Adult education
Participation data
Where are we now?
The Adult Learners dashboard displays data relating to the enrolment of West Midlands residents over the past five years to Adult Skills Fund programmes. Data is structured and filterable by the six broad subject categories which align to the sectors which are deemed to have the highest intensity of green jobs: Automotive, Construction and the Built Environment, Electrical Installation, Energy and Utilities, Environmental Services and Manufacturing.
When creating these green skills dashboards, a filter has been applied to select only learning aims which match to a list of green key words.
- Boosted by strong growth in 2024/25, the West Midlands is the top performing region nationally for adult Automotive skills. Colleges have 100% of the market share.
- Enrolments to green Construction and Building Services fell sharply which was likely due to the removal of bootcamp provision which had been strong the year before.
- The West Midlands holds a strong position nationally for adult Electrical Installation provision and colleges have 94% of the market.
Key data
Automotive
2024/25 saw strong growth in green automotive, reversing in part the sharp decline of the previous year. The 31% increase was due to a jump in SWAP in Electric Vehicle / Hybrid provision, which accounted for 255 of the 391 enrolments and were at level 1 and level 2.
The West Midlands remains the region with the highest density of learners in this subject area with 15 people per 100,000 working age adults engaged, up from 11 per 100,000 last year. All learners were enrolled to college provision.
The profile of learners was more diverse than in the previous year: 25% were aged 19-24, the proportion of females increased by 1% to 5% and those in minority ethnic groups increased:
30% of learners were Black, up from 20%; 18% were Asian, up from 9%; 41% were White, down from 60%.
100% of adult automotive green skills learners study at college
5% of adult automotive learners are female
Construction & Buildings Services
The number of learners on green construction courses dropped again sharply in 2024/25. There were just 77 enrolments on courses designated to develop green construction skills, down from 335 the previous year, only 20 of which were in the WMCA patch. The fall is likely to be due to the cessation of Bootcamp provision which had accounted for 231 enrolments the previous year.
Benchmarked nationally the West Midlands was the region with the second lowest penetration in green construction in 2024/25, with two enrolments for every 100,000 of population. In 2022/23 the West Midlands was the top performing area with 12 enrolments in every 100,000.
Green construction provision focusing on developing environmental awareness and sustainability in construction is the most prevalent.
Electrical Installation
Electrical skills are a prerequisite for the installation of green technologies across many sectors and have therefore been classified as focused green skills courses. The West Midlands has historically high levels of adult participation in electrical installation courses. In 2024/25 the region maintained this strong position, albeit with a second year of shrinkage to 925 (down 14.5%).
This decline meant that the West Midlands dropped to second position in the national tables behind London, with 27 people on electrical provision per 100,000 of population, down from 31 the previous year.
60% of learners were enrolled to a Diploma in Electrical Installations (Buildings and Structures The profile of electrical installation learners is 97% male, 33% are aged under 25 and 52% are White. 94% of learners study at a college.
94% of electrical installation learners are supported at a college
33% of electrical installations under 25
Energy & Utilities
The West Midlands has very small participation in adult courses in energy and utilities and despite recent growth remains significantly behind other regions.
The small amount of provision is the Award in Understanding Carbon Awareness and Energy Management at Level 1 which was delivered predominantly by private training providers.
Learner numbers grew in 2024/25 to 79, up from 56 the previous year and four times the volume seen in 2022/23. Learners resided in Stoke-on-Trent, Nuneaton and Telford, rather than the central WMCA areas.
Environmental Services
- In 2024/25 there was no publicly funded adult provision relating to environmental services in the region. In 23/24 there had been a small amount of provision at Level 1 delivered in the Birmingham area principally covering waste management skills and knowledge. However apprenticeships in environmental services are still supported.
- Nationally the area leading on this sector is the North West, with 19 learners per 100,000 of working age population.
Manufacturing
The number of enrolments to adult provision that matches the key words relating to green manufacturing is very low in the West Midlands, as is the case in other regions of the country.
In 2024/25 there were 30 green manufacturing enrolments, down slightly from 2023/24 and from 43 the previous year. All were studying Robotics delivered by a college across three levels: Beginner (level 2), Intermediate (level 3) and specialist modules at level 4.
Although specialist manufacturing courses in this subject are relatively new. Manufacturing topics are included in longer programmes where the numbers of learners are strong:
- 255 Manufacturing Apprenticeship starts in 2024/25
- over 2,906 young people on Engineering programmes
- over 763 adults on more generic Engineering courses.
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Case Studies
Partnering with Dyson Energy Services and Westdale Midlands Ltd, Coventry College has developed a green skills insulation technician bootcamp to address skills shortages in energy-efficient retrofit services. The bootcamp, funded through the Strategic Development Fund, offers training in various insulation measures and in giving energy efficiency advice. Learners are recruited from referral networks across the West Midlands. They undergo rigorous training and interviews with around half of bootcamp participants securing permanent employment in retrofit because of the programme.
Attending the insulation bootcamp and then joining Dyson Energy Services has been career changing for me. Being able to help communities very similar to the one I was raised in has such a rewarding feeling – that feeling of making a difference!
North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College has seized the opportunity presented by the emerging hydrogen fuel cell technology. With a grant from the Strategic Development Fund, the college collaborated with hydrogen technology industry leaders in the development of tailored training programmes for local businesses, particularly those in logistics and transport. These include a one-day introduction to hydrogen course, a more comprehensive three-day programme covering operational skills for hydrogen vehicles, and with the support of National Express, an advanced three-day course on hydrogen vehicle systems.
I reached out to National Express and Hydrogen Vehicle Systems as they are industry leaders in research, development, and the operation of hydrogen vehicles. Collaborating closely with employers helps us keep up to speed with the ever-evolving landscape of decarbonising transportation in the UK.