'Skills aren’t the bottleneck. Recruitment practices are' Ben Cheema, Agenda for Change, @althausdigital.bsky.social on how ITPs are racing ahead on digital, but hiring practices are holding back talent

'Volunteer tutoring complements classroom teaching, without unrealistically asking exhausted teachers to do more' Tim Dalton, Lumina Tutoring on how a volunteer-led approach could help break GCSE resits failure cycle

2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ It was the year Keir Starmer called FE his 'defining mission', skills moved to DWP, reforms to apprenticeships and cuts in adult education Here is our editor's review of 2025 and what's to come in 2026 feweek.co.uk/2025-review-...

'I learnt that I’m capable of showing up every day, making connections with people and challenging myself' Hassan Ahmed, apprentice with @the-rsc.bsky.social whose life was changed by a course delivered by the King's Trust and Warwickshire College Group

🎓 A former college principal and awarding body chair who was recently appointed to the House of Lords has admitted incorrectly claiming that she had a PhD feweek.co.uk/new-peer-and...

📝 Ofsted has admitted more technical problems with its electronic evidence-gathering system feweek.co.uk/ofsted-enact...

📰 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...

'Too often, institutions are relying on overstrained counselling services as the first and only line of support' Imran Mir, Apex College Leicester on the need for more early intervention on mental health in FE and HE

'Too often, institutions are relying on overstrained counselling services as the first and only line of support' Imran Mir, Apex College Leicester on the need for more early intervention on mental health issues in HE and FE

🗣️ A financially troubled Hampshire college has been forced to withdraw a statement containing claims about the outcome of an FE Commissioner review of its operations after failing to seek 'ministerial approval' before publication feweek.co.uk/college-pull...

While debates about ‘deficit thinking’ and mental health narratives dominate when it comes to the NEET crisis, the real issue is a lack of joined-up leadership says @alunfrancis.bsky.social

📰 Brenda McLeish has suddenly stood down as CEO of Learning Curve Group feweek.co.uk/brenda-mclei...

'AI doesn't replace the gut feel, it focuses it' Governance professional Perry Perrott, champions the benefits of AI in FE college boardrooms

☝️ A financially troubled Hampshire college can 'remain independent' following an external review that reportedly found its budget blues are 'in the past' feweek.co.uk/review-rules...

'I’m always prepared for it to be a ‘snake skating on a skateboard’ @michaelldavis.bsky.social chair of Capital City College and CEO of @natcen.bsky.social on the dangers of the college chair governance ride

👋 Forcing colleges to merge has 'never' been the intention of FE Commissioner Shelagh Legrave – but most have 'thrived' after forming a bigger group, she has said in her final annual report feweek.co.uk/fe-commissio...

'At no point was the learner experience allowed to falter' Christine Ricketts, Brooklands College on her lessons from six years of FE Commissioner intervention

🇪🇺 Ministers have agreed terms with the EU to rejoin the Erasmus+ study abroad scheme from 2027 feweek.co.uk/uk-to-rejoin...

🆕 Skills England has published the first batch of 93 apprenticeships that will be revised through the government’s controversial new assessment approach feweek.co.uk/revealed-fir...

'Suicide is at pandemic levels for this generation' We can't keep losing them, says David Murray of City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form

📣 A panel tasked with investigating the causes of almost a million young people being out of work or education has been named as chair Alan Milburn launched a call for evidence today feweek.co.uk/milburns-pan...

🔎 Cambridgeshire police have launched a criminal probe into alleged misconduct in a public office after a local council 'unlawfully' sold a college adult education campus for £1 despite being valued at £4.6 million feweek.co.uk/criminal-pro...

🇬🇷 The new private owners of awarding giant City & Guilds are planning to cut its workforce bill by relocating some job roles to Greece where personnel costs are 'up to 50% lower' feweek.co.uk/some-city-gu...

🆕 Exam board Pearson has been fined £2m by Ofqual for 'serious' rule breaches which affected tens of thousands of students taking language qualifications – including GCSE resitters feweek.co.uk/ofqual-fines...

👁️ Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to 'have a look and talk to the Treasury' about the long-running VAT 'anomaly' affecting further education colleges feweek.co.uk/ill-have-a-l...

