Urgent clarification has been demanded on adult education budget cuts after an announcement to metro mayors sparked confusion in England’s non-devolved areas.
Last week, FE Weekrevealed combined authority mayors were told to expect a reduction in skills budgets of 2 to 3 per cent for the 2025-26 academic year.
But Caroline McDonald, chief executive of Holex, said the news caused “widespread confusion and frustration” as providers funded by central government had received “no communication whatsoever”.
HOLEX, which represents adult education providers including local authorities, has sent a letter to education secretary Bridget Phillipson calling on her to “review and reconsider” the cuts.
McDonald called the Department for Education’s approach “fragmented” as although some mayors have kept providers in their areas informed, others remain in the dark.
This is causing “operational uncertainty” and “undermining the confidence” of providers, the chief executive added.
The budget cuts come as the UK shared prosperity fund drops 40 per cent to £900 million in April, and the three-year adult numeracy programme Multiply ends.
Community learning impact
Kent and Essex county councils, which have the largest national local authority adult learning budgets in the country, both said they had yet to receive specific details about budget reductions.
A spokesperson for Kent County Council, which is predicting a 3.3 per cent cut to its £8.7 million annual budget, said there was “significant demand” from residents seeking to improve their education, training and skills.
They added: “Any cuts planned by the Education and Skills Funding Agency will see a significant reduction in the number of courses we will be able to provide from August.
“Fewer courses mean fewer residents able to develop their education and skills, limiting their employment prospects and impacting their personal development and wellbeing.”
Mayors’ warning
About 60 per cent of England’s adult education budget is devolved to mayors.
It is understood the DfE sends mayors informal letters each January outlining how much they are likely to receive.
This resulted in mayoral officials warning providers in their regions they should prepare for reductions of 2 to 3 per cent.
England’s main adult education budget, the adult skills fund, amounts to about £1.4 billion this year.
The money – which focuses on employability skills but also includes broader ‘tailored learning’ – is handed out to FE colleges, independent training providers and local authorities.
FE Week estimates the cuts planned in the next academic year would save the DfE £30 million.
The Office for Budget Responsibility had previously said the government’s spending plans involved a 1.1 per cent cut each year in unprotected budget areas, including further education and skills, from 2025-26.
This follows two decades of budget reductions, with total public spending on adult classroom-based learning falling from £5.1 billion in the early 2000s to £1.7 billion in 2023-24, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
In the same period, the number of publicly funded qualifications taken by adults in England has fallen from 5.6 million to 2.3 million, with level 1 and below suffering the steepest decline.
‘Economically illiterate’
Leaders in the FE sector have argued spending cuts contradict the government’s commitment to “driving economic growth”.
A lack of investment in skills, both from the public and private sector, is understood to be a key driver of persistent job vacancies, a low national productivity rate and a reliance on migration in some sectors.
Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes said: “We know the DfE is under financial pressure and this cut is presumably part of a wider package of measures DfE is having to take to make its books balance.
“The sooner that package is communicated, the better. With the spending review due in June, our concern is what this might indicate for all post-16 funding for the next few years.”
Former North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll, who oversaw a £23 million adult skills budget, called cuts to adult education “economically illiterate”.
He said: “The government keep banging on about growth, then cut skills training – when the number one barrier to growth is finding skilled workers.
“The axe will fall on all the courses that help the hardest to reach get into employment.”
Shortening the minimum time to complete an apprenticeship to eight months risks pushing England further adrift of other leading nations, ministers have been warned.
The government this week confirmed it will reduce the current 12-month minimum duration by four months from August “subject to the legislative timetable”.
Three “trailblazer apprenticeships” in key shortage occupations have been chosen to “pioneer” the new approach, with apprentices in green energy, healthcare and film/TV production set to be the first to take them.
The Department for Education said this change means apprentices will “achieve occupational competence more quickly, where that makes sense, for example because they have significant prior learning, or their industry works to a different rhythm”.
