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thomasbewick.bsky.social
The Skills Agenda
@thomasbewick.bsky.social
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The Bluesky home of the popular Substack — The Skills Agenda https://open.substack.com/pub/tombewick
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The Skills Agenda @thomasbewick.bsky.social · Sep 10
My new book can be ordered with a 25% discount directly from the publisher. policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/skills-polic...
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EXCLUSIVE: C&G insiders turn on trustees for 'unethical sale'
Leaked documents reveal governing council was 'kept in the dark' about the sell-off. Allegations of bullying and intimidation at the privatised company emerge.
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January 4, 2026 at 3:15 PM
thomasbewick.bsky.social
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EXCLUSIVE: The Great Training Robbery
How did a Monaco-based entrepreneur and a UK charity CEO get to privatise a once great public institution, City & Guilds?
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January 1, 2026 at 10:13 PM
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Skills Policy in Britain: A round up of 2025
It has been another hyperactive year for the training state. But doubts remain whether it adds up to a successful skills and jobs strategy to kickstart growth.
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December 18, 2025 at 1:52 AM
thomasbewick.bsky.social
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Far from a NEET solution?
To great fanfare the government has announced a £725 million package to tackle the 40% decline in youth apprenticeships. An historical analysis suggests it won't be anywhere near enough.
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December 8, 2025 at 10:48 PM
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The Budget blindspot
Ministers have no serious plan for improving workforce productivity, while going along with 40 years of failed supply-side Treasury orthodoxy.
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November 29, 2025 at 3:37 PM
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The 'Great Apprentice Scandal' (Part 2)
There are growing concerns about a slurry of recent reforms to English apprenticeship assessment. Changes that could signal a return to poorer training outcomes and the system marking its own homework
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November 21, 2025 at 1:00 PM
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A declining graduate premium?
With the gap narrowing between minimum wage rates and professional jobs requiring a degree, university courses face scrutiny like never before.
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November 14, 2025 at 2:41 PM
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Why the Chancellor needs to equalise tax
Those who receive income from tenants and assets or work through limited companies have an unfair advantage over those who work via PAYE. The Budget is an opportunity to level the playing field.
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October 31, 2025 at 2:23 PM
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The era of 'performative policy'
From securing borders to delivering a skills revolution, top mandarins, many think-tanks and lobbying bodies have become redundant actors on a giant stage, writes Tom Bewick
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October 29, 2025 at 2:55 PM
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Labour eschews radical approach to skills reform
With a blitz of technocratic tweaks and vague policy ambitions, Ministers opt to build on many of its predecessors' initiatives in a White Paper.
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October 22, 2025 at 6:06 PM
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EXCLUSIVE: Top jobs at education department dominated by elites
Since Labour took office the number of senior positions at DfE held by those who went to fee-paying-schools runs at more than twice the national average.
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October 17, 2025 at 12:55 PM
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Why this must be a Budget for skills
In the absence of growth, Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces a serious challenge to balance the books. A proper reset of the country's skills investment model would help.
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October 8, 2025 at 4:19 PM
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The rise and rise of bullshit jobs?
Pointless employment appears to be endemic, yet simply calling for the 'death of the corporate job' is to misunderstand alienation in society, writes Tom Bewick.
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October 5, 2025 at 1:09 PM
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80s Classic: Will the 'Youth Guarantee' beat YTS?
Skills secretary, Pat McFadden, has been around long enough to remember Thatcher's Youth Training Scheme, but can he avoid its major design flaws?
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October 1, 2025 at 12:14 PM
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'Skills Olympics' is a metaphor for Britain's managed decline
Skills competitions sort out the wheat from the chaff when it comes to countries considered global productivity leaders. Sadly, the UK organisers can't even make gold.
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September 26, 2025 at 10:35 AM
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'Privileged elites' still dominate Britain, a new report finds
Social mobility charity, the Sutton Trust, finds little improvement since its landmark report of a decade ago.
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September 18, 2025 at 10:11 AM
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The class of students that educators don't want to fight for
Fewer than 1 in 5 white working class boys in England achieve a strong set of GCSEs. Part of the problem is that educational leaders see no career advancement in tackling the issue, argues Tom Bewick
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September 12, 2025 at 5:20 PM
thomasbewick.bsky.social
My new book can be ordered with a 25% discount directly from the publisher. policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/skills-polic...
September 10, 2025 at 11:48 PM
thomasbewick.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/tombewic...
Memo to McFadden
What does Labour's new "super ministry" mean for welfare reform, skills policy and the future of work? Tom Bewick provides some unofficial advice to the minister.
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September 7, 2025 at 8:41 PM
thomasbewick.bsky.social
feweek.co.uk/starmers-sha...
Starmer’s shake-up could be the gamechanger FE needs
Starmer’s decision to move skills policy from DfE could be a winner for FE
feweek.co.uk
September 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM
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On the Kerala trail...
The first state in India to achieve universal literacy is on a mission to lead in the global skills race.
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September 3, 2025 at 4:53 PM
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Australia: scepticism hangs over latest skills reforms
Federal Ministers have announced a new Tertiary System Advisory Council to shift the dial on joining up skills recognition and tackling sluggish productivity, but experts have their doubts.
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August 28, 2025 at 11:46 AM
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Is Artificial Intelligence destroying entry-level and mid-skill jobs?
As the labour market faces one of its most subdued periods since the pandemic, Tom Bewick looks for hard evidence of whether AI-driven job losses are to blame.
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August 21, 2025 at 1:50 PM
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Reforming the Apprenticeship Levy
Ministers appear to be in a muddle over one of the government's flagship policies to raise skills and productivity. Has a Labour-friendly think-tank just a found way through the impasse?
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August 14, 2025 at 4:08 PM
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This is what the Skills White paper should say
Education ministers in England have promised a comprehensive post-16 education and skills strategy by the autumn, Tom Bewick outlines what it should deliver.
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August 7, 2025 at 12:41 PM