What are the Lib Dem’s plans for FE and Skills? Soundbite Edition 740

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 740, 6th April, 2024: What are the Lib Dem’s plans for FE and Skills?

This is the weekly e-newsletter and e-journal 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

Gavin’s Reflective Perspective

The election is looming, so Munira Wilson MP’s article was perfect timing to see what the Liberal Democrat’s plans are for FE and Skills. Check out what Munira has to say about the Liberal Democrats Plans for FE and Skills, Apprenticeships, BTECs, Advanced British Standard, Staffing and even VAT?

Different perpsectives on the recent Levy Reforms

Reflecting on the recent Apprenticeship Levy reforms for SMEs and Young people, we had three cool exclusive thought leadership articles looking at this from different perspectives from:

Anthony Painter, director of Policy and External Affairs at the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) with The Government’s apprenticeship reforms must accelerate a skills revolution

Kate Shoesmith, Deputy Chief Executive, REC with Job not done on apprenticeships reform

Danni Croucher, Policy Lead for Skills and Talent at the National Centre for Universities Business (NCUB) with Apprenticeship funding reform a step in the right direction, but long road ahead

Cool Thought leadership across FE and Skills

My mate Prof Tom Bewick wrote a really interesting article Why we need a radical rethink of Skills Policy. Sarwar Khawaja Chairman, Executive Board, Oxford Business College wrote about The impact of globalisation on higher education: Opportunities and challenges.

We also had part 2 of a mini series from Dr Vikki Smith, Executive Director of Education and Standards at the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), and Ellisha Soanes, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) consultant with Inclusive professionalism in FE and Skills: the power of stories | Part 2

FE Voices and big announcements:

Who is the New Skills Minister? Luke Hall MP has been announced officially, about a week after Rob Halfon stood down from the Skills Minister post.

Earlier this week we had World Autism Day and we had a great article from Mark Dawe with Let’s Bring The Colour For World Autism Day. Nic Pearce shared some very helpful insights with Building a secure digital classroom: How educational institutions can safeguard students amidst EdTech boom

…and we announced our Top 3 most popular thought leaders and influencers on FE News in March 2024. Congrats to Prof Tom Bewick (double mention in Soundbite this week)! who took the top slot again, second was Rupert Crossland and with bronze was Kerry Boffey.

I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week.. a short week, but a full on week!

Gavin O’Meara, CEO and Founder of FE News and FE Careers