Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 741, 13th April, 2024: Is it time to bring back Skills Accounts?

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

One of my fav articles this week was from Ben Whitaker, most people know I can see a very interesting and bright future with Blockchain for FE and particularly in Qualifications. Grab a cuppa and check out this article from Ben: From Centralisation to Empowerment: The Blockchain Revolution in UK Further Education.

Mark Morrin wrote a really interesting article: It’s time to bring back Skills Accounts to kick start Lifelong Education and Training... which made me think, you know, could that be cool? We need all the help we can get to encourage Lifelong learning. I also loved his references back to the Singapore system. I also enjoyed Rob West from CBI's article: How to Unlock Business Investment in Skills.

There have also been a couple of very cool reports this week. AoC released a really interesting report: FE and Skills must be reformed to meet the economic and social needs of the nation and HEPI wrote a really interested piece: How should undergraduate degrees be funded?

Rose Stephenson from HEPI unpacked the above report with this exclusive: The Pressing Challenge of Sustainable Higher Education Funding

John McNamara is back in the hot seat at FAB, after Kion Ahadi's departure as CEO of the Federation of Awarding Bodies.

Big Announcements this week

The Lib Dems announced their plan to end the 'postcode lottery' of special educational needs and Dame Christine Gilbert to lead independent review into Ofsted’s response to Ruth Perry tragedy.

Cool and thought provoking thought leadership

Gareth John wrote a really popular article this week: Apprenticeship funding needs transformation not tweaks! ETF's Dr Vikki Smith, Executive Director of Education and Standards and Ellisha Soanes, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) consultant wrote a cool article about Inclusive professionalism in FE and Skills: the impact of an inclusive curriculum.

FE Voices from this week on FE News

BenQ's Nic Pearce wrote about The technology potential: Enhancing education through the power of technology. NGfL's Alex Dave wrote a really interesting piece on Identifying teenage neglect

.. and what better way to finish off Soundbite this week than with Mark Solomons article: The strength of compassionate leadership.

In The Know

Look out for articles around International Leadership Week next week!

I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week.

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