Ben Rowland, chief executive of the Association of Employers and Learning Providers, said the reform “should help learners and employers access priority skills needed to boost their careers and boost their industry at shorter notice”.
He added: “Time served is not a measure of quality, and apprenticeships will still be substantial training programmes where apprentices will need to evidence full occupational competency, but the flexibility allows providers and employers to lean into different delivery models that enable accelerated learning.”
But Stephen Evans, who heads up the Learning and Work Institute, warned that “lowering standards” in this way, coupled with reforms to functional skills requirements, was a “mistake” and only gives the “false illusion” of increasing opportunity.
In technical education-leading countries like Germany, apprenticeships last at least two years but usually run for between three and four years.
And the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently pointed out that general education in apprenticeships in England is limited to functional skills courses typically lasting around 100 hours in total. That compares to 400 hours in Switzerland, around 480 hours in Germany, and 588 hours in Norway.
The 12-month minimum duration rule was introduced in 2012 after some employers and providers were accused of cutting corners by running apprenticeships in as little as 12 weeks, which led to a BBC Panorama investigation called The Great Apprentice Scandal.
Evans said: “England is already an outlier compared to other countries with shorter apprenticeships and far less general education like English and maths. Lowering standards in this way will increase this disparity and only gives the false illusion of increasing opportunity.
“If training doesn’t require 12 months, it can still be valuable but isn’t necessarily an apprenticeship.
“Apprenticeships should prepare people for future careers, which will increasingly need good English and maths. We should invest to make that work, or risk limiting opportunity and growth.”
Short standards
The three apprenticeship standards chosen to introduce the first shorter-length apprenticeships are: level 2 dual fuel smart meter installers, level 2 healthcare support workers, and level 3 production assistants screen and audio.
Healthcare support worker is the most popular standard of the three, with 1,160 starts in academic year 2023-24, but attracts the lowest funding with a £3,000 maximum. It currently has a 12-month minimum duration.
Production assistant apprentices currently have a “typical” duration to gateway of 15 months and dual fuel smart meter installers is listed as taking 14 months. They attract maximum funding of £9,000 and £12,000 respectively.
The DfE told FE Week it would not reduce the funding bands for these standards when they’re delivered over a shorter duration.
The department added that one of Skills England’s first orders of business will be to identify which other apprenticeships would be best served by the shorter duration approach.
Federation of Small Businesses executive director Craig Beaumont said shorter apprenticeships “should help SME employers fill skills gaps faster”.
Public opinion favours spending on apprenticeships above all other education sub-sectors, polling shared exclusively with FE Week has revealed.
A Public First survey of over 2,000 UK adults saw 48 per cent put apprenticeships at the top of their wish list for the government’s spending review – above childcare, school and university funding.
But it revealed a perception that apprenticeships are difficult to secure, with people in all areas bar London reporting this was a problem for young people.
The poll assessing public attitudes to apprenticeships also found 44 per cent of the 566 parents involved in the survey would prefer their children went to university instead, while 40 per cent favoured apprenticeships.
Labour, in opposition, vowed to transform the current apprenticeship levy – a tax on large employers that funds the whole apprenticeship system – into a “growth and skills levy” that also funds other forms of training. However, the extent of its reform hinges on what the government decides in June’s spending review.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already warned she will make “difficult decisions” to solve an alleged £22 billion public finance black hole and reportedly told the Department for Education to find £1 billion in savings before the autumn Budget.
Skills minister Jacqui Smith told the Financial Times this week that businesses would only be able to use money raised through the levy for traditional apprenticeships in the “short term”.
She said the government’s ability to allow levy funds to be used for non-apprenticeship training would depend on how much funding the DfE receives at the spending review.
The apprenticeship levy is set to generate over £4 billion this year, yet the Treasury only gives the DfE a ring-fenced budget of £2.7 billion to spend on apprenticeships in England, while the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland receive around £500 million between them.
This leaves a Treasury margin of at least £800 million.
