Independent Professionals
How businesses can help to address youth unemployment
With NEET rates at a ten-year high, Nichola Hay MBE explores how UK businesses can rethink early career job roles, from apprenticeships to flexible entry routes. Investing in young talent is not just ethical, it’s a smart business strategy that builds skills, boosts retention and shapes a resilient, future-ready workforce. The proportion of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) in the UK has reached 13.5%, marking the highest rate in ten years. This highlights urgent risks to…
TJ interviews: Frédéric Hébert on staying skill-ready when everything keeps changing
Jo Cook sits down with Frédéric Hébert, Chief Learning Officer at Rise Up, to dig into what it really takes to stay ahead of rapid skills change. He shares practical examples, fresh thinking and why investing in people, not just technology, matters most for building future-ready teams in the workplace Training Journal: We live in a world where jobs for the youngest generations probably haven’t been thought of yet, and there’s an expiration date on many of today’s skills. How…
Learning smarter, not faster: How to optimise time and master skills
Whether you’re designing learning or trying to improve your own, it is easy to feel pressure to learn faster. Amy Brann explores how attention, emotion, spacing and deliberate practice help people learn in a way the brain prefers, offering simple ideas that make learning stick and feel more enjoyable too Life feels fast and full, and the pressure to adapt quickly is high. Whether it’s picking up a new tool, adapting to change, or developing leadership skills, the message is…
Left behind twice: What SEN inequity means for tomorrow’s workforce
Michelle Carson examines how early inequality and missed support for children with special educational needs shape access to learning, opportunity and progression. Drawing on findings from the Sutton Trust and Support SEND Kids, and her own experience, she explores why today’s educational gaps become tomorrow’s workforce barriers, unless we act The findings of the Double Disadvantage report has drawn national attention to a familiar but deeply troubling truth: children with special educational needs (SEN) from socially deprived backgrounds are being left…
Your team is using AI, but are your prompts letting you down?
AI use in L&D is rising fast, but prompt quality often lags behind. Poor inputs lead to weak outputs, wasted time and reduced learner trust. Drawing on the testing methodologies of verification and validation, together with Dakan and Feller’s 4Ds framework, Catherine Dock explains how to strengthen your AI prompts We know from recent L&D research that Learning teams are using AI more widely to support increased volumes of L&D design delivery, and personalisation of learning at scale. This trend…
The rise of learning as a strategic growth driver
Frédéric Hébert unpacks findings from Rise Up’s 2025 State of Learning Report, exploring why L&D is gaining influence but still struggles for strategic investment. To truly lead growth, learning must align with business outcomes and speak in a language the board understands or is at risk of being left behind. Across industries, the perception of workplace learning is shifting. Roles are becoming more fluid, the need for upskilling and reskilling is increasing as technology evolves, and businesses are trying to find value wherever…
Agile learning: A story of relevance, responsibility and real change
Siobhan Orchard-Webb shares a case study on how a bespoke leadership programme became a transformative journey. Blending agile learning with human-centred facilitation, the experience empowered individuals to lead with confidence, curiosity and care, showing how the most powerful learning happens not from instruction, but from listening, adapting, and growing together. On an autumnal morning, in a quiet training room tucked away in an area of a community building, twelve managers gathered around a set of tables arranged in a semi-circle.…
Inclusion starts here: Empower your team to make the difference
Robert Ordever explores why top-down diversity, equity and inclusion strategies often fall short. He argues that truly inclusive cultures are built from the ground up, through team behaviours, emotional intelligence and authentic recognition—turning DE&I from a corporate initiative into an experience that helps everyone feel valued, heard and respected. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives fail when organisations adopt a purely top-down approach. Often concentrating on attracting a range of diverse employees from varying backgrounds, these organisations throw employees together…
TJ podcast: Learning’s human heartbeat: L&D then and now – episode 329
At TJ’s 60th Anniversary Conference, Andrew Jacobs discusses with Laura Overton and Kirsty Lewis what L&D has gained and lost over six decades. The exploration goes from laserdiscs to AI, classrooms to communities, and why social, human learning still matters more than ever for performance, culture, connection and future readiness. Podcast summary: Created by ChatGPT Recorded live at TJ’s 60th Anniversary Conference, this special episode sees Andrew Jacobs take over the Training Journal podcast to host a reflective debate with…
My book ‘AI for People Professionals’ was a human-first experiment
Behind the pages of a book shaped by humans and machines, Erica Farmer shares the creative highs, challenges and lessons from writing ‘AI for People Professionals’. From neurodivergent-friendly workflows to AI-supported thinking, it’s a candid look at what it means to write about the future of work in real time. When I started writing my book AI for People Professionals, I had no idea how much of a creative, emotional and intellectual rollercoaster it would be. This wasn’t just a…
Want smart, useful L&D insight in your inbox (without the fluff)?
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for Editor-only commentary, and exclusive insight that isn’t published anywhere else online.
If you want a quick roundup of what matters, fresh ideas you can use, and the best new reads from Training Journal, this is where it lands
It’s free, only takes a minute, and you can unsubscribe any time.
