VocTech Challenge: White Paper

Ufi VocTech Trust (Ufi) and Learning and Work Institute (L&W) are proud to announce an ambitious £3million programme to deliver a step-change in the numbers of adults taking part in learning and address the growing skills shortages holding back people, industry and regions across the UK.

Drawing on extensive research and consultation, our Skills for an Economy in Transition White Paper, sets out a programme to tackle the complex, interwoven and systemic barriers that contribute to the UK’s continued low rates of adult participation in learning and catalyse an acceleration in the development of skills for work.

Together, let's #GetAdultsLearning.

Download the White Paper (.pdf)

Scroll down to read our six commitments and join the movement.

This White Paper sets out a bold and ambitious programme of work to achieve our goal of creating a step-change in adult participation in learning.

We are committing £3million to:

1. Launch the VocTech Future of Skills Award
   
   The VocTech Future of Skills Award will support big, practical, tech-enabled ideas, from thought leaders, futurists and new thinkers that will help us get more adults learning.
   
   We want to hear about what it is that Ufi, L&W and our partners could do to enable greater participation in adult learning. We want to hear about the digital technologies, the practical solutions and the people who are making a difference in their communities. We are looking for a bold vision for the future, that will drive adult participation in learning and is grounded in practical solutions.
   
   Winners of the VocTech Future of Skills Award were announced in November 2023 at the Ufi VocTech Showcase held as part of the Week of VocTech.
   Explore the winning visions.
   
   
2. Co-create a new programme of place-based collaboration
   
   We will work with L&W to co-create a programme of activity that will:
   
   - Identify four locations across the UK where there is a need for greater participation in adult learning and skills, desire from local leaders to work collaboratively, and a network of partners able to deliver a programme of work.
   - Work together to identify the biggest challenges in each area, the key local problems that are holding back adult participation in learning and consider what actions we can take together to address those barriers.
   - Support tech-based solutions that can transform adult participation in learning and utilise the full range of expertise and resources that Ufi and L&W have to offer.
   
   The programme of place-based collaboration will be developed and scoped over the next 12 months and is anticipated to last for a further 24 months.
   
   
3. Open a grant call
   
   In June 2024 we will launch an open grant call. We will use the call to seek VocTech solutions that can address the key local challenges identified in each of the four place-based collaboration areas. We will ask applicants to consider how they could work with our local partners to pilot and build test beds for solutions that will drive-up adult participation in learning through the use of technology.
   
   We want these grant funded projects to have the capacity to scale, so that if they get more local adults learning, they could also be rolled out across the UK.
   
   
4. Support scalable solutions with venture investment
   
   Ufi Ventures will offer support to organisations which show exceptional commercial potential, including potentially through direct investment, helping them grow their businesses and scale the impact of their solutions to learners across the UK.
   
   
5. Evaluate our place-based collaboration
   
   The evaluation will adopt a realist approach to explore and demonstrate the impact of our interventions and the critical drivers and mechanisms for change. We will develop a range of measures aimed at assessing our impact at a local level and demonstrating the power of the interventions we support. This will be evidenced through robust, theory-informed data gathering and analysis exercises, and engagement with stakeholders, providers, employers and learners, to identify what elements are most effective, for whom and why.
   
   
6. Lead an advocacy campaign
   
   We will develop a programme of advocacy focused on highlighting the importance of tackling low levels of participation in adult learning and skills. We will use the evidence we collect through our evaluation, the grant funded projects, local collaboration, and venture investment to make the case more powerfully for practical solutions that get adults learning. We will convince thought leaders, policy makers and practitioners of the value of addressing the core challenge of adult participation in learning and offer the practical solutions to change the UK’s skills system for the better.