Mike Crowhurst, director for skills at Public First, said: “Investing more in apprenticeships and skills training is a clear priority for parents and the wider public, even if they would still marginally prefer their own children to go university.
“The decline in apprenticeships on offer to young people is also cutting through across the country. As we head into a challenging spending review, boosting apprenticeships and skills would be both smart policy and politics from the government.”
Survey says
The survey results showed 48 per cent of UK residents want the government to prioritise funding for apprenticeships, followed by 40 per cent wanting more cash for adult training, and 31 per cent for both childcare/early years provision and secondary schools.
Funding for universities came bottom of the priority list, with 23 per cent of respondents choosing this option.
Less than a third (31 per cent) said they would consider doing an apprenticeship themselves, while 86 per cent of parents said they would support a decision by their child to take an apprenticeship.
However, when asked to choose between their preference of their child going to university or taking an apprenticeship, more parents favoured the degree path.
The poll highlighted generational differences – 53 per cent of 25 to 34-year-old parents were more likely to want their children to pursue university, while 67 per cent of over-65 parents chose apprenticeships.
There was also a regional divide among people’s perceptions of how easy it is to find an apprenticeship.
In England, the worst area was Yorkshire, where 51 per cent of adults thought it was difficult to find an apprenticeship, followed by 50 per cent of adults in the East Midlands.
London was the only region where poll respondents were more likely to say young people found securing an apprenticeship easy rather than difficult, with 47 per cent saying there was no problem.
But official DfE data shows London had the lowest rate of starts (612) per 100,000 population for the 2023-24 academic year in the whole country.
A new single apprentice registration system will “significantly” cut admin and increase speedy payments for training providers, according to the Department for Education.
In another announcement during this year’s National Apprenticeships Week, the DfE said training providers will no longer be required to enter key apprentice registration details across two separate systems: the ILR and the apprenticeship service.
Instead, there will be a “single data source” that will remove the need for the same data to be added to both systems and then cross-checked and verified.
DfE told FE Week that apprentice data added to the ILR will be visible to employers through their apprenticeship service account. This will remove the need for data matching and double entering of data.
If it works, the change, due to be fully rolled out in August 2026, should see an end to so-called “data match errors“. These occur when data about an apprentice submitted by a training provider on the ILR doesn’t match the data submitted by the employer on the government’s apprenticeship service.
These errors, also called DLOCKS, can be costly because providers don’t get paid until the error is resolved. This currently takes up to two months on average, DfE told us.
The department claims their new “single data source” will “eliminate data mismatches” between the two databases.
Writing for FE Week, skills minister Jacqui Smith said: “We are simplifying payment processed for apprenticeship training providers and will no longer require them to replicate their data entry to receive funding for apprenticeship training delivered.
“As a result, providers will no longer encounter data mismatches, eliminating the problems they cause such as delayed payments and increased admin errors.”
The government said it will begin to remove data duplication from this August. Once rolled out a year later, providers will no longer need to enter data into the apprenticeship service.
Speeding up payments to providers will not only cut admin costs but also improve their cash flow.
The Association of Employment and Learning Providers welcomed the move.
Simon Ashworth, deputy CEO, said: “This is a welcome measure and will reduce the disproportionate time, effort and cost placed on providers, allowing them to receive payment with fewer delays.”
More information on implementation has been promised “in due course” from government.
Arguably no sector is more in need of change – and investment – than the housing sector. Apprenticeships present a powerful way to tackle one of the sector’s biggest challenges: the ongoing ‘brain drain’ of skilled professionals.
At Kingdom Academy (a training provider which is part of Kingdom Services Group), we’re committed to professionalising the housing sector to address the damaging exodus of talent. The ‘brain drain’ refers to the trend of people leaving a sector or organisation for better pay, benefits, career progression, or training opportunities elsewhere. Industries that fail to invest in their workforce, or to position themselves as desirable places to work, are left behind – and the housing industry could be at greater risk than ever.
