Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 733, February 17th 2024: Stimulating Economic Recovery

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

I hope everyone has recovered from National Apprenticeship Week. One massive stat that stood out to me from the latest ONS Labour Market stats is that there are 2.8 million people are not working due to long-term sickness! Tony Wilson made a good point: 'worklessness has happened despite still over nine hundred thousand vacancies in the economy and rising salaries'. Seems like we need to come at this from a new angle to support people into work with a long term sustainable joined up skills plan!

Anyone who knows me well, knows just how much I am interested in Blockchain and it's potential for qualifications, skills and providing a centralised space to be transparent on grades. So I would recommend checking out Richard's Blockchain article this week.

Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week

Revolutionising Education: Blockchain’s Transformative Impact on Learning and Credentials by Richard Foster-Fletcher, Chair of Morality and Knowledge in Artificial Intelligence (MKAI). Richard explores blockchain’s impact on education, focusing on revolutionising credential verification, lifelong learning and fraud prevention.

Rethinking healthcare models to stimulate UK economic recovery by Tina Woods, CEO and Founder, Business for Health. Tina discusses how the facts speak for themselves on the link between health and wealth, and the root causes for vulnerable populations being unemployed.

Closing the gender gap in science and technology by Anita Chandraker, Chair of The PA Foundation and Jack McMahon, Head of The PA Foundation. To mark International Day of Women and Girls in Science, they look at how early intervention and collaboration between the private, charity and education sectors can accelerate progress towards gender parity and inclusion.

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

• AI in Education: A Human Approach by Ben Knight, Head of Language, Content and Pedagogy at Oxford University Press.
• Using boundaries to manage workload by Mark Solomons, founder and CEO of Welbee.
• Futures Offering – effective careers provision for SEN students by Kelly Guthery, Lead at Outcomes First Group.
• The retention struggle: How to do more with learning and development by Daniel Goldstein, Founder and Group CEO of Elements Talent Consultancy.
• Further education colleges are vital and a more accessible way for many to gain higher education qualifications by Mark Jones, Gower College Swansea Chief Executive.

What’s New in the World of FE?

UCAS released a report on the continued demand for higher education in the UK, revealing over 316,000 18-year-old applicants this cycle, marking a 0.7% increase compared to 2023 and the second-highest number on record.

The most recent figures on Labour Market data were released by the ONS this week, alarmingly highlighting that 2.8 million people are not working due to long-term sickness. The recently revised ONS figures show that since before the pandemic, the UK now has just under 700,000 more working-age adults out of the labour market due to ill health. ONS also highlighted that Vacancies fell in the quarter for the 19th consecutive period.

Data collected from Workwhile UK has revealed that while the public sector has raised over £1.2 billion for apprenticeship creation since 2018, a quarter of this amount – over £300 million – has remained unspent.

We have also had some epic FE Voices this week!

• AI is not a development to be feared – Embrace it now to reap its benefits by Professor Rachid Hourizi MBE, Director of the Institute of Coding, based at the University of Bath
• Coverage Vs Content: We’re Teaching, but is Everyone Learning? by Jonathan Kay, National Education Lead at The Development Wheel, an organisation committed to supporting all learners to reach their potential.
• The time is now to embrace AI in the classroom by Jason Wilmot, Head of Education, Canva
• Digital Learning Day: Navigating Workplace Shifts With Digital Upskilling by Nikolaz Foucaud, MD EMEA at Coursera
• Under Siege: Ransomware and Further Education in the UK by Mark Stockley, Senior Threat Researcher at Malwarebytes

In The Know

People to look out for next week for exclusive thought leadership on FE News:

Kerry Boeffy, Nicola Pearce, Professor Fawad Inam and more!

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this week’s soundbite. Now that you’re all caught up on what’s happening in the FE Sector this week, we hope you have a restful weekend!

Holly Wheaton, Digital Project Manager

Alex Anderson, Junior Digital Project Manager