'LSIPs are expected to face two ways at once' James Farr of Think on what lsips need to create change in 2026

📰 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...

🏗️ Metro mayors and local leaders will be allocated £283 million to 'boost capacity in colleges' and offer more construction courses next year. feweek.co.uk/local-leader...

✍️ Sixth form colleges and designated institutions will be able to apply to become one of 19 new ‘technical excellence colleges’ next year, under plans for wave two of the TEC programme feweek.co.uk/bids-open-fo...

After 8 years of FE and HE leadership Down Under, Liam Sloan reveals how his team is reviving Bolton College and why each day begins with a Maori-inspired welcome

🥊 This week's movers features a finalist from The Chase who went head-to-head with the infamous Paul Sinha feweek.co.uk/movers-and-s...

'Not only investing in, but rejuvenating our current ESOL offering can be the key to meeting skills gaps' Diana Sutton of @thebellfoundation.bsky.social on the need for a national ESOL strategy as councils toy with local cuts to provision

‼️ Only the UK’s most deprived areas will benefit from a post-Brexit fund for local skills, business and community projects – cutting hundreds of councils off from money to help marginalised people feweek.co.uk/fewer-share-...

'The scale of SEND need in FE is staggering' Hannah Thomas and Sophie Kuttschreuter of @activatelearning.bsky.social on the need for government to confront the workforce gaps it created, as Ofsted raises the bar on SEND provision

The Association of Colleges has cashed in a £9 million windfall after ditching a pension fund that posed a 'significant risk' to its financial stability feweek.co.uk/aoc-quids-in...

Breaking: Two 'elite' sixth forms proposed by Eton College and Star Academies have been approved, while the government blocked a third feweek.co.uk/eton-gets-go...

🗞️This week's FE Week front page: Post-Brexit skills cash no longer ‘shared’ Subscribe | feweek.co.uk/subscribe/ #TomorrowsPapersToday

💸 Only a fifth of the £4.7 million in rogue Covid incentive payments given to employers to hire apprentices and trainees has been recovered feweek.co.uk/millions-los...

😡 The chair of Parliament’s education committee has criticised government for not directly addressing recommendations set out by its SEND report, calling on ministers to provide a 'much more detailed response' in the new year feweek.co.uk/committee-ch...

🚨Office for Students chief Susan Lapworth will leave her post at Easter, months earlier than scheduled, the regulator has announced feweek.co.uk/office-for-s...

'We are viewed as independent or exclusive, which creates barriers' Ben Bastin, @natspec.bsky.social on the transformative power of specialist FE

🖥️ On-screen exams could be introduced for some GCSE and A Level subjects by 2030, the head of Ofqual has said, in a big step towards making exams digital feweek.co.uk/ofqual-on-sc...

🆕Breaking: Dame Ann Limb has been made a life peer, becoming the first former FE college principal to join the House of Lords feweek.co.uk/dame-ann-lim...

👇 Awarding giant Pearson has fallen out of the top 10 largest apprenticeship end-point assessment organisations after almost halving its number of EPA completions last year feweek.co.uk/pearson-drop...

'35% of employers believe they lack suitable tasks' John Yarham, @careerent.bsky.social on solving the blockers to work experience

'A postcode lottery would undermine the guarantee before it begins' Laura-Jane Rawlings of Youth Employment UK on what's needed to ensure the government's youth guarantee really is a 'guarantee' for all the young people who need it

'To understand a people you have to respect their history' Eli Turay on why Black history deserves more… and that includes Black teachers

🚕 The Department for Education’s top civil servant has warned against imposing a 'blanket duty' on councils arranging transport for disabled learners amid soaring spend on post-16 transport that has outpaced pre-16 costs feweek.co.uk/perm-sec-adv...

🚫 Providers delivering higher education courses under franchised arrangements face stricter rules to crack down on students being treated as a 'route to fast cash', the government has confirmed feweek.co.uk/dfe-confirms...

Under the new landscape T Levels will be the only large qualification. Can they be scaled to meet demand? And will the narrow scope of subjects be expanded? David Rowley of NCFE