In our sector, knowledge transfer – the sharing of skills, ideas, and expertise – is critical to improving the quality of housing nationwide, a challenge which is particularly acute. When experienced professionals leave, it not only risks a gap in essential skills but also diminishes the collective passion and ambition needed to improve the homes and lives of communities. Apprenticeships can bridge this gap, offering structured career development that attracts new talent, retains existing staff, and strengthens the perception of housing as a viable, exciting, and impactful career path.
As well as the investment in construction apprenticeships to properly kickstart housebuilding, there must be a simultaneous drive to ensure that those responsible for managing the homes have the skills, knowledge and qualifications required to do the job properly.
By formalising qualifications and career paths, the sector can attract new talent and offer clear progression routes for existing staff, retaining staff long-term. In the coming years, this won’t just be a matter of choice but will be a legal requirement. Under the new regulations, social housing providers managing more than 50 homes are required to ensure their senior housing staff are qualified to, or working towards, Level 4 or 5 standards by 2026. It’s estimated that as many as 25,000 workers may need upskilling, regardless of age or previous qualifications.
By formalising career pathways and professional qualifications, apprenticeships can provide clear progression routes. This isn’t a box-ticking exercise – it’s a way to show employees that the sector values their growth and future.
Real lives, real change
Apprenticeships in housing aren’t just for school leavers. They are for people of all ages and backgrounds who want to make a meaningful contribution to the sector. One of our learners started their Housing and Property Management Level 3 apprenticeship in their mid-40s. Having previously worked manual jobs on riverboats for over two decades, they transitioned to an office-based role as a housing officer, driven by a personal passion for helping people access quality housing. Despite not having studied since school, their apprenticeship not only equipped them with legal and sector knowledge but also deepened their commitment to their work and the wider housing sector.
This story highlights a crucial point: apprenticeships in housing are not only for newcomers but also for those seeking to progress or improve in their current roles. For many, the experience is transformative, offering the chance to connect with peers, learn from others’ perspectives, and develop networks that foster engagement with the sector. One learner even reported that a quarter of their apprenticeship learning came from interacting with other professionals, demonstrating the vital role apprenticeships play in cultivating a collaborative, knowledgeable workforce.
If we are to meet the challenges of the future, including new regulatory demands and the need for innovation, housing must invest in its people. Apprenticeships are not only a solution to today’s skills shortage but also a way to revitalise the sector and secure its long-term future. By professionalising the housing workforce, we can ensure that housing remains a career people are proud to choose – and a sector that thrives.
The theme for this year’s National Apprenticeships Week is ‘skills for life’, and at the National Theatre we recognise the importance of investing in skills and education to empower the next generation, sustain the creative workforce and open up career pathways for young people nationwide.
Data from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport shows 30 per cent of job vacancies in the cultural sector are affected by skills shortages, with 60 per cent of theatres reporting that staff shortages have become much worse since 2019.
Ravensbourne University London also found that three-quarters of 18-25 year-olds want to work in creative sectors, but almost half say it’s too hard to find entry-level opportunities.
Investing in skills and training for young people now is vital to sustain and support the pipeline of talent into the creative industries.
The National Theatre’s apprenticeships programme, which was recently awarded a Princess Royal Training Award in recognition of its impact across the sector, has recruited over 50 apprentices across 17 departments since 2011.
It has upskilled 17 employees and recruited four apprentices as part of the government’s pilot portable flexi-job apprenticeships scheme – in conjunction with the Royal Ballet and Opera, Ambassador Theatre Group and White Light.
Ten apprentices are currently training across the organisations in areas including technical theatre, finance, props and carpentry.
Over 90% have gone into paid professional work
Over 90 per cent of those entry-level apprentices who completed their training with us in the last decade have gone directly into paid professional work in the area they were trained in, with eight former apprentices now working at the National Theatre.
Skills are also being applied across the creative industries and further afield, with former apprentices going on to work at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Netflix, the Royal Navy and one even going on to open their own tattoo parlour, now employing their own apprentices.
