Celebrating achievements and embracing change on International Day of Education

This year’s International Day of Education is a significant moment for ASDAN.

We are on a mission to engage, elevate and empower learners with diverse needs, and we are committed to holding each and every learner’s achievements in high esteem. We are striving to ensure everyone who comes into the lives of an ASDAN learner does the same.

Last year, we celebrated the achievements of around 40,000 learners across our qualifications and programmes. This year, we launch a new strategy with ambitious goals for our members, your learners and our staff to continue our commitment to being a learning organisation.

Around 20 percent of achievement is through a qualification, either as part of our personal effectiveness offer or our qualifications for life skills and living independently.

As all awarding organisations are acutely aware, we need to invest in the development and evolution of our offer to be compelling and relevant for learners now and in the future. We’ve seen the needs of learners change significantly in the past few years. Many experiencing challenges with their social and emotional mental health (SEMH), many more school refusers and an ever changing landscape for the skills needed for employment.

We begin this year with a review of our Award and Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (A/CoPE) qualifications, and thank all practitioners who have completed the survey to help inform what we do next with these qualifications.

Some things will hold true. We know that the fundamental six core skills contained within our personal effectiveness qualifications are fit for the future. We know the ASDAN pedagogy remains appropriate to truly engage, elevate and empower learners with diverse needs, and have the positive impact to support them with other learning, or as they progress their education, into work and for life.

For learners who will benefit from a different approach, we are investing in reviewing and renewing our Personal and Social Development and Employability qualifications. This is again with a view to the changing needs of learners but also in the context of new national standards for learners at post-16.

We also need your help understanding the value of progression pathways into and between our programmes and our qualifications so your learners can get the most benefit from our whole offer. Please get in touch with us at design@asdan.org.uk to share your view.

We have come a long way these past few years, and in some ways we know our journey is just beginning. As we embark on our new strategy, we have never been clearer as to who we are, who we are for, and why the ASDAN way is right for hundreds of thousands of learners worldwide. We celebrate this International Day of Education with all our members and thank you for being an essential part of our education community.