The FE Collective report – Soundbite Edition 722

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 722, 25th November 2023: The FE Collective report

This is the weekly e-newsletter and e-journal brought to you by FE News: ISSN 2732-4095. We know life is busy, so here is a snapshot of the latest announcements and epic thought leadership articles, from sector influencers and cool thinkers across FE and Skills this week on FE News.

Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week

To begin, we have ‘How to facilitate effective cross-functional collaboration through people development’ by Mat Piaggi, Behavioural Scientist, CoachHub. He explores how generative AI has encouraged organisations to become more cross-functional than ever before, and how this shift can be hugely beneficial for an organisations growth, but should be managed carefully.

Another of our top three thought leadership articles of the week is ‘The Place of Human Skills at the AI Table’, by Elena Magrini, the Head of Global Research at Lightcast. This article offers some valuable data on skills requested for AI occupations, and guides educators through how they can best prepare their learners to fulfil new AI roles and skills requirements.

Finally we had, ‘The evolution of terminology: Moving beyond ‘welfare to work’ in global employability services’ by Scott Parkin FIEP, Group Chief Executive, Institute of Employability Professionals (IEP). He Explores how language moulds perceptions and the evolution of employability services.

This week, we have also had some other epic exclusives:

• Building a culture of trust, by Mark Solomons
• Moving from Being to Belonging as an FE Professional, by Annie Pendrey
• AI for Good: Joining up the Dots, by Gavin O’Meara

FE Collective Report

This week marked the much-anticipated launch of the FE Collective Report, a pinnacle of insights from the groundbreaking FE Collective conference held back in October. This innovative conference model brought all attendees into the fold, actively participating in crafting a collective report on the most pressing issues facing the Further Education (FE) sector. In our first FE Collective, we explored Artificial Intelligence, Investing in the sector of the future, and Progression – Is there a better way? The Report findings brought attention to critical issues facing the sector, sparking a significant sector-wide reaction.

With the release of the FE Collective report, Gavin O’Meara CEO of FE News explored how having a re-think on the impact of AI on jobs and skills is not just being re-thought by the FE Sector, but the importance of skills is being reflected on by Prime Ministers to Global tech leaders. Explore the insights here.

During the event, the FE Collective speakers delivered thought-provoking sessions on various topics, ranging from AI complications, and labour market data, where investment in FE should be prioritised and how the FE sector can enhance progression support for learners. You can watch the sessions here.

In the midst of the FE Collective, we had the opportunity to interview the FE Collective speakers, providing an in-depth look into their perspectives. Hear directly from industry leaders including:

• Gavin O’Meara, CEO of FE News (Watch here)
• David Gallagher, CEO of NCFE and Elena Magrini, head of global research at Lightcast (Watch here)
• Paul Grainger and Professor Deirdre Hughes (Watch here)
• Charles McIntyre and Dr Katerina Kolyva (Watch here)

The remaining speaker’s interviews will be published next week.

FE Collective Reflective

In a special live stream on Thursday, Gavin was joined by David Gallagher (CEO of NCFE), Victoria Flint (Education and Training Foundation), Jill Whittaker (HIT Training) and Chris Cherry (Red Cherry Projects). Together, they reflected on the FE Collective and delved into the report’s outcomes. If you missed the livestream, don’t worry you can catch up here.

For a comprehensive overview of everything FE Collective, head to the FE Collective hub. It’s the hub where all the action unfolded, offering a wealth of information and insights gathered during this groundbreaking conference. Dive in and explore the future of Further Education.

What’s New in the World of FE?

On Wednesday, Jeremy Hunt held the Autumn statement 2023. In the Autumn Statement, a £50 million commitment to boost skills and apprenticeships in engineering was announced. A strategic move to empower the workforce and drive innovation in this critical sector.

In a bid to position the UK as an “AI powerhouse,” the Autumn Statement also allocated a substantial £500 million over the next two years to establish additional “innovation centres.”

We received loads of comments, which we compiled into a sector response! Read more about the Autumn Statement here.

On Thursday, we also had Ofsted’s annual report. This report concludes that there are reasons for optimism, as education and children’s social care continue to recover from the lingering impact of the pandemic restrictions. Read more here.

We have also had some epic FE Voices this week!

• Artificial Intelligence and the FE ‘Classroom’ of Tomorrow by Richard Foster Fletcher
• Investment, stability and an end to the culture war – what skills providers need from the Government to reach Net Zero by Leonie Cooper
• There’s no such thing as ‘EdTech’ by Gary F. Fisher
• Addressing skills shortages – positive interventions that we can learn from by Olly Newton from the Edge Foundation
• Young people and the need to improve their public speaking confidence by Gavin Brown
• Young Londoners must be equipped for the jobs of today and tomorrow if the capital is to remain the best place in the world to do business by Muniya Barua, Deputy Chief Executive at BusinessLDN
• Kazakhstan is becoming a world leader in higher education by Marat Atnashev, Narxoz University
• Living as a student is unaffordable – it’s time for a new model by Dino Dullabh, Law Training Centre

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this week’s soundbite. Now that you’re all caught up on what’s going on in the FE Sector this week, we hope you have a restful weekend!

Finley Vile, Platform Growth Manager, FE News

Holly Wheaton, Digital Project Manager, FE News

Danielle Watters, Digital Project Manager, FE News