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Jessica Hill

@jessjanehill.bsky.social
146 followers 167 following 5 posts

Commissioning and investigations editor for FE Week

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Reposted by Jessica Hill
Saqib Bhatti MP @saqibbhattimp.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
📝NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP WEEK 📝 Spread the word, apprenticeships rock! Britain has huge amounts of potential and as we look to the future, apprenticeships will be so important in helping out future generations unlock their talent. Read more here feweek.co.uk/britain-need...
feweek.co.uk
Britain needs fewer rip-off degrees and more apprentices
In a fast-changing, AI-driven economy, hands-on learning and real-world skills matter more than ever
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
FE Week @feweek.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
📈 City & Guilds CEO Kirstie Donnelly’s pay surged past the half-million-pound mark before the charity sold its awarding and training business, accounts reveal. feweek.co.uk/city-guilds-...
feweek.co.uk
City & Guilds CEO pay passed £525k before £166m sale, accounts show
City & Guilds CEO Kirstie Donnelly’s pay surged past the half-million-pound mark before the charity sold its awarding and training business, accounts reveal.
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
PLMR Education @plmr.education · 12/01/2026
Mapping the skills debate across the opposition benches - @jessjanehill.bsky.social @feweek.bsky.social looks at how today’s parties are positioning themselves on FE and skills. buff.ly/RB120Ep #education #educationnews
buff.ly
Opposition parties' skills policies in a changing political landscape
A look at how the main political parties; Reform UK, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems and the Greens, are positioning themselves on FE and skills policies
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
Natspec @natspec.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
A powerful and important piece - thank you, Ben Bastin, for bringing such clarity to an issue that too often gets overlooked. Find out more about our awareness week starting on Monday at specialistfe.com #ThePowerofSpecialistFE
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
Shane Chowen @ukshane.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
As youth NEET figures stubbornly hover around 950k, @jessjanehill.bsky.social goes behind the scenes to find out what it takes for FE providers to keep young people *in* education and training feweek.co.uk/how-neet-pro...
feweek.co.uk
How NEET providers are propping up a failing system
An inside look at the pressures facing NEET provision, from pastoral care demands to restrictive funding rules
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
Shane Chowen @ukshane.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Reform UK are certain Nigel Farage will be the next prime minister. What would that mean for further education, skills and training? Here's what @feweek.bsky.social's @jessjanehill.bsky.social found out at their party conference last weekend: feweek.co.uk/reform-plots...
feweek.co.uk
Farage rides a turquoise tide but Reform's skills policy is lost at sea
Reform insists that trade skills and industrial automation are the key to fixing 'broken Britain'
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
New @learnworkuk.bsky.social research with YFF shows only 1 in 4 NEETs is getting help to find work or education. Huge challenge w/ 1m NEETs, rising sharply since the pandemic. Government's Youth Guarantee in England needs to be expansive & more ambitious. learningandwork.org.uk/resources/re...
learningandwork.org.uk
The Youth Guarantee and the benefits system - Learning and Work Institute
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
FE Week @feweek.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Reform’s turquoise wave is rising fast, but its education agenda is a choppy mix of culture wars, cuts and contradictions. We investigate what the party leading the polls would have in store for FE and skills
feweek.co.uk
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
Tom Richmond @tom-richmond.com · 13/06/2025
"The inclusion I’m worried about is the poor kid that comes in wanting to work hard, but the rest of the class are messing about and won’t let them." Great interview in @feweek.bsky.social with @alunfrancis.bsky.social. His knowledge and insights are fascinating. feweek.co.uk/alun-francis...
feweek.co.uk
Alun Francis, Social Mobility Commission chair and B&FC CEO
Deprived areas need vision – not victimhood – to level up, and social mobility chair Alun Francis is delivering it with the first ‘Multiversity’ in Blackpool
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
PLMR Education @plmr.education · 30/06/2025
Green Skills Advisory Panel: FE’s 'secret weapon' for net zero training. More from @feweek.bsky.social @jessjanehill.bsky.social buff.ly/3KdGdYz #education #educationnews
buff.ly
GSAP: FE’s secret weapon for net zero training
Former fisherman Mike Blakeley tells how he’s building the Green Skills Advisory Panel so FE and industry can make sense of often-conflicting green policies
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
Shane Chowen @ukshane.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Our commissioning editor @jessjanehill.bsky.social has put together this excellent how-to guide on writing opinion pieces for @feweek.bsky.social We would *love* to see more of your views, insights and ideas published on our website and in our newspaper feweek.co.uk/how-to-write...
feweek.co.uk
How to write for FE Week
Your how-to guide to getting published in FE Week
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
WM College @wmc-adultlearning.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
ESOL is more than just a language—it’s about sustainability and future-ready skills! Our Advanced #ESOL Practitioner, Sam Pepper, spoke with @feweek.bsky.social about how we’re embedding the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (ESD) into our lessons. 📖 Read more 👉 bit.ly/FEWeekESOL
bit.ly
We updated ESOL learning to meet today's global challenges
By adding UN sustainability goals and fusion skills into our curriculums, we’re preparing students to play their part in society
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
The WEA @weaadulted.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Ahead of the Spring Statement, our Chief Executive and General Secretary, @simonparkinson.bsky.social, has written an open letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves outlining the benefits of adult learning. Read letter online: thewea.info/chancellor_l... #adulteducation #budget #springstatement
Dear Chancellor,