We also recognise the need to ensure this training is fit for purpose and meeting the needs of employers. Recognising the growing gaps in the range of qualifications and training for essential technical roles, we are working in collaboration with the Royal Ballet and Opera and other organisations across the industry to deliver new, early career pathways for the UK’s world-leading live performance industry.
New apprenticeship standards have been developed for key backstage roles including wig and make-up technicians, costume performance technicians and scenic artists, giving young people the opportunity to learn hands-on, transferable skills to benefit the whole creative industry.
In the context of skills for life, it’s not just entry-level routes into early careers that apprenticeships offer. Level 7 apprenticeships offer the equivalent of a master’s degree and provide essential training for the creative sector that otherwise would not be available.
There are currently 10 level 7 apprenticeship standards in the creative and design route, from curator and archivist to visual effects supervisor and production manager.
These apprenticeships provide paid professional training and can open routes that would otherwise be inaccessible due to barriers such as cost. An archivist, for example, would traditionally require an MA which incurs a huge cost that excludes some prospective candidates. The level 7 archive assistant apprenticeship gives training equivalent to this.
A recent House of Commons library research report shows that the higher education entry rate among 18 year olds was only 36.4 per cent in 2024, so it’s essential we recognise the need to offer alternative and viable pathways for the next generation.
Our current apprentice archive assistant Nadia had intended to study for a master’s degree to get the necessary qualification, but found it was not financially feasible for her. Through her apprenticeship, she says she “can learn about the archive industry in an accredited archive with experienced and knowledgeable colleagues, and earn at the same time”.
National Apprenticeships Week shines a spotlight on the value of apprenticeships to create meaningful career pathways for young people. By recognising their worth, we can open opportunities and make a real and lasting impact on our world-leading creative industries.
National Apprenticeship Week is always a humbling experience. As you speak to young apprentices across the country you can’t help but be inspired by stories of determination and skill.
These young people are often trailblazers, showing the next generation that excellence doesn’t have to mean the well-trodden path to university.
Notwithstanding the success stories, there are steps we can take to ensure young people transition onto apprenticeships and other skills pathways with more confidence and are set up to succeed. Modern careers education has an important role to play.
However, interest doesn’t always lead to uptake. Our own study, conditions for transition, found this can be due to a variety of reasons, including interest in sectors with opportunities and availability of roles. Even so, when careers support puts technical pathways front and centre, it can help bridge the gap.
Perceptions of jobs and the labour market are formed remarkably early. By age seven, children are ruling options in and out – often based on gender or class stereotypes.
Evidence suggests that bringing employers into primary schools, and teachers showing how the curriculum links to the world of work, can broaden horizons.
Secondary school careers education can then build on broad early ambitions and support young people with more specific next steps, highlighting pathways to work like apprenticeships.
Employers often tell us they place a premium on generic skills when taking on young apprentices – such as initiative, problem solving and collaboration.
Young people sense this too, and report that they want more support on skills development. In particular, our data highlights that they can struggle with speaking and listening skills. Employers agree, highlighting presenting at interviews and in assessment centres as a skill they want but don’t always know how to develop.
Part of the solution lies with the government’s ambition for two weeks of work experience pre-16.
At its best, work experience is as much about learning new skills as developing job preferences.
For our part, we are working with partners to bring together multiple work experience opportunities for young people with a set of challenging learning objectives that help students secure tangible skills.
Even when young people have been inspired by the world of work and have developed skills, at points of transition between education and work they can fall through the cracks.
Young people who face economic barriers are particularly at risk. However, in these circumstances emerging pilot evidence suggests that intensive careers support can help.
This looks different in different contexts, but some common features of success include young people having a trusted adult they can talk to, feeling listened to and the chance to meet relatable people from an industry they are interested in.
So, as we look ahead to changes in the skills landscape, including the introduction of Skills England and the growth and skills levy, we need to see high quality careers education as an important entry point to the system.
Once young people are aware of and excited about what’s possible, they can be the ones to power apprenticeship pathways forward.
Training providers will soon be allowed to sign off on parts of their own apprentices’ assessments in a government drive to cut red tape and costs.
