Looking Ahead at 2026

The final months of 2025 brought a flurry of government announcements across FE and skills, from the Post-16 White Paper and apprenticeship assessment reforms to…

Education and Business Leaders Urge Government to Back SME Apprenticeships to Boost Growth and Youth Opportunity

In advance of Small Business Saturday, A coalition of leading education, skills, and business organisations has issued an open letter to the Secretary of State…

Beyond Routine: The Role of Skills, Education, and Technology in Middle-Skill Occupations

From administrative assistants to skilled trades workers, so-called ‘middle-skill occupations’ account for about a fifth of the UK workforce. However, in the face of artificial…

Reflections from the Labour Party Conference

At this year’s Labour Party Conference, the Prime Minister proposed to Renew Britain – a bold promise that will take grand planning and belief to…

New Edge Bulletin Tackles UK's Skills Divide with Lessons from Formula 1

This week the Edge Foundation publishes its sixteenth Skills Shortage Bulletin, focusing on geographic and demographic inequalities in education and skills access across the UK.…

What's Coming in 2025

2024 gave us big headlines – now 2025 is about delivery. As the a year gets underway, the pressure is on the government to turn…

A Session of Two Halves 

Three Cs characterised the first panel of the new-look Education Select Committee’s second public session, certainty, choice, and clarity. The Committee focused on the Government’s…

FE + Skills Collective Reflections from the Edge Foundation

If FE is considered the Cinderella sector, the FE + Skills Collective was the chance for her to go to the ball. A joint venture…

Edge report from Labour Conference

For some of us arriving at the Labour Party Conference this year, we held a little apprehension about the Government’s commitment to FE and apprenticeships,…

Learning from New Zealand – Structuring the Post-16 Education Sector and Degree Apprenticeships

In July, the Edge Foundation undertook a virtual study exchange with colleagues in New Zealand. Over four sessions, we explored various innovative approaches, including structuring…

Edge Release New Report on Government Changes to Apprenticeship Levy

The Edge Foundation release an innovative policy report today commenting on the new Government‘s commitments to replace the Apprenticeship Levy with a Growth and Skills…

What do students really think about T Levels?

Today we publish an Interim Report on a qualitative research study by the Edge Foundation in collaboration with Professor Kevin Orr In January 2023, the…

Edge’s response to Labour and the Conservatives’ apprenticeship plans

The Importance of Apprenticeships in the Election Campaign An understated but, nevertheless, serious wedge issue, both the Labour and Conservative parties have bolted early in…

Ofsted a stressor or a force for good in FE? Here's your chance to have your say!

The Edge Foundation in collaboration with researchers from UCL Institute of Education are conducting a piece of research that seeks to gauge the collective experiences across colleges…

Learning from the Past – Further Education Curriculum Development

In this article, Olly discusses Edge’s latest Learning from the Past paper written with Professor Prue Huddleston and Professor Lorna Unwin about curriculum in FE…

The state of education in 2023 and 2024

In 2023, seismic shifts in UK education and skills set the stage for an exciting year ahead. With 2024 marking the Edge Foundation’s 20th anniversary,…

Reflections from the party conferences

Like many colleagues across the sector, I’m taking stock at the end of a busy few weeks of the key messages from party conferences. I…

Debating the first principles of English vocational education, volume 5

Today Edge publish its latest research report: Debating the first principles of English vocational education 5.  This is the fifth series of online debates and continues…

Reflections on the Edge/SDS Future of apprenticeship roundtable series

I was privileged to chair the Edge/SDS future of apprenticeship roundtables. This important series brought together representatives from the four nations, as well as international…

18 educationalists send open letter to Kit Malthouse

Yesterday (8th September), Edge Foundation CEO, Alice Barnard and 17 leaders from organisations operating in education sent an open letter to the newly appointed Education…

Without proper investment in the teaching workforce, England’s technical education reforms are doomed to failure

Over the past decade, successive governments have promised ‘pioneering’ reforms to boost skills and jobs. In particular, following the Sainsbury Review and Post-16 Skills Plan in 2016,…

Calling on our MPs to protect student choice

Earlier this year, the government unveiled their plan to defund 160 level 3 qualifications, including 38 BTECs, by 2024. These qualifications are set to be…

Education Commission Showcase

What can we learn from the Singaporean education system?

An indispensable part of Edge’s mission to make education relevant is identifying others who share this goal. Over the years, this search has taken us…

It’s Time To Get Practical About Social Capital

We spend £2.5Bn a year on pupil premium with negligible impact on social mobility: The attainment gap is no longer closing; the careers opportunity gap…

Learnings from the Party conferences | #EdgyThinking Livestream 5

Reflecting on Party Conferences 2021 – What can we hope for in education? Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, last year’s 2020 party conferences took place…

Community Connected Learning | #EdgyThinking Livestream 4

There is growing international consensus that young people need to develop a broader range of knowledge, skills, mindsets and behaviours to help them thrive at…

Learning from the Past | #EdgyThinking Livestream 3

The Cure for Policy Amnesia?  Edge’s Learning from the Past project aims to do exactly what it says on the tin, learn from past experiences.…