Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 742, 20th April, 2024: Can the Corporate Champions for Apprenticeships (CCA) unlock the future of Global Apprenticeships?

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

This week was International Leadership Week and we had a really cool bunch of articles from different cool leaders looking at skills and employability from a global perspective.

I really enjoyed an article from Kathryn from GAN (Global Apprenticeship Network) this week. In fact it got my mind a whirling. UK thinking on Apprenticeships has gone more and more micro... Local Skills Improvement Plans, we focus on the English Apprenticeship system, or the Welsh or Scottish Apprenticeships... yet we talk about Apprenticeships being Employer led, when we say this, to be fair we are not thinking of SMEs driving the future of Apprenticeships, but large corporates. Global organisations, who have to deal with Skills development and Apprenticeships across multiple nations... so not just England, Scotland, Wales.... but Apprenticeship systems, rules and hoops to jump through that would also be different in the Swiss Apprenticeship system, Germany, France, USA and Apprenticeships for America... you get my drift.

So Kathryn's article on Driving Private Sector Engagement to Unlock the Potential of Quality Apprenticeships ... got my mind a whirling... especially the section on CCA: Corporate Champions for Apprenticeships. What if we could think big, big... not micro, micro and have a global Apprenticeship system that is employer led... we live in a global village after all and after months of rain, who wouldn't be up for opportunities across the World? I'm excited to see the progress of the CCA.. especially as this was launched at Davos (the World Economic Forum) in January 2024. This has potential to be something significant, but I can't even imagine to start on how significant a challenge this would be. Exciting though!

Other articles that got my mind a whirling was Jeff Greenidge's article: Why we need a unified commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and sticking with the global theme I also really enjoyed Anthony Painter's article on Elevating Leadership: The Role of Strong Management in Today’s Global Landscape. Really interesting to see this from CMI as well and thinking big... love it!

Cool Exclusive Thought Leadership articles from this week

I really enjoyed Stewart Segal's article (I think Stewart is great.. all that experience and passion for positive change for the sector).. so I would highly recommend checking out his article: Pathways for ALL young people.

I'd also highly recommend checking out: Collaborating for climate action across FE and Skills by Jane Chillingworth, Curriculum Lead – Creative Industries at Adult Community Learning Essex, and Jenny Willis, Advanced Quality Practitioner at Heart of Worcestershire College.

Georgina Tierney's article has really resonated with a lot of people this week as well: The Power of Partnerships in Education.

FE Voices this week

There was quite a reaction to Rishi's speech on 'Sick note' culture!.. especially after the ONS Labour Market stats earlier in the week, yet again showed an increase in Economic Inactivity due to illness.

I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week.

Gavin O’Meara, CEO and Founder

FE News and FE Careers (we have a new FE Careers job site coming very, very soon. Exciting)!