FAB 2024: Shaping the Future of Skills Assessment?

Rob Nitsch, FAB’s new CEO, is delighted to introduce his first conference, focusing on ‘Leading a Strong and Sustainable Assessment Sector’. With the UK facing critical skills challenges and major policy changes across all home nations, the Leicester gathering will shape the industry’s future direction. Together they’ll explore opportunities for growth and collaboration, while celebrating excellence at their annual awards.

The Skills Challenge

Over 125,000 Apprenticeship End Point Assessments and 5.5M qualifications have been delivered in the UK in the last year; there is significant expertise to be brought to the table and an opportunity for the FE and Skills Qualifications and Awarding industry to shape its destiny for the benefit of learners and apprentices. With so many Further Education and Skills related policies under-review across the home nations, there is a rare chance to significantly improve outcomes. 

The FE and Skills change agendas across all four of the home nations is critical for economic growth across the UK. The connection between skills and growth is well established, as is the relative paucity of the UK’s investment in skills compared to its European competitors. The challenge is daunting: 872,000 people not in education, employment or training across the UK today; 421,000 job vacancies, one third of which are due to skills shortages; and 2.5M roles in critical demand.

Policy Changes and Developments

The overarching theme for this year’s FAB Conference is ‘Leading a Strong and Sustainable Assessment Sector’. The Conference, which takes place in Leicester on 25 and 26 November, will provide space for fresh thinking and be an excellent opportunity to explore and refine opinions. All the key organisations will be in attendance and there is a full-house of attendees from across the industry. Areas of focus include the impact of policy change, devolution, regulation and technology, as well as the opportunities in professionalisation and enabling a stronger collaborative working with the AoC and AELP.

With the delegation of Level 2 and 3 adult budgets to English mayoral authorities now the subject of consultation and the impact of technology at the forefront of thinking for regulators, providers and awarding organisations, there is plenty to fuel interest. Ofqual’s proposals regarding the inclusion of principles is likely to stimulate much discussion, alongside the challenges of delivering across divergent jurisdictions. These are key issues for FAB’s members and it will be important to them that FAB positions itself at the forefront of thinking and debate, as well as contributing constructively to the policy developments across the UK.

At the Awards Dinner and Ceremony on 25^th November, FAB will also be celebrating the best in the FE And Skills Qualifications and Awarding Industry, which is always a highlight of the Conference. The sector emphasises its collaborative instincts and draws considerable pride from its commitment to and sense of community. 

Strategic Direction and Future Plans

During the Conference, FAB will be introducing its refreshed strategy-thinking to members. This seeks to ensure that FAB meets its members priorities and needs of the sector during the present parliamentary term. It will be confirmed by industry leaders at the Federation’s National Strategy Forum and Annual General Meeting on 28 January 2025.

Given the current opportunities, the Federation is committed to re-setting itself quickly and purposefully – building on the industry’s collaborative outlook, preparedness to support fellow members and commitment to delivering for learners, apprentices and business.

This is at the centre of the FAB strategy refresh that members will be asked to consider. Three themes underpin the proposition. Firstly, to position members at the heart of FAB and ensuring that all members have a genuine and influential voice. Secondly, to orientate FAB to improvement. And thirdly to invest more in the support that FAB offers to its members through sustainable growth.

The intent is that FAB will deliver this by focusing on four outcomes: Skills Voice; Industry Standards; Service Delivery; and Organisational Excellence. 

Implementation and Goals

As well as strengthening FAB’s advocacy across all the home nations, the vision for Skills Voice includes the creation of a FE and Skills data-set that will enable analysis of the effectiveness of competency-orientated assessment approaches. This is considered a high priority by industry and sector leaders, without which technical education research will lag behind that of general qualifications.

The ambition for Industry Standards encompasses the development of an individual recognition pathway that will have credibility at home and overseas, the codification of industry best practice and industry standards. It is intended that this will be supported by a progression-focused training offer, complemented by leader and practitioner programmes that embrace sector awareness, regulatory considerations and technology. Business support will look to improve the services members access, and significantly grow the mechanisms that promote and sustain peer-to-peer support and learning. Two new groups will be launched at the Conference, focusing on accessibility and research.

Organisational efficiency will improve the value for members and ensure that FAB has the governance and structures that are necessary to realise its ambitions to be an exemplar employer and membership organisation. The refresh includes an expression of the organisational values, which FAB is suggesting is best captured in the 4 values: Progressive; Accountable; Collaborative; Trustworthy. The intention is that these will be at the heart of FAB’s relationship with its members and strengthen the relationships that the Federation has with other stakeholders, governments and regulators.

The Federation is proposing that all of this will come together in a revised value proposition for members that is captured in the mantra: FAB: Working with members to improve qualifications and assessment in FE and Skills. It’s an extensive and ambitious agenda that will only be delivered through partnership, careful scheduling and leveraging support from the membership. It’s also a very important agenda if the sector is to address its workforce challenges and meet the aspirations of regulators and government funding conditions, as well as ensuring learners and apprentices have the best possible opportunities.

The 2024 FAB Conference comes at a hugely important time for the Qualifications and Assessment industry. More-so-than ever, there are the ingredients for a formative and purposeful event that can inform the perspectives and influence the Skills and FE change programmes that are on-going across the UK. It will also open a discussion about the ambition for FAB and the programme it will implement over the coming 5-years. As well as being a great gathering of the industry, all is set for some great discussion and outcomes!

By Robert Nitsch CBE, Chief Executive Officer of the Federation of Awarding Bodies(FAB)