Rana ElFarra is Project Lead at the Institute of Technology at North Hertfordshire College and current Technical Teaching Fellow on the programme funded in partnership by the Education Training Foundation and the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. Here, Rana shares her reflections on the parliamentary reception delivered by ETF on 28 January 2026.

What did I learn and value about the event?

The ETF parliamentary reception reinforced that further education (FE) is increasingly recognised as a core driver of skills, opportunity, and social mobility, rather than a system on the margins. What stood out most was a clear shift in conversations; from ambition to how change is delivered and sustained at scale.

Across discussions with policymakers, ETF leaders, and practitioners, there was a shared focus on practical impact: what genuinely improves learner outcomes, why it works, and how it can be embedded long term. Teaching quality, employer engagement, and innovation were consistently framed as interconnected, not competing priorities. This strongly reflected my own Technical Teaching Fellowship experience, particularly around immersive technologies and artificial intelligence, where evidence shows that impact only comes when innovation is purposeful, curriculum-aligned, and supported by confident staff.

How did I see myself in the space?

I didn’t experience the event as a passive attendee. I found myself acting naturally as a connector, translating between research, classroom practice, and policy language. When discussing examples such as VR used as a lesson starter, diagnostic checkpoint, or consolidation activity, I was able to clearly link classroom innovation to national priorities around skills, equity, and employability.

This helped clarify my role: not simply introducing innovation but making it workable, ensuring new approaches are pedagogically sound, realistic for staff, and capable of being shared and scaled beyond individual enthusiasts.

What am I doing differently as a result?

The event sharpened my focus from delivering innovation to enabling it. I am now more intentional in framing innovation through three consistent questions:

· What problem are we trying to solve?

· What evidence supports this approach?

· What difference will it make for learners, staff, and the organisation?

This aligns closely with ETF’s Professional Standards and wider evidence that sustainable change depends on clarity, trust, and infrastructure, not tools alone. Increasingly, my focus is on reducing friction for teachers, designing frameworks that offer flexibility while keeping learning outcomes central.

Who did I engage with?

I had meaningful conversations with ETF trustees, senior sector leaders, policymakers, and practitioner-researchers. Many shared similar challenges around scaling quality, strengthening parity of esteem for technical routes, and embedding innovation without increasing workload. These discussions placed my work within a wider, research-informed national community of practice and highlighted the need for roles that connect strategy, pedagogy, and operations.

What am I taking forward?

The key takeaway is confidence – confidence that evidence-led, FE-driven innovation is being heard and valued. As a result, I am:

· continuing rigorous evaluation and scaling of my VR fellowship work, linking classroom practice with industry placements and career readiness

· progressing discussions to lead a whole-college VR rollout at North Hertfordshire College, moving from pilot activity to sustainable implementation

· sharing learning across the sector, including potential presentations at EdTechX London Week (June 2026) and the T Level Communities of Practice Exchange Event (6 March)

· developing a practical plan to ensure immersive and digital innovation is easy for teachers to manage, adapt, and align to learning outcomes, rather than adding complexity.

Final reflection

This experience clarified something I had already sensed: my strength sits at the point where innovation becomes implementation. I am not focused on tools for their own sake, but on building the systems, structures, and confidence that allow innovation to land safely, scale sustainably, and genuinely improve outcomes.

That is what being an Innovation Facilitator means to me: supporting strategy, empowering staff, and ensuring evidence leads practice