Tuesday afternoon - Strand two breakout sessions

2.01 - The missing middle: Making Levels 4 and 5 a real option

Lead organisation: Pearson

England has long recognised the need to strengthen higher technical education and address the “missing middle” between Level 3 and degrees. Higher Technical Qualifications were designed to provide high-quality, employer-endorsed Level 4 and 5 routes into skilled technical roles, yet uptake remains low. This session will ask why higher technical education has not yet reached scale, why Level 4 and 5 skills matter for productivity, inclusion and opportunity, and how colleges, employers, local leaders and government can make HTQs, higher apprenticeships and LLE-funded learning clearer, more accessible and more valuable for learners and employers.

2.02 - If you don't own your data, who will?

Lead organisation: Brighton Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College (BHASVIC)

Many colleges are surrounded by reports, dashboards and spreadsheets, yet still struggle to answer the questions that are important. In this session, we share our journey of trying to get a grip on our data: what we expected from it, what we asked of our teams, and what we discovered about ownership, priorities and decision-making. Attendees will leave with practical questions to take back to their own college: who decides our data priorities, do we have a data strategy, and are we ready for modern data operations?

2.03 - Speaking to the media – showcasing FE and coping with crisis 

Lead organisation: Association of Colleges

Find out how to engage with media and how to communicate in times of crisis. This session hears from AoC Head of Comms, Media, Marketing and Research, Julia Belgutay and Senior Press and PR Manager, Kate Parker, former journalists with extensive experience in sector media and beyond. They will provide you with helpful tools to engage the media as a college leader, including practical techniques for speaking to journalists, based around real-life case studies. They will also set out how AoC can help when it comes to crisis communications, and how you may deal with those events when they occur. 

2.04 - College funding update

Lead organisation: Association of Colleges

The government has major plans for technical and vocational education which will include greater devolution and changes to funding systems.  These will take time to implement and, in the meantime, colleges are dealing with the challenges of a rising number of 16-18 year-olds, constrained adult budgets and ensuring there is enough quality teaching space for courses. Government funding underpins all of this. This AoC session will provide an update on the latest news a couple of weeks after the Autumn budget and will provide a chance to ask questions of officials

2.05 - Five nations, one sector: Exploring the future of colleges

Lead organisation: The College Alliance and Association of Colleges

Colleges across the UK and Republic of Ireland operate within different education and skills systems, but face many of the same questions: what should colleges be here to do, how can they respond to changing skills needs, and how can they make a greater difference in their communities and economies?

Cross-nation dialogue is at the heart of The College Alliance’s work. This interactive session opens that conversation to the wider AoC community, bringing together sector leaders from all five nations. Through a panel discussion and audience participation, delegates will compare different approaches, challenge assumptions and explore what we might learn from each other.  

2.06 - Beyond skills: A capability conception of vocational education

Lead organisation: Association of Colleges

Leesa Wheelahan will be in conversation about her new book, in which she and Gavin Moodie discuss how vocational education transforms the lives of its students and offers them opportunities they would otherwise not have. Vocational education supports students and contributes to their communities and economies often in spite of funding and government policies. The book argues that a new 'social settlement' is needed in vocational education based on a broader understanding of occupations and preparation for work and a more expansive understanding of the purposes of vocational education including human flourishing, social justice, social inclusion, and sustainability.
 

2.07 - By the sector, for the sector: Technical and Vocational Professional Development 

Lead organisation: Association of Colleges, East Kent Colleges Group, Weston College and Wigan & Leigh College 

Every technical and vocational practitioner can access high-quality professional development designed by the sector, for the sector. Discover the new, fully funded DfE Technical and Vocational Professional Development (TVPD) programme and How to Teach Post-16 Pathways, developed by current sector leaders and practitioners through our nine Technical and Vocational Excellence Hubs. Accredited learning leads will bring this learning back into their institutions, supporting delivery at scale. Join AoC and three Hub leaders to explore this new model, its focus on excellent technical teaching, what it offers your workforce and organisation, and how your college can get involved, contribute and benefit.

2.08 - Practical wisdom: A different way to develop FE’s leaders

Lead organisation: Association of Colleges, The KWP Ltd, Suffolk New College, Bournemouth & Poole College, Ayrshire College

FE is built on practical wisdom: knowing what works, why it works and how to make it work in the real world. So why shouldn’t we develop our leaders in the same way? The College Collective gives talented people the opportunity to use their expertise beyond their own college, solving real problems and bringing new thinking back. Hear why Suffolk New College uses the Collective as a key part of its talent strategy, alongside experts Jason Eastwood from Bournemouth and Poole College and Gillian Brown from Ayrshire College. Take away a different approach to developing and retaining talent, building organisational capability and accessing expertise across FE, plus a first look at the new College Collective Library, where partner colleges share resources and practice rather than reinventing them.