Ministers have announced a series of apprenticeship assessment changes they claim will streamline and simplify the system while not compromising standards.
From April, standards will be reviewed and updated to allow for apprentice assessments during their course rather than having to wait until the end.
And assessment plans, which are currently detailed 30+ page documents, will be slashed, containing only the “must haves for occupational currency”.
Writing for FE Week, skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith revealed Skills England will begin reviewing and updating all 700+ existing apprenticeship standards from April.
In a further attempt to remove bureaucracy, the government said it will remove the need for training providers to upload apprenticeship data to multiple databases in order to be paid. FE Week is seeking more detail on this announcement.
In-house assessment
Apprentices must currently be assessed by independent organisations known as end point assessment organisations (EPAOs).
Current guidance from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) states: “The organisation delivering the assessment and the individual assessors making assessment decisions must ensure independence. For integrated degree apprenticeships the organisation does not have to be independent but the individual assessor must be.”
DfE has decided to allow part of an apprentice’s assessment to be conducted by training providers themselves in future.
It will be for EPAOs to decide which EPA elements can be delivered by training providers once reviews of each standard are complete. EPAOs will also be responsible for quality-assuring provider-assessed EPA elements.
Not having to rely on external bodies to assess each element of an apprentice’s assessment could save training providers time and money. For example, shortages of EPAO assessors for some apprenticeship standards can delay completion and achievement.
Responsibility for assessing the ‘behaviour’ elements of apprenticeship standards will be transferred from EPAOs to employers “to remove unnecessary duplication” and allow EPAOs and providers to “focus on assessing essential knowledge and skills”.
What’s the (assessment) plan?
EPAOs use published apprenticeship assessment plans, written by employers under guidance from IfATE, to produce assessment materials.
Current IfATE guidance has an extensive list of requirements for assessment plans, and it’s not yet clear which of these will be scrapped to create a “simpler” new model.
The government wants to slash the length of apprenticeship assessment plans. Published plans for some of the most popular apprenticeships currently stand at 30+ pages.
Smith said: “Following feedback, assessment plans will now be shorter and more flexible, focusing on the ‘must-haves’ for occupational competency and also allowing providers to deliver assessments in some cases without compromising quality.”
IfATE’s current guidance for assessment plans contains an extensive list of requirements they should include. This includes justifying which methods are required to assess the knowledge, skills and behaviours the apprentice should obtain through a standard.
New-style assessment plans will be “short (eg 2 pages) and high level” according to DfE’s fresh ‘assessment principles.’ They will also be able to allow “on-programme” assessments, such as “assessing a work-based project while on the programme.”
Reducing dropouts
The previous government got the ball rolling on reforming EPA last May. Officials floated a range of alternative models via the DfE’s expert apprenticeships group following concerns EPAs were too costly and burdensome.
Amending assessments is the government’s latest attempt to improve dire apprenticeship drop-out and achievement rates.
As it stands, 45.7 per cent of students do not fully achieve their apprenticeships. Drop-outs have funding and accountability implications for training providers, even if apprentices leave with qualifications but no EPA.
Earlier this week, the governments scrapped rules requiring adult apprentices to undertake English and maths qualifications alongside their programme. This move was also designed to cut red tape and help increase the number of apprentices that complete and achieve.
Declan Swan is a man with two goals – developing his BTEC sports students and winning promotion for Sandbach United FC. It’s a game of keepy-uppy that fills his day from dawn till dusk…
For Declan Swan, football isn’t just a passion, it’s his profession both in and out of the classroom.
By day, he’s shaping the next generation of sports professionals as a lecturer at Stoke-on-Trent College. By night (and at weekends), he’s leading Sandbach United from the touchline.
It means his learners, who are aspiring sports coaches themselves, get an industry role model and mentor, as well as a teacher.
After a knee injury meant his childhood dreams of playing professionally came crashing down, Swan focused on helping others achieve their sporting goals – as a personal trainer, then as a scout for Manchester City and now as a college lecturer.
