Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 744, 4th May 2024: Do we need to think differently about Local Skills Needs? ... and Happy Star Wars Day!

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

First up... happy Star Wars Day... May 4th be with you!

Wow, NCFE's Michelle Storey wrote a really good piece: Why We Must Think Differently When It Comes To Local Skills Needs.. and it received a lot of love on socials. Have you checked it out yet? Do you think we need to think differently about Local Skills Needs?

I really enjoyed Ben Rowland's article this week (Chief Exec of AELP): How Can We Hone Our Leadership within the Vocational Education Training (VET) Sector? I'd highly recommend checking it out.

Levy Sharing is Caring was a brilliant article by Claire Costello, Chief of People and Inclusion Officer, Co-op. I'd also recommend checking this out to find out more about the Co-op’s Levy Share! Could be great for SMEs and unlock new opportunities for learners.

Exclusive Thought leadership this week

New Minister poses new opportunities for the skills sector By Nichola Hay MBE, Director of Apprenticeship Strategy and Policy at BPP

Evaluating recent policy changes for the early years and care sectors in light of acute skills challenges Paul Ferguson, Operations Director at Lifetime Training.

Preparing the future workforce with soft-skills training in VR By Thomas Dexmier, AVP of Enterprise Solutions EMEA, HTC VIVE

The Importance of Learning and Skills in the Workplace By Mark Dawe, CEO, The Skills Network.

FE Voices from this week on FE News

NCS Trust and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award published a landmark report that explores how to give more young people access to high quality enrichment opportunities.

Who were the top 3 most popular thought leaders in April on FE News?

Susan Higgins from Edge wrote a really interesting piece: What might the future of assessment look like? Which was Susan's reflections from the Next Generation Assessment Conference.

Mark Solomons wrote an interesting piece: Stay interviews and staff retention

Big announcements and reports

Lots of cool announcements this week... you may have missed this major announcement:

Flexible AI Upskilling Fund:

Flexible AI Upskilling Fund is launched this is a fund by the Department of Science Innovation and Technology and is £6.4M AI upskilling fund has been launched to help SMEs. Expected to support around 2,000 SMEs across the country, businesses employing under 250 staff can now apply for the support, which will see successful applicants reimbursed for up to 50% of the cost of investment in AI skills training. Interesting!

Valuing Enrichment Study

Another cool report was The Valuing Enrichment study, led by the Association of Colleges and the University of Derby and funded by NCFE, puts enrichment activity for 16 to 19-year-olds under the microscope and demonstrates the impact it has on learners both at college and in their futures beyond it.

Extended Reality (XR) in learning and teaching report

New Jisc report finds extended reality (XR) is being increasingly used in teaching and learning, but lack of resourcing and challenges around accessibility and sustainability continue to be barriers

I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week. FE Soundbite is the weekly e-journal brought to you by FE News: ISSN 2732-4095

Gavin O'Meara, CEO and Founder

FE News and FE Careers (with a new FE Careers job board coming soon)!