2.09 - Erasmus+: Enhancing college strategy through international engagement

Lead organisation: British Council and Chichester College Group

International engagement brings many benefits for both learners and education staff, creating lasting connections and life-changing experiences. This session will explore how colleges can enhance their strategic objectives through participation in Erasmus+, examining how international engagement can enrich the curriculum, break down barriers to participation, widen opportunities for work placements, create staff professional development opportunities, and strengthen a college's reputation on the European stage. Join leaders from colleges with extensive experience of international partnership work, alongside representatives from the British Council, the National Agency for the programme, as they discuss the potential of Erasmus+ to enhance and support the work of colleges.

2.10 - Effective challenge in college governance

Lead organisation: Brooklands Technical College, East Coast College and Chelmsford College

Have you ever left a board or committee meeting feeling frustrated that the discussion had become too operational and governors had overstepped the mark into management?  Led by GovGold, a group of four FE governance professionals with a wealth of expertise, this interactive session for governors, governance professionals and executive leaders, will explore why operational drift happens at meetings, and how governors can provide robust scrutiny and challenge while respecting the boundary between governance and management and preserving strong relationships. We will look at how governors might frame questions to ensure effective challenge, the behaviours that help to maintain trust, and the role of chairs and senior leaders in encouraging appropriate, constructive challenge at the right level.

2.11 - Post-16 reform is coming: Is your centre ready?  

Lead organisation: City & Guilds

Post-16 qualification reform will reshape not only what colleges plan and deliver, but also how colleges teach and assess learners. As a new generation of vocational qualifications emerges, combining exam and non-exam assessment methods, centres need to start preparing now.

This practical session explores assessment literacy, knowledge retrieval and exam readiness, alongside effective techniques for short-answer, extended-response questions and maximising marks for multiple-choice assessments. Participants will gain strategies to identify command words, build learner confidence and resilience, and embed assessment skills into everyday teaching. 

Attendees will leave with practical approaches to support learner achievement and centre readiness for the evolving post-16 assessment landscape.

2.12 - Delivering on Post-16 pathways qualification reform 

Lead organisation: Department for Education and Qualification Pioneers

This session will explore how colleges can best prepare for Post-16 pathway reforms starting in 2027 based on the planning and approaches to transition being taken by college qualification Pioneers. DfE will provide policy context on 14-19 pathways, including T levels, V levels, Foundation Certificates, and Occupational Certificates. Qualification Pioneers will share practical provider approaches to creating coherent study programmes, preparing for the shift to T levels, teaching and support staff CPD, CEIAG for students, work with employers.

2.13 - Leading inclusive colleges: A strategic response to the growing NEET challenge 

Lead organisation: Gateway Qualifications, Inspire Education Group, Milton Keynes College

Rising NEET numbers present a growing challenge for colleges, but creating meaningful opportunities for young people requires a whole-college approach. Join us to explore how curriculum design, learner support, partnerships, leadership, and governance can work together to build a culture of inclusion that improves engagement, progression, and outcomes.
Hear from Inspire Education Group and Milton Keynes College, how joined up working across curriculum, learner support, quality, MIS, and digital teams has driven innovative solutions and embedded inclusion.  Plus, learn how years of learning and continuous improvement helped Milton Keynes College launch The Key, a dedicated provision supporting young people most at risk of becoming NEET.
Join us to explore proven approaches, challenge current thinking, and gain practical ideas to strengthen inclusion and create opportunities for every learner to succeed.
 

2.14 - HRUC and Heathrow: Creating an inclusive learner partnership with employers and supply chains to transform opportunities for SEND learners

Lead organisation: Harrow, Richmond and Uxbridge College and Heathrow Airport

The Heathrow Inclusive Learner Partnership (HILP) is an award-winning collaboration between HRUC, Heathrow Airport and more than 20 supply chain employers, created to improve outcomes for SEND and neurodiverse learners. Through work experience, employer-led projects, workplace visits, supported internships and employment opportunities, the partnership has helped over 1000 learners develop confidence, skills and career aspirations. This session will share how the partnership was established, the impact achieved for learners and employers, and the lessons learned along the way. Delegates will leave with practical strategies and a scalable framework for developing similar partnerships and building a national network of inclusive employer opportunities.

2.15 - Pride in FE: Embedding LGBTQ+ inclusion across FE

Lead organisation: Luminate Education Group

The Pride in FE initiative led by Yorkshire Learning Providers provides a practical framework for colleges and training providers seeking to create more inclusive environments for LGBTQ+ staff and learners. This session will explore how the initiative has supported organisations to move beyond policy commitments and embed inclusion across leadership, culture, teaching, learner support and employer engagement. Through a combination of case studies, practitioner reflections and discussion, participants will consider how LGBTQ+ inclusion contributes to wider organisational objectives and learner outcomes.

2.16 - Ask the inspector

Lead organisation: Ofsted

An opportunity to ask current HMI any questions or queries you have in relation to the renewed education inspection framework or our approach to inspection.