His packed schedule reflects the workload pressures on the ‘dual professionals’ – those with industry and teaching skills – we want in our FE classrooms.
No two days are the same for Swan, 33, who divides his weekdays teaching level 3 BTEC courses in sports science and sports coaching at the college’s two campuses, with Wednesdays devoted to planning and marking.
On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and on Saturdays, he puts the coaching skills he teaches into practice by managing his own squad.
Here, Swan reveals his typical Tuesday…
Declan Swan by the pitch
6.30am
I take my lovely brindle boxer dog, Lola, for a walk and sniff around our estate. Then, after showering and wolfing down some Shreddies, I jump in the car.
I’m a little tired as last night I was on an hour’s Zoom call doing a Football Association CPD session for coaches of non-league clubs like mine on how to develop players. I learned some useful tips to use in my teaching job too.
I’ve been a sports lecturer since 2022, first at Macclesfield College, then at Stoke-on-Trent College since June.
I always wanted to be a professional footballer as a kid, and at age 16, I did a similar course to the one I teach now at what was then Mid Cheshire College.
But I fell out of love with football altogether at the age of 20 after I dislocated my kneecap while playing. I was devastated. I couldn’t even watch a game on TV for a long time.
I had several operations to try to fix the tendon ligament damage, all unsuccessful.
These days I can go for a 5k run, but my knee will swell up and be quite sore for a couple of days.
Stoke-on-Trent College buildings
7.30am
It’s an hour’s drive to Stoke-on-Trent College’s Cauldon campus in Shelton, which I spend making calls and visualising the day ahead.
I’ve been with Sandbach for four years now, initially as first team coach and then as manager since 2022. We’re third in the North West Counties South division out of 18 teams, so we’re hoping to get promoted into the Midlands Prem.
8.30am
Stoke-on-Trent College has grown massively in recent years, with over 2,000 young people currently on programme – it’s highest ever number. Adult learner numbers grew too from 5,000 to 6,000. Work is currently ongoing with two exciting capital projects to accommodate the increase, and the college has received funding for a new green technologies hub.
First, I head to our cafeteria for a free breakfast – my second of the day! My sports department colleagues and I gravitate to a table together. It’s nice spending that time catching up because I won’t see them again for the rest of the day.
9.00am
My mornings and afternoons mirror each other because I teach the same class in the morning (the level 3 BTEC sports coaching and development) as the afternoon.
It’s a two-year course for young people aspiring to become football coaches, professional trainers and gym instructors. I really enjoy teaching them how to coach because of my first-hand experience of it.
Today, my morning class of 27 (25 boys, two girls) learners are on a programme with Stoke City. My afternoon learners (19 boys, no girls) are with Port Vale.
Declan Swan teaching his students
10.00am
I set my learners a presentation task about the sport development continuum – the tiers from beginning sport at a foundation level to being professional.
With more young people now spending their free time on consoles and communicating by messaging, my learners are not as used to face-to-face interactions. That means it’s getting harder for them to stand up in front of people and speak.
I often tell them that although I’m a confident speaker now, I was far from being the loudest person in class when I was 16.
But as a coach or trainer, you must be able to adapt to different settings. Personal trainers are often self-employed, so if they don’t have the confidence to speak to strangers to generate business, they’re not going to get paid.
During the 12 years I spent as a personal trainer, I built up my confidence in speaking to all sorts of people I wouldn’t otherwise have engaged with.
I was earning really good money but I hit a ceiling. I found I was teaching the same things, deadlifts and squats, over and over again.
Then one of my clients, a primary school headteacher, encouraged me to spread my wings and do coaching. I worked with her year 6 class while doing an FA level 2 qualification.
The team were pretty poor when I started, but it became one of the best teams in Cheshire.
I then worked as a scout for Manchester City’s academy in their development centres and trained their under-8s teams at the Etihad Stadium on Sundays.
