The government's upcoming FE White Paper will be "exciting and bold", education secretary Gavin Williamson has said.
In a blog published on the Association of Colleges' website to mark #CollegesWeek, Mr Williamson said a lot had changed in the past year, "but one thing that has remained is the role of colleges as the beating heart of communities". This, he said, had become "more apparent than ever before" in recent months.
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"Throughout this pandemic that we have faced and which has devastated so much, the FE sector has shone through. You have used your expertise, ingenuity and creativity to not only deliver excellent online learning and keep the show on the road, but you have gone above and beyond to support your local communities," he wrote.
FE White Paper: Putting employers 'at the heart of the system'
"I want to put employers, like those SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] that responded to AoC’s survey, at the heart of the system so that people get the right training for them and businesses have the skills they need to grow.
"That is why we will be publishing an exciting and bold White Paper this autumn to drive forward real change, building on the great progress that has already been made by the sector with new employer-led T levels, Institutes of Technology and high-quality apprenticeships."
The government is expected to publish its White Paper later this year.
