'My other foot is immersed in the cotton-wool insubstantiality of the cloud' David Murray of City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form ponders the dilemna of whether going paperless really is the solution

'People who learn English are more likely to work, volunteer and build relationships' Dipa Ganguli of @wmc-adultlearning.bsky.social speaks out against @reform-uk-official.bsky.social proposals to slash ESOL English funding in some areas

💬 As pilots of Ofsted’s new inspection framework begin ahead of full reform rollout on November 10, the inspectorate’s national director of education, Lee Owston, spoke to FE Week about inspection anxiety, transparency, and why the ‘inclusion’ grade is nothing new feweek.co.uk/report-cards...

'A resits rethink should trial and pilot new approaches' Lucy Chowns and Katy Lewis of Pearson, the UK's largest awarding organisation, make the case for a new GCSE resits approach

💥 College leaders have expressed shock at being threatened with industrial action if they fail to make 'serious' pay offers by next Friday feweek.co.uk/ucus-76-coll...

💫 Multiverse has become England’s largest revenue-generating apprenticeship provider for the first time, overtaking Kaplan feweek.co.uk/multiverse-l...

⚖️ Growing numbers of children in custody cannot access education due to violence and prison staff shortages, the chief prisons inspector has said feweek.co.uk/no-improveme...

🗞️This week's FE Week front page: Strike threat ‘surprise’ for colleges + Multiverse topples Kaplan as highest apprenticeship earner Subscribe | feweek.co.uk/subscribe/ #TomorrowsPapersToday

Universal’s plans to bring a major theme park to Bedfordshire are generating interest across the region. But preparation is key, warns Fabienne Bailey, CEO, Gateway Qualifications and Yiannis Koursis, CEO, @bedfordcollegegrp.bsky.social

🔍 Ofsted has begun looking for a new deputy director for post-16 education, training and skills, just weeks before it rolls out sweeping changes to inspections feweek.co.uk/ofsted-launc...

'Success is not limited by age and therefore neither should education' Ayten Nevzat, Newham College on championing adult learners as role models

'Communicate with learners and parents to build resilience, without causing fear' Melissa Haskell at Knights provides a roadmap for FE on the implications of the new Martyn’s Law

📚 The education select committee has issued its wide-ranging report of over 40 recommendations, including: 💰 an FE pay review body 💰 devolution of 16-19 education to strategic authorities 💰 reinstatement of funding for some level 7 apprenticeships 💰 modular T Levels feweek.co.uk/fe-engine-ru...

🚨 NEW: MPs call for a statutory pay review body for colleges to tackle recruitment & retention crisis. FE inquiry also backs devolving 16–19 funding, modular T Levels & resit shakeup feweek.co.uk/fe-engine-ru...

📢 Leaders of 77 colleges have been threatened with trade disputes unless they agree to a 10% pay rise for staff and actions to tackle teacher workloads by next week feweek.co.uk/ucu-puts-77-...

The King's Foundation embraces His Majesty's concept of 'harmony' to teaches heritage crafts that might otherwise face extinction in Britain. We explore a different kind of further education feweek.co.uk/the-other-ki...

📰 FE Week Weekly News Update Check out this week's news summary. If you still need to register for our newsletter updates, you can sign-up at the below link. 🔗 mailchi.mp/mkt.educatio...

I’ve written an article for @feweek.bsky.social on why prison education matters and why budgets cuts are a mistake.

'The legalistic tone can be intimating for staff' Jess Pembroke of Naomi Korn Associates on the surge in data subject access requests that colleges are seeing, fuelled by AI

📺 This week's movers features two academics, including one who appeared on TV to reveal the ancestry of soapstars feweek.co.uk/movers-and-s...

'T Levels flip the apprenticeship model on its head' Not everyone is a fan of T Levels, but Chris Webb, CEO of Bradford College believes that they're often a better option for teens than apprenticeships

🌍 Peace isn’t found in treaties or speeches, but in the everyday acts of kindness and unity that colleges can nurture, writes @palvindersingh.bsky.social #InternationalDayOfPeace feweek.co.uk/world-peace-...

'Prison education funding cuts are a serious misstep' @jonbcollins.bsky.social of @prisonersed.bsky.social on how new research shows most prisoners were failed by the education system. Prison education budget-cutting risks failing them twice

'We cannot afford to give up on this generation' @patmcfaddenmp.bsky.social writes for FE Week about the reasons why he's welcoming skills into DWP

Always a pleasure to be asked onto the @wonkhe.bsky.social podcast This week we chat OfS quality assessment reforms, the Hillsborough Law, and machinery of government wonkhe.com/blogs/podcas...

