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Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 772: 16th October 2024 | Is there a youth engagement crisis?
This week's Soundbite is sponsored by Turnitin
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
Hope you enjoy this week!
Empower students to do their best, original work
Turnitin supports the United Kingdom and Ireland FE sector in building lifelong academic integrity skills essential for 21st century learners.
Its intuitive grading and feedback tools empower trainers to identify at-risk learners and facilitate teaching interventions that promote continuous progress, contributing to higher pass rates and improved student retention. With robust LMS integrations, the Turnitin workflow is a seamless part of the teaching and learning experience that offers significant time savings and maximises the time trainers can dedicate to each student
Gavin’s Reflective Perspective
Major Pension changes..
So a big week this week. Skills Minister Jacqui Smith announced that Colleges will be included in Local Government Pension Scheme... then literally the next day, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announces new reforms to Pensions. Particularly Local Government Pension Schemes, with a new Pension Schemes Bill. With the formation of Pension Megafunds (similar to Canada and Australia... whose pension funds famously invested into Thames Water)! The pension megafunds will back major infrastructure funds. So we'll see how that goes!
After her AoC speech, Skills Minister Jacqui Smith was asked about FE Educator pay. She explained that "We will continue to make that case strongly and I think we need to think about the architecture around FE teachers pay for the future"... so the pension part of the FE Educators package has had a good rethink.. how about the actual pay?!
Ofsted Head explains the reason why we still have Single Word Judgements in FE + Skills
Also straight after Jacqui Smith, Sir Martyn Oliver from Ofsted shared with the AoC conference why we still have Single word judgements from Ofsted in FE and Skills. Sir Martyn explained: "FE and skills, the overall effectiveness judgement has consequences in terms of both funding and intervention, and it will take a little longer to unpick those links". He went onto explain that Ofsted are "working with the government to remove the single word judgement for colleges from next September".
More on EIF and Ofsted Report cards
This will be replaced by a more nuanced inspection report card, describing what the quality of provision your learners experience is really like. The removal of overall effectiveness grades and the shift to a report card is part of a wider renewal of the Education Inspection Framework.
The latest ONS Labour Market figures came out this week. With 13.6% of 16-24-year-olds outside of full-time education who are unemployed, and a further 20.3% economically inactive! So it is cracking timing for the next episode of Unlocking Opportunities livestream in partnership with NCFE.. as we are looking at NEETs and Youth Employment!
OFS also shared that 40% of Universities at Risk of Cash Crisis as Student Numbers Fall! OfS modelling suggests that nearly three quarters (72 per cent) of higher education providers could be in deficit by 2025-26, and 40 per cent would have fewer than 30 days’ liquidity!
Slow motion Train Wreck on Youth Engagement
Is there a youth engagement crisis? 40% of unis will have 30 days liquidity and 13.6% of 16-24 year olds are NEET. These are stark figures! Our upcoming livestream on youth employment couldn't be more timely. These trends underscore the growing importance of diverse educational pathways and the vital role of the FE and Skills sector in bridging skills gaps.
So I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week.
Also, a massive thank you to Turnitin, who are this week's FE Soundbite Sponsor.
Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles
Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week
Employer-responsive curriculum design – the sport and physical activity approach By Spencer Moore, Chief Strategy Officer, The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA)
Closing the Digital Skills Gap: The power of collaboration to upskill the nation By Professor Rachid Hourizi MBE, Director of the Institute of Coding (led by the University of Bath)
Building a Culture of Mental Health Awareness in Further Education and Skills By Noaman Islam, Head of Student Services, Oxford Business College
This Week, We Have Also Had Some Other Epic Exclusives!
Sustainability in the Curriculum: Why We Don’t Need to Sacrifice Content to Prepare for Tomorrow By Laurence Frewin, Principal and CEO at South Devon College and Charlotte Bonner, CEO at EAUC (The Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges)
Ensuring a Positive Future for Education with AI By Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer at Coursera
What’s New in the World of FE?
AoC Conference News
Skills Minister announces Local Government Pension Scheme for FE Colleges and National Insurance support
Sir Martyn Oliver’s AoC Speech: Working Together to Shape the Future Skills System
AoC Student of the Year 2024/25 Winners Announced By AoC
Annoncements
Adult Skills Fund: Major Overhaul of Adult Education Funding for 24/25 By Department for Education
40% of Universities at Risk of Cash Crisis as Student Numbers Fall | Sector Reaction By OfS
Local Government Pension Fund shake up: As college pensions fall under LGPS, how will the new Pension Megafunds be invested? By HM Treasury
Labour Market Overview: Unemployment Rate Rises to 4.3% By HM Treasury
Reports
EPI report on T level access and progression By EPI
Government Must Fund 14 to 16 Provision in Colleges in line with Schools, says New Report By AoC
Voices
OU: #Mumentum Nearly two-thirds of mums want to retrain for a new career but money, time and guilt hold them back By Open University
Employer’s Responses to the Proposed Removal of Level 7 Apprenticeship Funding By First Intuition
Pat Carvalho: my vision as AoC president By Pat Carvalho is the Principal and CEO of BMet and the AoC President
Impartial, informed, insightful: how NCFE set about creating its Social Impact Report By Isha Sachdeva (Head of Research and Insight) NCFE, Lauren Peart (Senior Research and Insight Manager) NCFE, and Janet Lloyd (Market Insight Analyst) NCFE
In The Know
Do you want to be In The Know?
Why don't you sign up for Daily News Alerts?
FYI it's free!!
New Livestream Season Announcement: Unlocking Opportunities - EP3 live at 10am on Thursday 14th Nov - NEETs and Youth Employment.
Literally last week we launched a new group on LinkedIn called Skills England Hub (in a day we had over 150 people join)! So if you want to join and get involved, here is the link.
We hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week. Stay curious, keep innovating, and let's shake up the world of FE together – catch you next week!
By Danny O’Meara, Digital Project Manager, FE News
By Gavin O'Meara, CEO and Founder, FE News and FE Careers
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