Free places available on ETF courses

Free places are now available on a range of Education and Training Foundation (ETF) courses for applicants who satisfy one of four criteria:

• work in an organisation in one of the 24 priority areas.
• work in an organisation with an annual turnover of less than £500,000
• consider yourself to have a disability
• come from black or minority ethnic community

Details of the courses on which places may be available are marked on the ETF booking website.

The offer is being made in line with the ETF’s commitment to fairer access to courses and social mobility and recognises the diversity of the further education sector.

Those wishing to secure a place should simply book as normal, stating which of the three criteria they meet when prompted to do so at the payment stage. The cost of the booking will then be reduced to zero. Signing up for free places indicates a willingness to be contacted by ETF’s evaluation team, which will be assessing the impact of the initiative.

ETF Head of Wellbeing and Social Inclusion Teresa Carroll said:

“Our free place offer aims to promote greater diversity on our courses and to address the financial barriers that some colleagues face when wishing to access the high-quality CPD that ETF provides. We look forward to seeing the FE workforce taking up this new offer.”

The 24 priority areas are: