Shortcuts

Types of Content: FE News accepts thought leadership articles, press releases, videos, events, podcasts, and livestreams related to Further Education, Skills, and the future of work.

Adding a New Post: Guidelines for submitting exclusive content, featured voices, and press releases.

Writing and Style Guide: Grammar, spelling, word count, titles, formatting, references, images, and solution-based articles.

Editorial Guidelines: Our standards for quality, what we accept and don’t accept, plus our quality control process.

Ethics, Standards, and Corrections: Standards for accuracy, credibility, and corrections policy.

Publishing, Deadlines, and Embargos: How to publish, schedule, or set an embargo date for your article.

Editorial Calendar: Monthly topic suggestions for 2024.

About the FE News Audience: Key demographics and statistics about FE News readership.

Social Media Channels: FE News’ social media presence and engagement.

Global Influence: FE News’ ranking as a top STEM publication and its international reach.

FAQs: Answers to common questions about publishing on FE News.

FE News Article Submission and Style Guide

On FE News you can publish:

• Thought Leadership Articles
• Press Releases
• Videos
• Events
• Podcasts, and
• Livestreams

At FE News, we have over 200 pieces of content added to our site every week. We tier this content into different categories and topics to help our audience find the news items and thought leadership articles most relevant to their interests.

FE News is a digital publishing platform and specialist News site for Further Education, Skills and the future of work, and been around for 20 years. Home to all of our contributors’ content is the Publisher Newsroom, which enables our audience to read everything from our exclusive features to press releases and much more.

What makes FE News different to other social platforms and news sites, is that we collate the main features and FE Voices section for our specific audience. Our readership is mainly Executive level individuals within the FE and Skills eco-system (so in FE Colleges, Independent Training Providers, Awarding Organisations, social scientists, EdTech and AI specialists, Employer Providers in Apprenticeships etc.), so content curated for them is our speciality.

If you can provide articles of interest focusing on education, employability and skills, you’ll find a home amongst our audience here at FE News. Below, you will find further details about publishing on our website.

How to Add a New Post

Thought Leadership

With a maximum of 12 articles per week, our main feature articles are all exclusive to FE News. As commissioner of the works, FE News will retain “all rights reserved”.

FE News encourage you to share your article across your social networks but to publish it in full on your own site. Please wait at least 48 hours after it has gone live on FE News, and credit FE News as the original source of the article, with a link to the original article. 

• Google encourages republished material to make use of canonical URLs, so they can better identify the original content and credit it appropriately.
• We will need a supporting image (landscape, 1200 x 800px), the name, job title, and company of the author, ideally with a short bio.
• For SEO, we will also need a 30-50 word summary of your article to entice readers in.
• To submit your article to be scheduled as a main feature, make sure to select the “Exclusive to FE News” category.

If you prefer to retain copyright for your article, our Featured Voices section is where non-exclusive thought leadership and Op-Ed articles can be published. These are still at the top of the site, “above the fold”, and can be shorter (from 400 words), less editorial than feature articles, and include non-exclusive content such as corporate blogs, speech transcripts, sector responses, podcasts etc.

If this has been previously published on your own site or social media platform, please include a credit to the original post.

Press Releases

When submitting press releases, these will be published in the latest news section. When you submit your content, select the most relevant category to reach your target audience in education, skills and employability – read our how to add new post guide for further help.

We have created a checklist of what YOU get from each feature on FE News. Check it out below and choose which option suits you best!

Editorial Guidelines

Our Purpose

FE News is the leading digital news platform for the Further Education, Skills and Employment sectors, dedicated to providing high-quality, authentic content for sector leaders and decision-makers.

What We Accept

Press Releases

• Genuine news about developments in FE, Skills and Employment
• Company announcements relevant to our sector
• New partnerships, initiatives, or research
• Policy responses
• Appointments and sector moves
• Education and skills statistics/data

Thought Leadership

• Expert analysis and opinion pieces
• Policy insights
• Research findings
• Sector commentary
• Educational developments
• Industry expertise

What We Don’t Accept

• AI-generated content
• Marketing materials disguised as news
• Promotional content about products/services
• Sales pitches
• Advertorial content
• Sponsored posts

Editorial Standards

Quality Requirements

All content must be:

• Written by humans
• Original
• Newsworthy
• Relevant to FE/Skills sector
• Free from promotional language
• Accurate and verifiable

Source Requirements

• Named sources preferred
• Anonymous sources must be justified and verified
• Minimum of two independent sources for controversial claims
• Primary sources prioritized over secondary reporting
• Expert credentials verified

Quality Control Process

AI Detection

We employ AI detection tools to help identify:

• AI-generated content
• Advertorial material
• Marketing-focused submissions
• Commercial promotions

Review Process

Before publication, all content is checked for:

• Relevance to sector
• Accuracy and reliability
• News value
• Editorial quality
• Commercial bias

Legal Compliance

Required Standards

• Claims must be substantiated
• Sources properly attributed
• Personal data protected
• Copyright respected
• Permissions obtained where needed

Simple Test for Submissions

Ask yourself:

• Is this genuine news or analysis?
• Would it interest FE sector leaders?
• Is it free from sales language?
• Is it written by a real person?

If you answered yes to all, your content likely meets our guidelines.

Ethics Policy

Conflicts of Interest

• Must be declared by authors
• Commercial relationships disclosed
• Professional affiliations stated

Corrections Policy

• Errors corrected promptly
• Corrections clearly marked
• Archive versions maintained

For submission formatting requirements, please see our Style Guide.

For any editorial queries, please contact our editorial team at [email protected]

Writing and Style Guide for FE News

Grammar and Spelling

Please proofread and apply proper grammar and spelling to your article before submission. If you notice any issues after publication, you can change these via your newsroom.

Please note any changes will need to be processed by our editorial team before they go live again on the site. This can take up to 24 hours.

Word Count

> 400 words: Press releases need to be more than 400 words. These get published in our latest news section.

400-600 words: Exclusive content that is less than 600 words, but more than 400 words, can be published in the featured voices section.

600-2000 words: Feature articles need to be 600–2000 words and be exclusive to FE News. 

You will be able to share the article on social networks, but to publish it in full on your own site, please credit FE News and provide a link to the original article.

2000+ words: If your article is longer than 2000 words, we recommend breaking the story up into multiple parts to run as a mini-series. For several articles covering the same theme, such as a newly released report, a mini-series also works well.

Titles and Formatting

Titles: Your headline and first paragraph are especially important in digital publishing. This will be the only text that the audience sees when they first encounter your article. Try to make these self-explanatory but enticing enough to encourage the reader to click through to read your article in its entirety. We recommend short and snappy titles that are no more than 60 characters.

Subheadings: Use subheadings to break up the text and make your article easier to read by having a subheading for every two or three paragraphs. Using <h2> and <h3> headers is ideal.

Social meta: Include any relevant tags, such as #HashTags or @Handles in your first line of text, or subtitle, to maximise your social engagement. Since implementing this technique, FE News has seen our X (formerly Twitter) impressions more than double from 500,000 impressions per month to over 1 million impressions per month.

References: Please use appropriate links in articles to research or other references. Priority will be given to FE News links. We tend to embed links rather than create a reference list. This makes your article more accessible and readable, rather than having to scroll to find the relevant link.

Hyperlinks: When using links within your article, choose the option to open the link in a new tab where possible. All links must be to only Research, Reports and Surveys Please note that all links will be No Follow.

As the publisher of the content on FE News, including press releases submitted by third parties, we reserve the right to remove any third-party links from articles, press releases, advertisements, or other content on a case-by-case basis at our discretion. This editorial control is to ensure the quality and appropriateness of all content hosted on our platform.

Meta description and keywords: If you are using the article upload form, there is the option to include your metadata. If you are submitting your article via email, the default metadata is the title and/or the author of the article, but you can request specific metadata by including this clearly in your email.

Images

Featured image: Each article must have a featured image, which needs to be:

• Landscape orientation.
• At least 1200 x 800 px.
• Under 500kb.

For thought leadership pieces, a headshot of the author is ideal. The featured image needs to be added in the edit side panel of your article when uploading. If uploading via our AI, simply attach it to your email.

Inline images: Include inline images in your article by either embedding via a web link URL or uploading to the FE News website. If you upload images, please make sure that you have the necessary license and the appropriate permission to share them on our site.

• Credits and captions: Please include an image caption, credits and/or license details under your images.
• Format: Images need to be less than 500kb and can be .jpg or .gif (Only inline images will animate, not lead images).
• Size: Provided they are less than 500kb in file size, images will need to be 1200 x 800px, and inline images will be resized to 100% screen width.
• Alt text: Include alt text for images that describe what is pictured. This improves accessibility and SEO.
• Social tagging: If you wish to include inline videos, tweets, or podcasts, add the full URL into the text and these can be embedded. When uploading via your newsroom, all you need is the link!

Style

For the sake of consistency, please aim to:

• Spell out acronyms the first time they are used
• Write out numbers below 10 (i.e. nine, eight, and seven)
• Place periods and commas inside quotation marks and outside of brackets
• Use capitals after colons
• Use capitals after bullet points

Solution Based Articles

Your relationship with the FE News audience is strongest when you share something useful that highlights your perception and understanding of the relevant issues. Don’t be tempted to focus on products or promote your organisation too much, as this will become advertorial, and readers will not engage.

Building brand trust and authenticity is a natural by-product of establishing individual expertise in relevant subject areas. This is an excellent content marketing strategy, which motivates the audience to do their own further research into your company by demonstrating your competence without blowing your own trumpet.

The majority of our content is geared towards peer-to-peer thought leadership pieces in education and employment strategy and policy. Having a solution-based perspective, we do also have articles aimed at prospective students, or employers new to apprenticeships.

FE News Ethics, Standards and Corrections Policy

Standards

• The FE News audience is particularly interested in articles about education, employability and skills content.
• Useful links are permitted, but please embed the hyperlinks in the text, and avoid a call to action to find out more on an external site.
• Links to essay writing services, pharmaceutical, adult, casino, or gambling sites are never accepted.
• FE News does not publish advertorials – there are many other advertising options available. Use these to promote your products and services to our audience, not articles.
• All FE News articles are expected to be as accurate as possible and to use credible sources, which can be attributed. Facts should only be presented as such if they can be fact-checked.
• Statistics should only be from verifiable and reputable sources, research and reports, which can be linked to or attributed.

If your article breaches the FE News publishing policy it will be removed, and your account may be suspended.

Corrections

Corrections are published as and when any errors are found, suggested corrections and amendments these can be completed via your newsroom

Depending on the nature of the correction, a statement might be made online or via social media, and highlighted at the end of an article.

Publishing, Deadlines and Embargos

When you submit your post to FE News, you can choose to publish immediately or schedule a publication/embargo date and time.

To publish an exclusive article, select “Exclusive to FE News” as one of your category choices in the edit side panel. This will ensure that your article is given a priority position on the FE News Exclusives Channel, featured at the top of the FE News site, and included in our FE Soundbite Weekly Journal. By saving in this category, it will send your article to ‘pending’ so that the FE News team can process and schedule it in.

We don’t have deadlines at FE News. Instead, we schedule exclusive articles for publication as they become available. This processing time is usually 1-2 weeks.

If you have a specific publication date in mind for your thought leadership piece, for example, to coincide with an event, announcement, or research publication, email [email protected] so we can pencil in your publication date in advance. Otherwise, we usually schedule the publication date 1-2 weeks after we receive all assets, depending on the forward features list at that time. With other uploads, you can state the embargo date/time so that the article gets published at the correct time. For example, writing the embargo date/time at the beginning of your uploaded article, or the beginning of your email upload, will ensure the team can schedule it correctly.

Editorial Calendar 2024

Struggling with topics? We’ve created an editorial calendar to help provide some topics based on what is going on in the world and the FE Sector.

Simply hover over the icon on each day to see what is happening, with a quick description of the event too! Below each month, you will find a ‘Topic Ideas’ box. Hover over this to get a topic overview for that month.

This is very flexible and we are very happy to take other topic suggestions:

Press here to view in full screen.

About the FE News Audience

Our readership at FE News is predominantly the following in the FE, HE, Skills, Apprenticeship, Work Based Learning and Employability sector:

• Key decision-makers
• Senior Management
• Executives and Policymakers

FE News had in excess of 173,000 visitors per month in 2021 (data from Google Analytics), which ranked FE News in the top 2000 UK websites (Alexa Analytics).

In March 2023, FE News had in excess of 105,500 unique visitors! What makes this really interesting is that according to data from LinkedIn, 70.9% of our audience on FE News are in Senior Leadership positions. So in March 2023, this would be around 73,850 Senior Leaders on FE News. You can read our media pack here for further information.

FE News Social Media Channels

FE News has 1.5M monthly X (formerly Twitter) impressions, 60,000 followers across social media, 29,000 LinkedIn connections, and over 6,500 newsrooms registered on FE News.

Next in our development, we are looking to grow our Collective Intelligence Hubs as a way to progress solution-based thought leadership, roundtable discussions, and research outcomes.

Global Influence

Specialising in peer-to-peer, thought leadership analysis of current affairs and recent developments within the training, skills and employability sector, Onalytica includes FE News in the top 90 most influential STEM publications in the world! 70% of the FE News audience is from the UK and 30% are international.

If you would like to reach out to our growing readership during this exciting growth period, publish with us at FE News! If you have any questions, please contact the team here at FE News today.

FAQs

How do I publish an article on FE News?

To publish an article on FE News, you will need to have a registered account, and then log in to the Publisher Newsroom. If you don’t have access to this, you will need to upgrade your account to a Publisher newsroom membership which is £120 + VAT annually. Once upgraded, follow the steps to add a new post here then share your article on social media.

What types of content can I publish on FE News?

At FE News you can publish thought leadership articles, press releases, videos, events, podcasts, and livestreams related to Further Education, Skills, and the future of work. We have an editorial calendar to help with coming up with topics if you are unsure, however, we are open to topic suggestions too.

What is the target audience of FE News?

FE News is targeted towards key decision-makers, senior management, executives, and policymakers in the Further Education, Higher Education, Skills, Apprenticeship, Work-Based Learning, and Employability sectors. Our platform also has a strong presence on social media, with a significant following and engagement. You can find out more information in our media pack.

How can I schedule or embargo the publication of my article?

When submitting an article, you can choose to publish it immediately or instead set a specific publication or embargo date and time. If you want to coordinate with a particular event or announcement, you can email us at [email protected] to discuss scheduling options. Please note, that we will usually publish 1 – 2 weeks after we have received all assets if no specific date or embargo is set.

What should I do if I need to make corrections to a published article?

If you need to correct a published article, you can make any corrections or amendments via your newsroom. Depending on the nature of the correction, FE News may publish a statement online or via social media to highlight the corrections made to the article. We encourage that all articles be carefully reviewed before spelling and grammar submission.