The Bedford College Group Showcases Groundbreaking FE Skills Research at Westminster

The Bedford College Group brought together leading voices in Further Education (FE) and skills development at Westminster last week (13/11) for the launch of its FE Skills Research, an initiative set to shape the future of UK education policy.

The event, which was supported by Lee Barron MP for Corby & East Northants, celebrated a series of practitioner led studies conducted by teams across The Bedford College Group and partner institutions as members of the wider Research College Group. These research projects aim to influence national thinking around skills, leadership and teaching practice within the FE sector.

Robin Webber-Jones, Executive Director of Curriculum at The Bedford College Group said:

“We’d like to thank everyone who attended the event, all with one shared goal, to improve the future of Further Education. A young person’s socioeconomic status should not affect their education. Research has shown that those from disadvantaged backgrounds are seen to achieve half a grade lower than their peers. The book we shared at the event has collaborations from people all around the world and also across the whole country , which means it includes all the perspectives needed to create answers.”

The event also featured contributions from the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), Pearson, The Gatsby Foundation, and the Association of Colleges, marking a significant collaboration across the sector.

Talking about his contribution to the book and event, Professor Ross Renton, CEO of Anglia Ruskin University said:

“My chapter is about the future of technical education. I’ve had the opportunity to apply methodology called future studies. It is like future forecasting but also industry representatives and what they believe will happen with the range of scenarios in the future. There’s clear impact of the role of AI and what that might have, and as a group we need to discuss these findings further.”

Lewis Cooper, Director of Public Affairs and Campaigns, at the Association Of Colleges commented:

“We need to build to move an organised system within post 16 and skills. Colleges are anchored institutions, and we need to treat them as such. We need to move to more vertical alignment with universities, schools and others of how we can work better together. However, the white paper doesn’t have all the answers, and the government is looking to us to help them achieve that. It’s been fantastic hearing everyone’s inputs today.”

The launch concluded with a lively Q&A session, setting out next steps for embedding the findings into ongoing policy and practice discussions.