Sak Awan works at the sharp edge of the FE sector, helping Skills Providers, Colleges, ITPs and welfare to work providers to strategically work with them to attract the right talent to enable business growth. 

Sak has recruited into the Further Education sector since 2008, placing staff into the sector across all levels for local, regional and national Skills Providers. Sak was also appointed a Fellow of the Institute of Employability Professionals for his contribution and passion for the sector. He runs the EPA Hub, a platform linking EPA's and EPAO's directly. 

Sak states that upskilling will be central in helping people and businesses to rebound from the corona crisis. It’s also essential for building an inclusive, prosperous country for the long-term: supporting people in adapting to change, and ensuring Great Britain's future success.

In 2011, Sak launched S Knights Recruitment, a sector specialist recruitment agency, to solve these problems for UK businesses. Sak's vast experience in working with further education providers to advance inclusive excellence in the workforce is second to none making him a inspiring guest on any webinar, summit or speaking event on the topic. 

More recently, he also launched LindSak Promotions as a niche promotions and marketing platform serving the further education sector.

Victoria Sylvester the MD of Acacia Training joins Safaraz Ali as his 4th guest for FE PODCAST- Further Education Sector Insights”. 

Victoria leads Acacia Training and all the other businesses in their growing group, she is known as being ambitious and caring at the same time. Victoria has a young family with four children aged 8 to 15. 

Vikki Sylvester founded Acacia with her mum 21 years ago. They now train around 1500 apprentices each year in the health and wellbeing sectors. 

She is the Vice Chair of Staffordshire Partnership for Employment & Skills (SPES) and a member of the Institute for Employability Professionals.

Vikki has gone from her career as a registered nurse to being on the board of our multinational owners – MBH Group. She employs more than 200 people across Acacia Training, International School of Beauty Therapy, and others.

She believes in empowering and trusting her team and creating opportunities for her employees to grow, while encouraging us all to play our part in the community.

Recently Victoria and Acacia Training Ltd have been recognised on a number of forums and are award winning with awards ranging from Apprenticeship Provider of the Year, best UK Health and Social Care training provider, and a number of Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Victoria believes in sharing good practice and that collaborating is key to growth and is often found sharing best practice, discussing key themes, changes, and opportunities in the skills sector. 

Safaraz launched FE Podcast after the success and demand of his entrepreneurial production Canny Conversations.

Safaraz has been in the sector for over 21 years now and the FE Podcast is where he discusses the latest from the further education sector and where a range of guests are invited to hear their views and suggestions to make some sense on what is going on in the world FE and skills.

In the third episode Steve Lawrence from EEVT discuss his journey shares some nuggets – do take a listen

The ESFA & Subcontracting is discussed including the Contradiction between ESFA and some of the regional combined authorities. The ESFA are looking to do a phased reduction of subcontracting until 2022/23 by eliminating provision that is poorly managed and delivered, and provision undertaken without a clear and defensible educational rationale and on the other hand the combined authorities are mandating consortium-based proposals for e.g. WMCA SWAP, GMCA ESF NEETs.

At FE PODCAST we discuss the latest from the further education sector and wherever possible welcome a range of guests to hear their views and suggestions to make some sense on what is going on in the world FE and skills.

Safaraz Ali i is recognised as an infleuncer within the Further Education sector, especially in the provision of AEB and delivering welfare to work programmes.

His training business, the Pathway Group, operates across the country and Saf is founder of the Asian Apprenticeship Awards, now the BAME Apprenticeship Awards. This initiative encourages people from minority ethnic backgrounds to take up apprenticeships.

As a training provider, Saf knows the challenges that face people working in the vital and rapidly changing world of Further Education.

He keeps his finger on the pulse of what is happening, and these podcasts provide updates on issues of interest. An important part of this is a conversation within each episode with someone who has a particular expertise and something interesting to say.

Saf and his guest will share their views and the content may be controversial but will hopefully never be dull.

Topics that are covered are many and varied but include funding, standards, the latest developments, and Government policy as it effects the sector.

Whether the listener is a teacher, lecturer, college principal or running a training business, these podcasts will help them to keep up the speed with what is happening in the sector in which they work. They should also be an important listen for Government and policy makers.

Education and training are the future of any country and getting it right or wrong can shape the lives of millions.

But what can be lacking is up to date information about what is going on and the thoughts of key people working in FE. This is a gap that these podcasts are intended to try to fill.

News and information are important and so are comment and opinion, all hopefully delivered in a way that entertains and enlightens within these easy to listen podcasts.