After the Ladder is about preparing people, especially those entering the workforce, for a future that will be much different from the one most of us grew up in.

AI is removing the entry-level jobs, the lower rungs of the career ladder, and lots of people are sounding the alarm about job-loss forecasts. But I'm more hopeful than that. We can train people to find and build on their strengths, to carry responsibility earlier, and to multiply what they can do using the tools and people around them. I'm purposefully optimistic: I expect greater opportunities for people who haven't thrived in the current system, provided we adjust what we teach them. The frameworks I'm working from are in the Frameworks section.

I'll be writing a new piece most weeks, all for free. There will be reports from the frontline of delivering skills programmes in colleges, schools and with Jobcentre referral groups; news and opinion pieces about the skills that count now; and drafts of papers and frameworks, shared for comment before they're finished. If you want one place to find out which skills count now, this is it. I'd like this to be a conversation, so tell me what you think. Comments are open to everyone.

I've spent thirty years building EdTech businesses: SAM Learning, Penda Learning and now National Talent Academy, which is a business I've invested in and am proud of. There I designed the Level 3 Award in Essential Work Skills, endorsed by NCFE and now approved by TQUK, and for the past six years I've delivered it myself: in schools in North West London and Tower Hamlets, in FE colleges, and with a Jobcentre referral group in Taunton. I've watched around a hundred young people present their own video CVs. I received the 2021 BETT Outstanding Achievement Award for my lifetime achievements in EdTech.

Most importantly, I have three children, two at university. So I have a strong interest in getting this right.