, but also AI Agents, Collaboratively leading teams of autonomous co-Bots, surely this needs training, skills, Governance training.
Just this week Roberto Hortal, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Wall Street English highlighted that the global education market is on track to hit $10 trillion by 2030. Yet, EdTech investment has dropped to its lowest since 2014, with just $2.4 billion recorded in 2024. With the growing Digital Divide, the AI Gender skills gap that is emerging, the growth in new technology, new skills needs, new ways of working, new leadership challenges. Where is the Plan for Change for the Future?
In a World where an Awarding Organisation takes about two years to have a new qualification accredited. Things need to change. Over the weekend, I rewrote my AO Forum speech twice due to the rapid rate of change in new developments related to AI in schools in America, China, and Thailand, including a robot police bot. Things are speeding up and the next stage of the 4th industrial revolution hasn’t got started yet.
So where is the Interdisciplinary and interectionality Plan for Change? As these are all Skills gaps and skills that in the future even go beyond the accreditation of humans, into accrediting the competency and excellence in the skills and services offered by AI and Cobots. Surely there is a plan for change on this? I think not. We are too busy looking at the Jigsaw pieces and not at the horizon. We can only make a Plan for Change together.
By Gavin O’Meara, CEO and Founder of FE News and FE Careers
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