Week of VocTech 2026

CodeNode panel discussion.

The Week of VocTech 2026 brought together innovators, educators, employers, investors and policymakers from across the UK to explore how vocational technology can transform skills, work and opportunity.

Across five days of online and in‑person activity, the programme created space for honest discussion, practical insight and hands‑on exploration of the tools and approaches shaping the future of vocational learning and employability.

The week highlighted both the scale of the challenge and the growing momentum behind VocTech‑enabled solutions. On this page you can find recordings from selected sessions and insights from events across the week, helping extend the learning and conversations beyond the week.
Monday

VocTech, skills and the future of work

In this live online session, Ufi Trustees shared insights gained from working at the cutting edge of technology, investment, education, workforce development and inclusion.

Each Trustee brings a deep, real‑world perspective shaped by careers spanning FE leadership, EdTech innovation, commercial strategy, investment management, diversity and inclusion, and global skills policy.

Monday

Rethinking work readiness

In this session Rethinking work readiness: using VocTech to assess essential skills, NCFE explored how vocational technology can support more authentic, inclusive and scalable approaches to assessing the skills that underpin readiness for work.

Drawing on recent research and learning from NCFE and Ufi’s Assessment Innovation Fund, the session examined why essential skills such as communication, collaboration and social interaction remain difficult to assess through traditional methods. Speakers shared insights from live innovation projects, focusing on how learner‑centred assessment models can better reflect real‑world capability, improve fairness and validity, and align assessment more closely with the realities of work and progression. You can find out more about the work here.

Featuring: 

Tuesday

Practical approaches to skills development in Scotland

This in-person session brought together local government, educators, employers and system leaders in Aberdeen to explore how collaboration and vocational technology can create more effective pathways into work for adult learners.

Framed around early learning from a place‑based programme delivered by Ufi, Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and North East Scotland College (NESCOL), the session highlighted how regional partnerships are supporting learners to build confidence, understand career options and access meaningful work experience.

The discussion emphasised that close collaboration across institutions, alongside sustained, meaningful engagement with employers, has been central to the programme’s success, demonstrating how locally grounded approaches can deliver real impact. The event also showcased practical, real‑world learning in action, including a lunch prepared and served by NESCOL catering students, illustrating the value of giving learners opportunities to apply their skills in authentic workplace settings.

Wednesday

BCoT Digital Insight Day

The Digital Insight Day at Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT) brought together Further Education leaders, practitioners and partners for a practical exploration of how colleges can build confident, sustainable digital cultures.

Hosted by BCoT as part of Ufi’s strategic partnership with the Association of Colleges, the session shared BCoT’s digital transformation journey, highlighting both the progress made and the challenges navigated along the way. Hearing directly from heads of faculty, curriculum leads and students brought the work to life – showing how digital practices are being embedded across teaching, learning and assessment.

Designed to foster collaboration and knowledge‑sharing across the sector, the day attracted a diverse mix of voices, including colleagues from Jisc, the Department for Education and colleges from across the UK. Attendees consistently reflected that, wherever they were on their own digital journey, the session offered clear direction, practical ideas and renewed confidence to engage leaders and drive meaningful change for both learners and staff.

Wednesday

What next for AmplifyFE and ALT?

Led by the Association for Learning Technology (ALT), this session brought together Further Education and vocational education professionals to explore the future direction of the AmplifyFE community of practice and how it continues to support digital innovation across the sector.

Joe Wilson, Educational Consultant and Trustee at ALT, reflected on AmplifyFE’s role in connecting communities focused on digital learning, teaching and assessment, and examined how practitioners and organisations can engage more actively with the network. Discussion focused on professional development pathways, including the value of CMALT accreditation, and practical ways to share initiatives, contribute to sector‑wide learning and strengthen collaboration across FE.

Thursday

Investment in skills as a vehicle for impact

Delivering social outcomes: Investment in skills as a vehicle for impact, convened asset owners and foundations to explore how investment in skills and workforce development can deliver measurable social impact alongside financial returns.

Led by the Impact Investing Institute, the in-person discussion focused on how modern philanthropies and mission‑led investors are using investment strategies to advance outcomes such as improved access to opportunity, poverty reduction and greater social justice. Speakers shared practical insights from organisations actively investing in skills, examining what mission‑aligned investing looks like in practice within today’s policy environment and evolving market conditions.

Featuring:

Thursday

EdTech meets employability

This session brought together investors, founders and ecosystem leaders to explore where innovation and capital can have the greatest impact on improving routes into work. Against a backdrop of shifting labour‑market demands and declining early‑career opportunities, the session examined why traditional education pathways are struggling to deliver job‑ready talent, and how vocational technology can better signal capability to employers.

Drawing on Ufi Ventures’ market intelligence, the discussion explored the growing importance of portfolio‑based and project‑based assessment, the changing nature of hiring, and the investable opportunities shaping the fast‑evolving learning‑to‑work market.

Featuring: 

Thursday

AI and work

This session examined how AI is reshaping jobs, skills and progression in the UK. The discussion explored where AI can genuinely improve productivity, job quality and opportunity – and where it risks deepening inequality, weakening entry‑level pathways and undermining trust in work. Our panellists focused on the practical choices now facing employers, policymakers and system leaders as AI becomes embedded across the economy, and the role vocational technology can play in supporting fair access to opportunity and helping adults and organisations adapt at pace.

Featuring:

Thursday

Ufi VocTech Showcase

The highlight of the Week of VocTech, the Ufi VocTech Showcase brought together tech innovators, policy makers, learning providers, employers and investors to celebrate and share the impact of vocational technology, get hands-on with a selection of Ufi-supported tech, and strengthen connections across the VocTech community.

As always, the Showcase provided a unique moment of connection, inspiration and practical insight. Thank you to everyone who attended. We’re already looking forward to 2027!

Click to enlarge.

Lightning talks

New for 2026 the Showcase featured a series of lightning talks throughout the night; short, informal sessions focused on practical detail and discussion.

Training the next-generation using TikTok-style video

Blend is helping cost-pressured UK Hospitality embrace a new generation of learners through TikTok-style short-form video. In this talk, Jonah Werth and Jules Smith, Co-Founders of Blend, provide examples of how reshaping compliance training is helping to re-engage the UK’s third largest employer, and explain how similar approach could scale across frontline sectors including care, manufacturing, retail and logistics.

Ready to work? Assessing the skills that matter

As employer expectations evolve, being ‘work ready’ means more than holding a qualification. It requires adaptability, communication and the confidence to apply skills in authentic contexts. Dean Blewitt, Senior Innovation and Investments Manager at NCFE, shares how NCFE’s Assessment Innovation Fund is working with partners to test and evaluate new approaches to assessing essential and work-readiness skills in ways that are more authentic, inclusive and aligned to employer need.

Integrating Digital Badges: From idea to implementation

Kev Jones, Project Account Manager at Ufi, provides a practical talk around implementing digital badges within your own platform or organisation. With a recap on the work of the Ufi-led Digital Badging Commission, real-world case studies and a step-by-step implementation framework, Kev offers practical guidance on designing, issuing and sharing digital badges including some of the technologies and tools available to help you kickstart your badging journey. This sessions gives a clear roadmap of how to integrate digital badges to make skills visible, verifiable and portable.