ESOL, apprenticeships, employer engagement, adult and higher education surveys

AoC has conducted a number of surveys on apprenticeships, adult and higher education.

Apprenticeship End Point Assessment Activity for Colleges 2025

Background:

• End Point Assessment (EPA) was introduced to ensure that the assessment of the apprentice is both independent and impartial.
• EPAs are carried out by an end-point assessment organisation (EPAO) chosen by the apprentice’s employer or training provider.
• An apprenticeship cannot be successfully completed until all elements of the EPA have been achieved.
• EPA activity cannot be scheduled until the practical period has been completed and the apprentice, employer and training provider have agreed that all of the knowledge, skills and behaviours have been achieved.

Methodology
Three data sources were used to complete the research:

• The Individual Learner Record (ILR) data, for the previous three years, submitted by 170 colleges.
• A survey shared with all Association of Colleges (AoC) member colleges in November and December 2024. A total of 83 colleges responded.
• Ofqual data for achievement of EPA from March 2023- February 2024.

Summary:

• Cost: The cost to colleges for EPA has been consistent at 13% of apprenticeship income for the past three academic years. The true cost is likely to be a higher percentage than this due to the cost of resits and the additional physical resource required.
• Timeliness: Too many apprentices experience delays in achieving their apprenticeship due to the availability of the EPA. 94% of colleges completing the survey identified that the availability of an end point assessor contributed to this delay. This is despite teachers/trainers leaving colleges to work as independent end
  point assessors.
• Administration: Colleges need to contract with a wide variety of EPAO due to the breadth of their apprenticeship provision. 45% of colleges who responded identified that they were engaging with 11 or more EPAO and the degree of their satisfaction/dissatisfaction focussed on the effectiveness of these processes and procedures.
• Comparison: There have been some minimal fluctuations in the cost of EPA compared to both sector and level. The most marked increase in the cost of EPA has been for Level 7 apprenticeships (in 2021/22 13.5% rising to 19% in 2023/24) which also attract the higher maximum funding band.

Apprenticeship End Point Assessment Activity for Colleges Report 2025

Promoting Adult Education in Networks (PRALINE) Survey

Praline is a Erasmus+, Key Action 3 project with the general objective to “Strengthen existing transnational networks of adult education providers by means of mutual learning, peer counselling, and capacity building.”

Funded by Erasmus+ and led by MBO Raad, AoC and other equivalent organisations in 11 countries across Europe took part in the project. It aimed to share best practice of adult vocational education across multiple different European countries.

This survey was developed as part of the project’s work to ascertain the level of participation by adults in education and training within the project partnership countries, their motivations for further learning, their barriers to accessing it and the importance of promoting adult learning. The survey provides a reflection or ‘snapshot’ of a range of participants who were available, during the surveying period, to complete it. These are the views and opinions of individual institutions within the membership of the individual partners involved in the project. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the project partners. It should also be noted that the data in these samples do not fully match the national data (all participants and providers) published by Eurostat based on the Labor Force Survey and Adult Learning Survey.

PRALINE Project AoC Survey 2022/23: Adult learning in Europe PRALINE Project Website