🏆 Good for Me Good for FE has opened nominations to find the sector's very best volunteering, fundraising and community action projects feweek.co.uk/best-in-clas...

🏆 Though Team UK did the country proud in Herning with its haul of six medals, its 15th place in the medal table was its lowest in recent years. FE Week spoke to WorldSkills UK to find out why the UK went backwards feweek.co.uk/debrief-from...

🆘 Pat McFadden will seek to use his new powers over skills policy to curb 'wasted potential' from youth unemployment and cut the government’s growing benefits bill feweek.co.uk/neets-top-mc...

📱 A £1.2m government app that promised to 'revolutionise' training and support has been slammed by apprentices feweek.co.uk/world-class-...

The stark truth behind team WorldSkills UK's recent medal haul: without proper funding, the UK risks falling further behind in the global skills race @shanemann.bsky.social, CEO of FE Week's own @educationscape.bsky.social and board member, WorldSkills UK

🗞️This week's FE Week front page: McFadden’s skills takeover Subscribe | feweek.co.uk/subscribe/ #TomorrowsPapersToday

'Finding opportunities is extraordinarily difficult' Alice Gardner, @edgeuk.bsky.social highlights new research around why the number of apprenticeships for under-19s is falling and what can be done about it

📉 College staff should be awarded a 4 per cent pay rise this year, but the Association of Colleges had admitted 'many' of its members will be unable to afford it feweek.co.uk/staff-pay-re...

'Policymakers, in their attempts to define and implement inclusion, are ironically creating exclusive panels and taskforces' Ben Bastin, @natspec.bsky.social

🔐 SEND students are being 'overlooked' by further education policymakers and local authorities, leaving 'significant gaps' in provision, staff shortages and vulnerable learners 'locked out' of education feweek.co.uk/mps-demand-f...

'Experiences like mine highlight a gap in support that needs addressing' James Kimble, @asporecruitment.bsky.social on the lessons we should take away from Scotland's 'Adopt an Apprentice' scheme, which helped apprentices stay on track after losing their jobs

❓ MPs have criticised an 'absence of information' about a planned merger of the National Careers Service with Jobcentres, almost a year after plans to reform the government services were first announced feweek.co.uk/careers-serv...

🤝 Skills England will become part of the Department for Work and Pensions from today, the prime minister has confirmed feweek.co.uk/confirmed-sk...

💸 Funding for T Levels will be decided 'solely' on colleges' previous year's numbers, rather than estimates, from 2027 feweek.co.uk/t-level-fund...

'Staff have been genuinely inspired by the outcomes' Jonathan Parker at Gower College on their student-led tech projects that are helping to reshape their FE curriculum

🔒A training provider that closed its doors last week was hit with a damning 'inadequate' Ofsted verdict, it has emerged feweek.co.uk/jarvis-train...

📰 FE Week Weekly News Update Check out this week's news summary. If you still need to register for our newsletter updates, you can sign-up at the below link. 🔗 mailchi.mp/mkt.feweek.c...

'Many challenges in Europe are similar to those facing us' Katerina Kolyva of the Education and Training Foundation on the golden opportunity that access to Erasmus+ would provide for HE and FE

'Allowing the project to fail wasn’t an option' Dr Phil Mark on the mission, against the odds, to build Pudsey Sixth Form College

Yuliia Batrak was awarded a Medallion for Excellence in restaurant services, which demonstrates meeting international standards. Batrak’s family fled the war in Ukraine & she began studying at @llandrillomenai.bsky.social when her family moved to Wales. Llongyfarchiadau Yuliia! 🙌 @colegau.cymru 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

🏅Breaking: The UK has won six medals at the European 'skills Olympics' in Herning, Denmark Congratulations to Team UK and all 600 competitors from across Europe feweek.co.uk/team-uk-take...

🇬🇧MEDAL ALERT🇬🇧 🏅Team UK’s Yuliia Batrak wins the Medallion for Excellence for Restaurant Services at EuroSkills 2025 Congratulations, Yuliia!

🇬🇧MEDAL ALERT🇬🇧 🏅Team UK’s Katie Sime wins the Medallion for Excellence for Hairdressing at EuroSkills 2025 Congratulations, Katie!

🇬🇧MEDAL ALERT🇬🇧 🥉Team UK’s Caolan McCartan and Patrick Sheerin win BRONZE for Industry 4.0 at EuroSkills 2025 Congratulations, Caolan and Patrick!

🇬🇧MEDAL ALERT🇬🇧 🏅Team UK’s Tomas Ankers wins the Medallion for Excellence for CNC Milling at EuroSkills 2025 Congratulations, Tomas!