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Podcasts


Listen to engaging stories from across the education sector, as we delve deeper
into the stories that help transform lives.

Future-proofing the FE curriculum: how do we do it?

4 June 2024

Length: 36.33

Join in the conversation with Karen Spencer Principal and Chief Executive of Harlow College and NCFE David, Chief Executive Officer of NCFE.

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How can FE lead the green revolution?

21 May 2024

Length: 30:45

In this episode, we’re talking about the green curriculum and asking how we develop an education and training system that creates a skilled workforce for new and emerging industries.

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AI in FE: opportunity or threat?

7 May 2024

Length: 28.44

In this episode, we discuss Artificial Intelligence in Further Education and whether it should be feared or celebrated, joined by Hull College Principal and CEO Debra Gray, MBE, and Paul McKean, Director of Further Education, Skills, and Training at Jisc.

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Who is plugging the skills gap?

23 April 2024

Length: 32:45

In this episode, we’re asking who is plugging the skills gap? To discuss we’re joined by Naomi Clayton, Director of Policy and Research at the Learning and Work Institute, an independent policy and Sam Tuckett, from the Education Policy Institute.

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The business of skills

9 April 2024

Length: 27:06

Join us in this conversation as we discuss the ever-growing skills gap and ask our guests what employers want and need from a new Government and what needs to change to achieve it. 

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FE: how do we shift from rhetoric to action?

26 March 2024

Length: 32:21

In this episode, we’re speaking to the economist, academic, and life peer, Baroness Alison Wolf CBE, Non-Executive Director at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology since 2023. We are also joined by Sir Michael Barber, a former teacher who went on to work at the National Union of Teachers before becoming the Government’s Chief Adviser on School Standards.

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Election Year Special Series 4 Trailer

12 March 2024

Length: 1:16

In this new series, a collaboration with FE Week, we're shining a spotlight on the FE and skills policy issues that should take centre-stage at the upcoming general election. So, if you want the inside track on the future of further education, skills, and apprenticeships, make sure you join us for another inspiring and insightful series of Let's Go Further.

Episode 1 is up March 26th.

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Put people first: a recipe for getting adult learners into work

12 December 2023

Length: 27:15

What comes after an adult education course? What guidance do learners need? And what impact can education have on people’s identity and sense of purpose? In the final episode of Let’s Go Further Series 3, we’re putting learners front and centre.

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From adult to higher education: how should it work?

28 November 2023

Length: 32:51

Join us for a reminder of the multiple benefits of adult education, the importance of breaking down barriers to higher education, and how we can unite these sectors to create a powerful common purpose.

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Adult education and funding – where are we going wrong?

14 November 2023

Length: 31.55

No money, no trust and the decimation of adult education. Speaking on this episode, Shane Chowen, Editor of FE Week, and Janet Smith, CEO and Principal of Nottingham College, call for a reversal of the current transactional, short-term, narrow approach to adult education.

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Community learning: how adult education benefits people and places

31 October 2023

Length: 28.50

Adult education has been called “the jewel in the crown” of the education sector. In this episode, we discuss the huge range of benefits that adult education has, not just for individuals but places and communities too.

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Mind the gap – rethinking skills in adult education

17 October 2023

Length: 26.41

The skills gap. It’s a phrase you’re likely to hear whenever adult education is discussed. But do we focus on gaps and deficiencies too much?

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Learn, learn and learn again: why adult education matters

3 October 2023

Length: 24:30

Adult education has been described as a permanent national necessity that should be both universal and lifelong. So, why does it matter so much?

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Let’s Go Further on Adult Education: Series 3 Trailer

13 September 2023

Length: 00:59

If you're a provider, an employer, a politician, policymaker, or someone who simply feels passionately about what adult education can do, please make sure you join us for another inspiring and insightful series of Let's Go Further coming on October 3.

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Playing the long game: what the Church of England can bring to FE

25 July 2023

Length: 24:26

The Church of England is the largest provider of faith-based schools in the UK and has representation in around 80% of further education colleges. So, what is its current role in education and what is its long-term vision?

