The Great Government Reshuffle – FE Soundbite edition 652

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 652. FE Soundbite is the weekly e-journal from FE News, this is edition 652 and for the past 12.5 years I have been writing FE Soundbite to share the latest news, thought leadership and interesting articles from past week on FE News.

The Great Reshuffle and the Great Resignation

Wowzers, what a week. This week we had three different Education Secretaries. I know it is the time of the Great Resignation and the Great Reshuffle… but wow, that is a bit much. I mean Michelle Donelan was in the Education Secretaries role for literally 2 days! You have no doubt heard all about it now and how Boris Johnson has resigned… but not left Number 10 as yet. The current Education Secretary is James Cleverly .. but Skills Minister-wise… Alex Burghart resigned earlier in the week. It was quite a reshuffle! All down to a loss of confidence in Boris… and his handling of a lot of things, but the straw that broke the camels back was the Deputy Chief Whip appointment and prior knowledge from Boris Johnson that Chris Pincher had been accused of sexual misconduct, which started a chain reaction of resignations.

So what does this mean for the sector? I don’t know. Nadhim Zahawi who was the Education Secretary is now the Chancellor and is someone who understands Education and Skills, but what can be realistically done or rolled out between now and the appointment of a new Conservative Leader… will there be an election, after this week… who knows what the new normal will be?

This week’s thought leaders

Joaquín Rodríguez from IESEK, Spain – a long-standing partner of the  WISE Edtech Accelerator programme wrote about: How to Create a Global Teacher Learning Community. IBM’s Jenny Taylor asks if we are ready for a Quantum Future?

Neil Sambrook asks What impacts the T Level? Reflecting on two year of the future of technical education.

Geoff Perry writes about how Business Schools Can Change to Drive Societal Impact. Albert Azis-Clauson explores entrepreunership with his article: By boosting the confidence of our young entrepreneurs, educational providers will benefit us all.

David Redden explains the Need for action on adult literacy and numeracy. Kerry Linley wrote an interesting article on Why tailored apprenticeships are the only smart option. James Whybrow discusses how Subcontracting enhances educational provision, but what about the risks?

We also had a really interesting series from Campaign for Learning on Parents, Children and Adult Learning: Family Learning Policy in the 2020s