There is no question that the economy faces considerable challenges and you will have tough choices to make in the weeks ahead. 

It is essential that reductions in spending do not become quickly counterproductive by storing up bigger financial pain in the near future. And not only financial pain but a human cost too. 

The proposed cuts to adult learning are a case in point. They are not efficiency savings as the sector is already running in the most streamlined manner possible. 

The Adult Skills Fund faces a 2%/3% cut across all the Combined Authorities coupled with a 6% cut for non-devolved ASF across the rest of the country. This will impact courses due to begin in September – courses which would support some of those in our most disadvantaged communities. 

At the WEA alone this will reduce learner numbers by at least 2,000 (out of a current 30,000 each year). This would scale up to tens of thousands of lost learners across the sector. 

This at a time when other Government policies are trying to encourage people towards adult learning. The announcement of the 6% ESFA cut came on the same day as the announcements on benefits reform. Those reforms seek to support and motivate people with disabilities and long term medical conditions into work. That requires having the tailored courses available to them in the neighbourhoods in which they live – something which the community adult learning sector currently specialises in but would not be able to do if budgets are cut. 

The benefits of adult learning are well understood. In the last iteration of the WEA’s Impact report we found that 42% of learners on our skills courses went on to get a job or go into further education. More broadly, 83% of learners reported increased wellbeing and 91% visited their GP less often than the national average. All of these impacts save the Treasury money and are further scaled up across the community learning sector. 

Follow the weblink to read the full letter.
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
Josh Mellor @joshmellor.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
A fascinating view into a world of apprenticeship funding claims gone wrong, how the ESFA investigates and whether expensive "errors" should amount to a disqualification for the directors responsible. feweek.co.uk/former-appre...
feweek.co.uk
Former apprenticeship boss avoids director ban
A former apprenticeship training provider boss avoids a second director disqualification after arguing £1m in erroneous claims submitted without his knowledge
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
Maddie Wheeler @madswheeler.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
This #CollegesWeek2025 is an opportunity to celebrate the staff who work in our Colleges supporting adults & young people to make progress in their lives. However there aren't enough of them. This excellent piece by @jessjanehill.bsky.social is a must read feweek.co.uk/fe-college-t...
feweek.co.uk
Colleges face staffing crisis as government solutions falter
High vacancy rates in colleges are causing courses to be scrapped and agency costs to soar
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
Tom Richmond @tom-richmond.com · 13/01/2025
Yup - a great article from @jessjanehill.bsky.social. So great, in fact, that she joined me and @drthomaslancaster.bsky.social for an episode of my podcast on the issue of AI cheating by students. Cracking discussion. And terrifying in places. www.buzzsprout.com/1874905/epis...
buzzsprout.com
Can anyone or anything stop AI cheating in exams? - Inside Your Ed
Although this year’s exam season has largely passed without incident or drama, many exams and assessments throughout our education system are potentially facing their greatest ever threat in the form ...
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Jessica Hill @jessjanehill.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
For Schools Week, I delved into how much time pupils are really spending on their phones in schools. Does being a 'phone free school' really mean pupils are phone free? And does the answer lie in 'banning' phones, or should schools take a different approach? schoolsweek.co.uk/the-schools-...
schoolsweek.co.uk
The schools waging war on smartphones
As fear mounts over the impact of smartphones on young people, what does being a phone free school really mean?
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
FE Week @feweek.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
College turnaround: The Hull Story feweek.co.uk/hullraisers-...
feweek.co.uk
How Hullraisers took Hull College to top dog from underdog
The story of how Debra Gray and her Hullraisers transformed Hull College
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Reposted by Jessica Hill
Shane Chowen @ukshane.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
🦋 Our senior investigations reporter is now on Bluesky Follow @jessjanehill.bsky.social and check out her latest feature for @feweek.bsky.social uncovering the realities of teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages feweek.co.uk/a-day-in-the...
feweek.co.uk
Day in the life with an ESOL teacher
The highs and lows of a typical day for an advanced ESOL practitioner in London
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