give young people the opportunity to decide their own futures

if our young people are to make the right choices about their future careers then they must be given the options. They need to be told not just about 'A' levels and university entrance, but also about apprenticeships and technical training.

but the fact is that they are not! There is a statutory duty on schools and colleges to provide access to impartial careers advice for young people aged 13 to 18, but this is simply not happening. Part of the problem is that these institutions tend to push their students towards conventional academic achievement. Perhaps this is not surprising given the background of most teachers and lecturers, and the natural desire to maintain the viability of sixth forms, but it is not helpful to most students.
young people speak readily about the pressure they are under to stay on at school, or move to sixth form college, and take A-levels, rather than starting apprenticeships. In fact, many young people simply don't know that they exist as a careers option. According to a recent University and Colleges Union perception study, 'numerous young people felt informed about UCAS applications....fewer felt they knew anything about apprenticeships.
this is why we need to take responsibility for the delivery of careers advice out of the schools and colleges themselves and into local 'hubs' like edudo, which will bring together relevant interested parties in an area – businesses and service providers – fully accredited and operating under a national standard.
at edudo, learning is, first and always, about improving life-chances. It's what people do when they want to make sense of the world!

edudo celebrates the end of the QCF

yesterday, the Qualifications and Credit Framework hit the dust! Ofqual has announced that vocational qualifications will no longer need to meet QCF rules in order to be eligible for public funding.

"the QC.. what?" you may wonder-- and very reasonably so. But the QCF mattered.  Shadowy, impenetrable and largely unloved, it created strict new rules for the size, structure and name of every vocational qualification in the land.  More or less every pre-existing award had to be comprehensively redesigned. It cost the UK millions. It distorted vocational education for young people and adults alike. And it rewarded low quality at the expense of excellence and innovation.
QCF rules lasted just seven years from their roll-out by the now defunct Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. But they were the apogee of a much longer-standing, ideologically driven campaign by various government agencies to allegedly raise the prestige of vocational education, and achieved the exact opposite in the end.
so no wonder that Ofqual's review concluded that the "one-size-fits-all approach to... vocational qualifications is not necessary and in some cases has proved inappropriate and damaging". It is finally up to employers and educators to help Ofqual to develop qualifications which deserve, and therefore acquire, genuine value.
at edudo, learning is, first and always, about improving life-chances. It's what people do when they want to make sense of the world!

edudo secures international brand trademarks

edudo is delighted to have formally secured international trademarks for its core brand identities including edudo, edu4work, edu@work, edu4all & edu4u. 

our brand - edudo - is the key asset of this business, distinguishing it from others and forming an “attractive force which brings in our customers". It was vital for edudo to ensure its brand identity is secure. 
at edudo, learning is, first and always, about improving life-chances. It's what people do when they want to make sense of the world!

improving life-chances matters at edudo

in line with edudo's founding commitment to improve life-chances for learners; edudo is delighted to have already directly financially supported, at its own cost, more than 120 of its security services learners post graduation with the cost of achieving their Security Industry Association (SIA) licenses thereby not only removing some of the real economic barriers in returning to work following a period of unemployment but also, and in many cases, to simply enable our learners accept a job offer with confidence.

contributions are gifted by edudo at its discretion and cost (without contribution from the UK Government) to its security services learners who, consequent upon achieving certification with edudo, subsequently secure an employment opportunity. 
the very deliberate, perhaps even disruptive, intention behind edudo thinking and process is, first and always, to support edudo learners back into work and in some small way, to play an active part in improving their life-chances. where we succeed in this mission: we are proud to have....

at edudo, learning is, first and always, about improving life-chances. It's what people do when they want to make sense of the world!

edudo partners with NUS to support its student learners

from today: all learners on edudo learning programmes are entitled to apply for an NUS Extra Card; giving learners access to thousands of money saving student offers and discounts.

NUS extra is the official student and apprentice discount card from the National Union of Students providing hundreds of thousands of students and vocational learners with market leading discounts with their favourite brands and providing a vital source of income for the student movement. As an NUS extra parter, edudo has chosen to make an investment in NUS extra and in-turn in the student movement.

more information can be found at http://www.nus.org.uk/en/nus-extra
at edudo, learning is, first and always, about improving life-chances. It's what people do when they want to make sense of the world!

edudo delivers a nuclear first!

In another industry first, edudo today successfully completed delivery of the UK's first SSSTS ABCSN (NUCLEAR) certificated training programme to 10 senior personnel from organisations including BamKier, Laing O'Rourke, & Bridgewater College.

edudo is a national provider of work-based learning programmes from employability and work-readiness skills to intermediate & advanced apprenticeships to occupational NVQs (to level 8) and statutory certification programmes delivered across multiple business sectors including construction, logistics, healthcare, security, retail, customer services, hospitality, manufacturing and more. 

edudo is the first UK learning centre to be accredited to deliver the SSSTS ABCSN programme, by CITB (The Construction Industry Training Board).

SSSTS ABCSN (NUCLEAR) means the Site Management Safety Training Scheme (Advanced Behaviours for Construction Supervisors (Nuclear).

at edudo, learning is, first and always, about improving life-chances. It's what people do when they want to make sense of the world!

edudo celebrates its 3rd birthday today!

edudo - the national work-based learning provider - marks its 3rd birthday since incorporation today with the launch of a new format website to celebrate and communicate what it does!

building a startup takes a long time: it's three years today since I first came up with the idea for a startup called edudo. along the way, I've learned a lot about running a business, from hiring our first team members to building a set of learning programmes that our learners tell us continually that they value.

After lots of successes and our fair share of the expected failures; five of the biggest lessons I've learned in the past three years, since founding edudo are:
1. solve a real problem
The most important thing for any startup, I guess, is to solve a real problem. Find something that is truly significant - a problem faced by lots of people. With edudo, the problem opportunity was to build a learning provider that would focus its energies, first and always, on improving life chances for its learners, if nothing else.
2. start somewhere
There's no way I would be doing what I'm doing now or that edudo would exist, if I hadn't taken that first step three years ago and if key others like Steve had not been prepared to join edudo and me for the journey. Despite prior experience, I was naive on so many levels about so many things start-up, but that certainly didn't stop edudo being born! The first step is to start somewhere. The road most definitely becomes a lot clearer as you go.
3. focus on the team
Building a team of great people who believe in and are willing to share your vision is essential to building a great company. It has taken a very long time to build the edudo team, but I am proud to declare we now have some of the best people in the sector and there would just be no edudo without them.
4. just don't listen to the naysayers
There are people who will tell you your idea or ambition is too big, or that it won't work or that you should get out when the going gets tough as it does sometimes in any start-up - as it has many a time in edudo! Just ignore them. Solving a big problem that we care about has keep us focused. If you have the vision and drive to make it happen, then just keep plugging away. Starting a company is a very journey. No one else will really care about your idea unless you can show them why you do.
5. build momentum
Whether it's with investors, press, or customers, don't spend your time trying to create a buzz around what you're doing. The real buzz will come naturally from just focusing on your customer and for edudo - it's our learners successes on a daily basis that get us out of bed, morning after morning.
thank you to all - our learners, employers, colleagues and most of all, our families (who have sacrificed time again & again) - that have made edudo what it is today!
at edudo, learning is, first and always, about improving life-chances. It's what people do when they want to make sense of the world!