It is cold out there - and I don’t just mean the weather. I have been covering education for a decade and now, more than ever, people are telling me how tired or stressed they are, how they are struggling to sleep and leave work behind.

I have talked many times in this space about the importance of kindness and looking out for each other - but I also know that this is getting harder all the time.

It is not just about work, either. Take one look at Twitter over the past week, at the political and social unrest all over the place, and you’d be forgiven for locking the doors and hiding under a blanket with some cocoa.

Skills bill: £83m to future-proof further education

Skills and Post-16 Education Bill: The sector reacts

Need to know: The Skills and Post-16 Education Bill

Of course, you will have peeked out from under said blanket late on Tuesday night when, after what felt like weeks of refreshing the House of Lords’ holding page, the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill was finally published.

The section most talked about in the run-up was, from where I’m sitting, the part of the bill that deals with the powers of the education secretary.

The skills bill and the future of FE colleges

There was plenty on that in the draft legislation - and it’s not surprising there are a number of FE leaders who fear that these new government powers may end up being yet another thing to wear them down.

The bill specifies that local skills improvement plans - developed by employer representatives and setting out what skills and expertise are currently, or may in future be, needed - have to be signed off by the secretary of state.  

It also, crucially, gives the government the power to intervene if FE institutions are not meeting local need and, if required, force structural change including mergers.

What apprenticeships minister Gillian Keegan calls “exciting news” in her update to the sector this week is seen as a power grab by others - with the Federation of Awarding Bodies’ chief executive, Tom Bewick, calling it “top-down and overly centralised”.

But there are some chinks of sunlight amid the gloom, and we should all try to not lose sight of that. Firstly, for all its flaws, a chunky, 38-page skills bill introduced in the House of Lords is most likely a good thing for FE, showing that there is now, once again, the long-hoped-for government focus on the sector.

As always, however, the brightest light in these dark times this week came from the sector’s learners and staff. Anyone who saw former apprentice and WorldSkills UK competitor Hugo Johnson win BBC jewellery show All That Glitters this week will have been in awe of his creativity, but also the determination and confidence with which he beat jewellers most likely (no offence) nearly twice his age.

Hot on the heels of Johnson’s success, it was also announced this week that College of West Anglia catering lecturers Alex Harrison and Stacey Martin will have their moment in the limelight when they appear on Channel 4’s Bake Off: The Professionals.

I have zero doubt that a decade of working together in the further education sector will see them exceptionally well equipped for dealing with a stressful TV competition environment.

The news reminded me of the amazing Masterchef: The Professionals win by City of Glasgow College lecturer Gary Maclean in 2016, who became Scotland’s national chef, appointed by the Scottish government. For every one of them on TV, there are hundreds and thousands boosting the economy, supporting the NHS and inventing the next best way of doing something.

When the FE sector is allowed to shine, its staff and students not only step up to the challenge - they also exceed all expectation. When the spotlight shines, they show why this sector deserves the government’s attention - and its funds.

When they get a chance to tell their story, no one can ever be in any doubt about the worth of our FE sector.