The Reverend Nigel Genders CBE is Chief Education Officer of the Church of England. In this conversation, he explains how the Church strives to work for the ‘common good’ in education; the link between Christian vocation and vocation in colleges; and the challenges the Church has faced in expanding its work in FE.

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Time to care more about the care experienced

11 July 2023

Length: 26:20

Should the care experience be made a protected characteristic?
Join us for an important and eye-opening conversation about a group whose stories are rarely told.

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Reclaiming bossy: seeing girls and women differently in education and work

27 June 2023

Length: 34:20

"If you can't see it, you can't be it."

This episode touches on the importance of having more women around the table. Tune in to hear us discuss how having more female leaders in education and wider society will inspire young women and girls.

We also look at the unique perspectives and experiences women can bring into traditionally male-dominated fields.

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Thinking differently about neurodiversity

13 June 2023

Length: 29:50

Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia – most of us have heard of these neurodiverse conditions. But even if you do not have a diagnosed condition, you are still neurodiverse in some way – no two human minds are the same.

In this episode, we hear from Dr Louise Karwowski, Director of Education at Cognassist, and Paul Eeles, Chief Executive at the Skills and Education Group.

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Breaking the cycle of reoffending: why education is key

30 May 2023

Length: 27:39

In the UK, we imprison more people per head of population than any other country in Europe. The financial cost of this is huge and reoffending rates are high – so what needs to change?

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Transgender voices: listen and learn

16 May 2023

Length: 31:54

In this thought-provoking conversation, Jake and Hannah cover transitioning, familial support, toxic media narratives, and how educational institutions can support transgender learners.

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Let’s talk about sex, relationships and education

2 May 2023

Length: 27:55

Sex education – some find it uncomfortable, others find it controversial. But Dougie Boyd is here to make the case that it’s essential.

In this episode, Dougie Boyd (Director of Education and Wellbeing at Brook) talks about the need to dial down the rhetoric and acknowledge how essential effective Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is in order for children and young people to make sense of their place in the world around them.

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Black, gay and proud

18 April 2023

Length: 27:23

How do we stop talking about racism at school and work and do something about it? In the first episode of series 2, we welcome Will Njobvu, Will explains the importance of representation in education and talks us through his journey as a young black boy hiding his identity from society.

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Driving the economy: why FE is key

7 December 2022

Length: 23:07

In this conversation, Alun explains the importance of creating opportunities for people of all backgrounds, and the benefits this will have for both local communities and the wider UK economy.

We look forward to your company as we conclude the first series of the Let’s Go Further podcast.

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Let’s re-assess: work less and learn more

23 November 2022

Length: 23:43

What if there was a way to reduce staff workload whilst improving learner grades? Listen as Linzi Smithies, Advanced Practitioner in Land-based Animal Science and Equine, talks us through what the DIRT and TOES method is all about.

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Football and life goals: great match!

9 November 2022

Length: 18:24

What role can sport and exercise play in helping learners to reach their potential? Damian Butters, Sports Course Coordinator at Shipley college joins us on 'Let's Go Further' to discuss the power of sport as an educational tool to help improve learner life prospects.

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I’m an older learner: get used to it!

26 October 2022

Length: 24:37

Listen as Mamello shares her passion for learning, her love of fashion, and her experience of being an adult learner. Whatever your age or stage in life, you will hear plenty to inspire you in this episode.

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What should we do about social mobility?

12 October 2022

Length: 29:51

What should we do about social mobility? Professor Lee Elliot Major OBE from the University of Exeter joins us on ‘Let’s Go Further’ to explore this question

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The power of education, where it all starts

28 September 2022

Length: 26:07

In the first episode of Let’s Go Further, we are joined by Jaz Ampaw-Farr, a teacher, keynote speaker, trainer and 'resilience ninja'. You may have seen her on The Apprentice, in a TEDx talk, or at the Skills and Education Group Annual Conference in 2019.

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