A message from our CEO, Melissa Farnham
As 2025 draws to a close, I am filled with immense pride and deep gratitude when I reflect on the progress we have made together over the last twelve months. This year has been a pivotal chapter in our journey, marked by innovation, expansion and renewed commitment to our core mission: engaging, elevating and empowering learners with diverse needs.
A year of digital transformation: launching Equitas
In November, we proudly unveiled our new digital learning platform, Equitas. It has been built around our signature plan, do, review approach, giving learners and educators a flexible, intuitive online space to plan tasks, upload evidence of learning and reflect on progress.
At launch, Equitas went live with eleven updated Short Courses. Every challenge has been carefully aligned to our six core skills (learning, communicating, decision-making, thinking, team working and self-awareness), making it easier than ever for learners to build and evidence real-world competences in a way that is personal, meaningful and measurable.
We believe this digital transformation is not simply about modernising delivery – it’s about ensuring equity, accessibility, and flexibility for every learner, wherever they are. As we move into 2026, we will be expanding Equitas to host more ASDAN programmes and qualifications.
Growing our offer: new Personal Effectiveness Qualifications
This year, we also introduced our reimagined Personal Effectiveness Qualifications (PEQ), with registrations opening in January 2026.
The updated suite provides fresh opportunities to develop core skills, improve outcomes and recognise real achievements through portfolio-based, personalised assessment. PEQ runs from Entry 3 through Level 3 and provides a clear, flexible progression pathway grounded in our core skills framework.
We are proud to offer this powerful tool for learners to develop practical, real-world skills, supporting their journey into further education, training or work with confidence and competence.
Amplifying voices: the Cross-sector Lab
This year we expanded our Cross-sector Lab – ASDAN’s growing platform for collaboration, dialogue and system-level insight. Designed to bring together senior leaders from education, business, policy and community, the Cross-sector Lab creates space to shape the future of learning and opportunity through collective expertise.
Alongside our well-received webinar series, which gathers leaders and practitioners from across sectors to examine the implications of major policy developments, we also launched our new Cross-sector Lab podcast – with influential guests such as Meena Wood, Dr Carl Ward and Dame Alison Peacock. Both formats share the same purpose - to explore what education could and should be, challenge traditional definitions of success and elevate perspectives that are too often absent from national conversations.
The Cross-sector Lab is becoming an important part of ASDAN’s strategy to engage with a broader network of stakeholders. Through these conversations, we are building a movement that listens, learns and collaborates. This work supports our commitment to a more equitable, inclusive education system where every learner can thrive.
Demonstrable impact: 2025 highlights
Our 2025 highlights report charts a powerful year of impact and growth, giving us reason to celebrate and reflect. Some headlines include:
- Over 42,000 learners were certificated through ASDAN courses and programmes
- Around 7,500 learners achieved a qualification this year
- 92% of our network agreed that ASDAN engages, elevates and empowers learners with diverse needs
- 91% of members plan to renew their membership
These numbers reflect not just the scale of our work, but the difference it makes in real lives – opening doors, building confidence, and creating opportunities for learners who might otherwise be marginalised
Equity, inclusion and impact: our mission in action
ASDAN’s mission has always been to secure equity in education and in society. We believe every learner, regardless of background, circumstance or ability, deserves the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive. We serve learners from diverse backgrounds, including those experiencing economic disadvantage, learners with SEND, those at risk of becoming NEET, and individuals whose prior attainment may have been limited.
In 2025, as national conversations around inclusion and fairness in education have grown, including through the new inspection framework introduced by Ofsted, ASDAN has stood ready to support schools, colleges and community providers in meeting the needs of learners who might otherwise be left behind.
Through flexible, portfolio-based learning and a pedagogy rooted in our six core skills, ASDAN continues to provide inclusive, meaningful pathways that recognise real potential – far beyond exam results or narrow metrics.
Looking ahead to 2026: building on momentum
Stepping into the new year, we do so with ambition, determination and optimism. We will continue to work closely with educators, member organisations, employers, policymakers and of course, learners, to shape an education system grounded in equity, inclusion and real-world capabilities. Using data and lived experience, we advocate for recognition of skills-based, holistic learning in national frameworks.
We know there are challenges ahead. The education landscape is shifting, policy is evolving, pressures on schools and colleges remain high, and the needs of learners are increasing in complexity. Yet we have never been more convinced, nor more equipped, to meet these challenges. Because at ASDAN, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to discover, develop and use their abilities, building a future on their own terms.
As we look to 2026, I am more hopeful than ever about what we can achieve together.
Best wishes,
Melissa Farnham
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at ASDAN