Teaching and personal training involves working a lot of unsociable hours – early mornings, late into the evening and at weekends. So I moved into teaching, first as a school PE teacher before lecturing in colleges.
Coaching work was also very driven towards development but I missed the competitive element of the game. So I started coaching Sandbach to feed my competitive drive!
Declan Swan enjoying a break-time snack
10.30am
I give my learners a break of 15 minutes – time for me to grab a drink of water and a bag of crisps. I’m always eating! I look at my phone to double-check the availability of the football squad I picked yesterday.
A rewarding part of teaching for me is seeing my learners return from their work experience placements full of beans, excited at how they were able to put into practice what they’ve learned in class and with more of an idea about the next steps for when they finish college.
We do have challenges in securing work placements but we’re fortunate to work with two very accommodating football clubs willing to give them a real insight into their clubs.
We have a learner in his second year on a placement in Port Vale’s women’s academy getting valuable experience of coaching high-level players. Others go into local high schools and grassroots football clubs.
When I get reference requests for my learners from universities or sports businesses, that’s when I feel like I’ve really had an impact on their lives.
Declan Swan’s classroom, featuring the apt quote: ‘sport has the power to change the world’
12.15pm
After a quick tidy-up of the classroom, I drive to my next class in Burslem.
There’s a lot more to being a football manager than my young learners first realise. While I’m driving, I might be on the phone to one of my players discussing a tactic or to my treasurer about budgeting issues. The job is 24-7.
1.00pm
My next lesson involves teaching about different coaching styles.
For example, command style is where the coach makes all the decisions and gives orders.
The drive-by coaching style is when you approach a player while a football game is in progress and then step away.
Then there’s guided discovery, where you ask the player a question and tell them to go find the answer for themselves. People retain information better if they’ve found out the solution themselves.
Declan Swan – the sense of anticipation building before that evening’s big game
2.00pm
I’m also teaching a unit on careers, which involves helping learners write CVs and cover letters. We spend some time exploring different jobs that they might want to go for.
The sports sector is a busy one, there are lots of jobs available. A lot of my learners chose this course because they love playing football. But when a young person enters non-league football, if they’re in it for the money, they’re probably in it for the wrong reasons. And the standard of football expected of them is a lot better than they think.
Out of all the kids who are trained up, there might be only one who makes it as a paid professional. I try to make sure my learners understand that.
Part of my job involves trying to show them they could channel their passion for sport into doing something completely different – perhaps as a teacher.
Declan Swan preparing for the game
4.15pm
I finish up, check my emails and I’m on the road to tonight’s match.
The anticipation is building when I arrive. The floodlights are on, and there’s a lovely smell of burgers cooking.
I take myself away from everyone to go over in my head what I’m going to say to my players before entering the changing room. There’s a crossover in the skills I use in teaching coaching, and how I talk to my players before the match. It’s just different pressures.
My players range from 17 to 36 and include university students, labourers and an estate agent. They travel in from as far afield as Manchester and Liverpool.
In my first full season as manager we got to the playoff final at home and lost. The following season, we got to the playoffs again and lost in the semi-finals – it’s frustrating that we keep getting so close.
When you’ve got the community coming together to watch the game in those moments, with the cheering and the drums, it’s a real occasion. Tonight, there are about 200 people watching us.
Declan Swan in managing mode
6.45pm
I see what the opposition have put out and we have our team talk, warm up, then it’s back into the changing rooms to sort the boots out before kick off.
During the game itself, I’m not a screamer or a swearer. But my players know by my demeanour when I’m frustrated. I see my style as being like that of Pep Guardiola.
When that final whistle blows, if we’ve won then the sense of elation is unbeatable.
9.40pm
After the game and our post-match chat, I do an interview for social media, then drive home. The journey might take two hours if it’s an away match so I might not be home until after midnight. I take a shower and check my phone before trying to sleep.
I’m still buzzing for several hours after a game because of the adrenaline rush.
The hardest thing for me about balancing my two jobs is not getting enough sleep. I know the dog’s going to wake me up for a walk at 6.30am!
