The FE Week Podcast: Recent Episodes
FE Week
This brand-new service from FE Week complements the paper by bringing you engaging commentary and discussion every week for your commute, your lunch break, or wherever else you enjoy your podcasts. Hosted by FE Week editor, Shane Chowen. Shane will be joined by special guests from across the education and skills sector.
Come and inspect the inspectorate with The FE Week Podcast!
Education journalist Jess Staufenberg speaks to former inspectors, current HMIs, FE providers and staff about the role and relationship of Ofsted in FE.
What is its history in the sector?
How does Ofsted improve FE?
What could be improved about Ofsted?
After travelling thousands of miles, facing extremely dangerous situations, often stuck in legal limbo – refugee and asylum-seeking students arrive in the classroom.
What are the stories they bring with them?
What systems are they facing here?
And how can FE unleash their skills and experience?
Join education journalist Jess Staufenberg as she speaks to students and the staff working with them, from all over the world.
Is device use seriously negatively affecting student learning?
How can devices be used well?
And what is the situation with device poverty?
Tune in to the third podcast with investigative journalist Jess Staufenberg as she chats to psychologists, staff and students on the frontline as they spill the beans and shine a light on this big, under-discussed topic in FE.
In this episode, Jess explores disability, as an important identity to both staff and students in FE, ahead of the long-awaited SEND review.
Are staff struggling to make ends meet? Are they on unstable contracts?
In the first of a new investigative series, journalist Jess Staufenberg takes a closer look at the state of pay in further education - where staff get on average £9,000 less than their colleagues in schools.
Frontline lecturers, HR managers, college principals, the sector's union and membership association all join Jess to discuss this red-hot topic, as living costs keep climbing.
In this episode, Shane is joined by deputy news editor Billy, commissioning editor Jess, and senior reporter Fraser to discuss their top story picks from the last year.
We wish you a merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
In this bonus episode, FE staff on the frontline put their tough and tricky classroom scenarios to two behaviour management experts.
How can a lecturer deal with a student who persistently turns up late to lessons?
How to be sympathetic - but not ruin the rest of the class' experience - to a student's difficult home circumstances?
And how can staff ensure they don't take particular 'assumptions' into the classroom with them?
Answering the questions are Tom Bennett, lead DfE behaviour adviser and Jayne Lowe, former headteacher of a pupil referral unit and behaviour consultant - with host Shane giving the staff in the podcast the chance to return their own thoughts afterwards.
In this episode, Shane is joined by Mary Curnock Cook, chair of Pearson and former chief executive at UCAS, Eddie Playfair at the Association of Colleges and Asfa Sohail, principal at Lewisham College.
Are adult training reforms happening fast enough?
Are universities struggling to deliver degree apprenticeships?
And with a new shadow education secretary, what next for Labour's skills policy?
This week Shane is joined by three guests, to cover three particularly interesting topics: Ed Reza Schwitzer, former DfE civil servant, Sue Pember, adult education guru, and Catherine Sezen at the Association of Colleges.
Has the government got it right with its plans to involve universities more in student outcomes?
How can the sector drive up adult participation in further education?
And why did Ofsted get into a row with a mayoral combined authority?
This special episode comes straight from the Association of Colleges annual conference in Birmingham, one of the biggest FE events of the year!
Shane is joined by two leading principals: Sally Dicketts, chief executive at Activate Learning, and Jo Maher, chief executive at Loughborough College.
Together they take a closer look at Nadhim Zahawi's speech that day, in the education secretary's first appearance to the sector...
This week Shane is joined by Stephen Evans, chief executive at the Learning and Work Institute, and Lynette Leith, vice principal at Hull College - to discuss the hot topics.
What is the relationship between industry and FE in the context of skills shortages relating to Covid and Brexit?
Should England follow Wales in combining further and higher education funding?
And the guests discuss their reflections on the state of lifelong learning.
This week Shane is joined by David Russell, chief executive at the Education and Training Foundation, and Fiona Aldridge, head of skills insight at West Midlands combined authority - to discuss the biggest stories.
Have the government's special educational needs reforms failed - and if so, what should be done?
Who is providing solid, top-down leadership on sustainability in the FE sector?
And the guests discuss their reflections on the spending review after mulling it over during the half-term break.
This week Shane is joined by college principal Ian Pryce and the chief operating officer of an independent training provider, Nicki Hay, to discuss the biggest stories.
How should providers respond to climate change in the run up to COP26? Is anything actually going to be done about careers guidance, even with a Skills Bill amendment? And what FE research projects need funding?
This week Shane is joined by former DfE civil servant and adult education expert Sue Pember, and further education funding guru Julian Gravatt.
How are energy costs affecting colleges? Why did the Lords get so heated this week? And has the Commission got the right focus?
In our second episode, Shane is joined by exams board guru Kirstie Donnelly, from City & Guilds Group, and policy director Simon Ashworth, from the Association of Employment and Learning Providers.
So - what did the Conservatives have to say on skills? What are the Lords planning to do to the Skills Bill? And have exams had their day?
In this week’s episode, former skills minister Anne Milton and Central Bedfordshire College CEO Ali Hadawi give their take on the failing Kickstart programme, the 2022 exams announcements and what the HE/FE ministerial split means for the sector.
Here's a sneaky peek of what you can expect from the new podcast from FE Week. Launching on Friday 1st October.