Welcome to this month’s SDN Mesma Group insights and resources!
- Practical tools for implementing the new 2026-27 apprenticeship funding rules
- Apprenticeship Units Support Package: Design and Deliver a Compliant Offer
- Insights: Ofsted inspection reports analysis, and Self-Assessment risks
- Software: New mesma open demo
- Upcoming professional development:
- The Quality Professional Awards 2026 – Tickets extended!
We also share our regular round-up of highlights from the news in the FE and skills sector.
Grab a cuppa, have a read, and as always, do share with your friends and colleagues.
Practical tools for implementing the new 2026-27 apprenticeship funding rules
As is always the case, several changes in this years apprenticeship funding rules could carry audit risk if implemented ineffectively. A detailed review of the changes and a strong plan for implementation is essential to assess and address the impact across your systems, processes, and employer engagement approach.
That’s why, as part of our annual 3-part series, we’re providing you with a suite of practical resources, setting out all the key changes and actions you need to take across different teams, and providing you with simple foundations to accurately calculate RPL and OTJT.
- A comprehensive implementation action plan setting out all the key changes and actions you need to take within different teams across your organisation.
- This RPL Calculator uses the 2025-26 apprenticeship funding rules on minimum hours per standard. It calculates funding adjustments and co-investment values so you don’t have to.
- Use this tool to calculate OTJ hours so your learners are not viewed as ineligible for your programmes. If this issue isn’t addressed, your funding for those learners would be at risk.
Apprenticeship Units 2026 Support Package: Designing and Delivering a Compliant Offer
Apprenticeship Units went live in April, and many providers will be looking to implement effective offers. New products and new programmes bring risk, and compliance remains a key challenge.
That’s why we’ve designed a new support package specific to Apprenticeship Unit compliance, covering the learner journey and funding rules to provide as clear a guide as possible to designing and implementing a compliant offer.
If professional development isn’t changing what learners experience, it isn’t working
We analysed 160 recent Ofsted inspection reports to understand what the relationship between professional development (PD) and teaching quality looks like in practice.
The most common pattern in providers with weaker curriculum outcomes wasn’t an absence of PD. It was PD that wasn’t connected to gaps. Providers running “a range of PD” without diagnosing what staff needed were consistently more likely to receive Needs Attention for curriculum and teaching.
Take a look at the full breakdown, where we cover:
- Leadership and teaching quality move together
- Three PD patterns associated with weaker outcomes
- What the strongest providers appear to consistently do
- A useful question for the next PD planning cycle
New blog from our Co-Founder: Lou Doyle
I’m A Self-Assessment Evangelist: The Water Companies’ Sewage Scandal Reminds me of the inherent risks
Drawing on Channel 4’s Dirty Business, this blog explores what happens when self-assessment becomes a primary accountability measure rather than a tool for improvement. While self-assessment helps providers identify strengths, weaknesses and areas for development, it is most effective when balanced with independent scrutiny.
Mesma open demo
Coming soon: A new Ofsted inspection insights report that will look across 160 Ofsted reports to help us understand the relationship between professional development (PD) and the quality of teaching in practice.
That relationship thinking sits behind much of Develop, the Mesma product that supports observations of practice and provides the insights for shaping PD.
In April, Develop was relaunched with Mia, Mesma’s Intelligent Assistant, and a fresh look and feel. It’s the fourth stop on Mesma’s AI-fuelled roadmap.
Join us on Thursday 2nd July for a Develop relaunch showcase
Upcoming SDN Mesma Group professional development:
Our professional development will move you from theory to practice.
- Practically Implement the 26-27 Apprenticeship Funding Rules | Starts 17 Jun
- Embedding Effective Assessment in Apprenticeships | 15 Jul
- Be an Effective Ofsted Nominee under the Revised Ofsted EIF | Starts 13 Jul
- Apprenticeship compliance fundamentals for your role | Starts 18 Aug
We offer group bookings and bespoke sessions tailored to your organisation’s needs.
Can’t make the live date? Most sessions are recorded. Register your place and we will send you the recording and/or resources once the sessions have taken place.
You can also register your interest in future dates.
The Quality Professional Awards 2026
Ticket sales have been extended to the end of this week (Friday 5th June) for The QPAs for Further Education and Employability 2026.
If you are thinking about joining us, here’s everything you need to know…
What: The QPAs are a rare opportunity for quality and compliance professionals and champions across FE and Employability to come together. We celebrate the people and initiatives that have shaped the experiences and outcomes of learners and job seekers.
Who: As one 2025 sponsor said, “it’s ‘a who’s who.'” Guests include sector leaders, finalists, winners, judges and supporters. Our judging panel in itself is an impressive line-up of brilliant people from across the FE and Employability sectors. (You can meet them all on the website)
When: Friday 19th June, noon till 6 pm.
Where: The Midland, Manchester.
Why: Because excellence in quality and compliance makes all the difference in FE and Employability. Prepare to be inspired.
How: Click here to book
As founders of the awards, we are grateful to the organisations who help to make the QPAs possible. They ensure the achievements of quality and compliance professionals receive the recognition they deserve. If the nominees, finalists and winners are the unsung heroes of the sector, the QPA sponsors are among their strongest advocates and biggest champions. Learn more about our sponsors here.
Top News from the FE and Skills Sector
- DfE axes single awarding body licence model – Multiple AO approach for T Levels and V Levels revealed in ‘transition plan’ that also names ‘qualification pioneers’.
- From Delivery to Impact: How Inclusion Shows Up in Everyday Practice and How Providers Prove It Works.
- Post-16 Reform is Moving Fast, but is Assessment Keeping up?
- The DfE published an update to their industry placement delivery guidance – supporting T Level providers in their design of industry placements with employers.
- New Skills England blog: Understanding the Skills England Expert Network
Recent sector reports:
Skills England: Annual Skills Report and Sectoral Skills Needs Assessments 2026
Department for Work and Pensions: Young people and work: interim report