This month, after 12 years on the Edge board of trustees, I step down. I feel privileged to have played this role for so long. Not many people get to sit across worlds that rarely overlap: on one hand, running a business, on the other working alongside academics and policymakers to shape the future of education. What has struck me most is how the two sectors often talk past one another, despite largely wanting the same things. The language of business and academia can clash, but having built and run my own education and training business, I know this gap is not unbridgeable. Closing it requires honesty about where the system falls short, and the willingness to say so. That has been my role.
Looking back, Edge’s defining moment of the last decade was the appointment of Alice Gardner as Chief Executive and Olly Newton as Executive Director. Alice and Olly have evolved Edge into a rigorous, genuinely trusted organisation. Edge produces carefully researched, defensible work that challenges entrenched models of education. Learning from the Past, for example, documents what has and hasn’t worked well in past policy, so that new decisions are informed by evidence. The championing of University Technical Colleges (UTCs) and vocational education tells a similar story – students unhappy in the traditional system, flourishing once they find the right environment. That evidence-led approach has gradually shifted the conversation about what success can look like. Despite great progress, though, there is still work to be done. The biggest challenge right now is how complex the education landscape remains for employers. T levels, A levels, BTECs, the shift to levels 1 to 9, governments creating new policies without consulting a representative cross-section of employers… Apprenticeships are a prime example. Within my industry, the challenge was simply explaining them in plain English. We developed an “apprenticeship in a box” – essentially, a step-by-step, day-by-day guide to delivery, managing the employer relationship throughout.
It worked fantastically. Yet this level of engagement is rare. The small and medium-sized enterprise employers that make up the backbone of the economy don’t have the headspace to engage when no one joins it all up for them. A dedicated employer engagement lead, as I’ve seen at UTC Heathrow, can make all the difference. Their sole focus is building that relationship with employers, who can then do their part because someone is making it easier for them. Edge has the credibility and expertise to help shift this. Edge Future Learning found pockets of innovation in schools, trialled expansion in North East England, built evidence and gradually expanded that work outwards.
Careers guidance needs a similar rethink. The problem is structural: we still talk to young people in the language of sectors when we should be talking about what they enjoy doing. Say “legal,” and they think lawyer. Say ‘”data centre” and they think programmer. But every industry has finance, sales, HR, marketing, creative and practical roles. Young people need to see this, but careers advisers and teachers lack the reference points to show them. Edge has the evidence base and relationships to broker these conversations, helping young people to ask not just what they want to be, but what they want to do. The sector as a whole is changing. What concerns me right now is that at the very moment employers are crying out for young people who can think critically, communicate clearly and use their initiative, we are engineering the human element out of how we develop and hire them. AI-generated CVs sifted by AI recruitment systems – what a nightmare!
For anyone taking on a governance role – whether with an organisation like Edge, within a training provider, an employer, or at a multi-academy trust – we need people who are confident in their own skin. Human experience is currently more valuable than it has ever been.
As the education and skills sector navigates the fourth industrial revolution, strong leadership is essential. We must get back to encouraging people with individual personalities and the initiative and resilience to keep learning. Edge is the best example of this. Patient, genuinely curious about what works, evidence-led rather than dogmatic. While some may favour flashy headline solutions, it is approaches like these that will endure. Edge is going from strength to strength. I will certainly miss it.
Written by
Andrew Stevens, Former Edge Trustee