Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 721, 18th November 2023: Back to work and a flattening labour market

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

Firstly, we have ‘VET in FE: Where do we go from here?’ by Dr Sai Loo, Dept. of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, and Dr Julie Wilde, Senior Lecturer in Post-Compulsory Education, University of Wolverhampton. They discuss the FE occupational/vocational education appropriate for the 21st century by offering seven pertinent solutions.

Another of our top three articles from this week is ‘Closing the skills gap needs a National Skills Strategy’ by Nichola Hay MBE, Chair of AELP’s Board. As part of AELP’S series of articles expanding on the five themes of their report ‘Skills Means Growth’, Nichola outlines why the call for a national skills strategy is so important.

Finally, we have ‘Ofsted’s Career Guidance Review: A Missed Opportunity’ by Kerry Boffey, Fellowship of Inspection Nominees (FIN). In this article, Kerry argues Ofsted’s CIAG review fell short, for example in addressing the broader context of career guidance for employers and established employees.

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

• Mark My Words: How AI In Education Will Overcome Fears and Transform Learning by Neil Wolstenholme, Kloodle Chairman
• Being: The Essence of Professional Identity by Annie Pendrey

What’s New in the World of FE?

On Tuesday, this month’s Labour Market stats were released! Most signals point towards a flattening labour market, with vacancies continuing to fall and most measures of employment little changed. Real earnings are growing again as inflation falls. But payroll employment is at a record high at 30.2 million – 398,000 higher than this time last year and 1.2m higher than before the pandemic!

Chancellor and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announce they are to launch employment support for over a million people. Changes are part of the new Back to Work Plan which will help up to 1,100,000 people with long-term health conditions, disabilities or long-term unemployed to look for and stay in work.

Next week is another busy one for us at FE News... On Tuesday 21st, we release our report on the outcomes of the FE Collective! This is then followed by the Autumn Statement on Wednesday. On Thursday 23rd, we have our FE Collective Reflective! Live at 10am, we are joined by some of our epic speakers and moderators from the big day. Discussing the report, reflecting on the outcomes and looking to the future.

We have also had some epic FE Voices this week!

• Social marketers in higher education: Challenges & opportunities by Alex Wedderburn, Senior Customer Account Manager for Higher Education at Hootsuite
• Why defining roles and responsibilities in employability partnerships is crucial by Scott Parkin FIEP, Group Chief Executive, Institute of Employability Professionals (IEP)
• Apprenticeship advice for young women, from a young woman by Zoe Harvey, former apprentice now sales advisor at Bradfords
• How should colleges investigate allegations of sexual assault against its staff? by Jo Moseley, employment law specialist at Irwin Mitchell.
• How Gen AI Opens a Whole New World for Dyslexic Individuals by Boris Krumrey, Global VP of Automations at UiPath

Keep an eye out on Tuesday (21st) as we release our report from the FE Collective!

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