How Calderdale College's 'pick 'n' mix' reached over 900 learners

Success Story

Calderdale College built a ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ model of adult community learning that lets each adult learner personalise their pathway around their own goals, background and circumstances. Supported by a flexible Gateway Qualifications programme and by local employers, it grew from a 15-learner pilot in 2021 to over 900 learners within two years, and Ofsted rated the college’s Adult Education ‘Outstanding’.

If you support adult learners whose backgrounds, goals and barriers don’t fit a one-size course, get in touch.

Talk to Our Team

At a glance

Centre

Calderdale College, an FE college and adult community learning provider in West Yorkshire

Qualification

Personalised programmes built from Gateway Qualifications’ flexible, credit-based qualifications across multiple sectors.

The challenge

Adult learners whose backgrounds, goals and barriers don’t fit a one-size course, in a fast-changing local job market

The solution

A ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ model letting each learner personalise their pathway, built on a flexible Gateway programme blueprint and shaped with local employers

The result

Grew from a 15-learner pilot (2021) to over 900 learners in two years; Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ in Adult Education

Our 'pick 'n' mix' approach is a team effort, with my colleagues, our fabulous learners, and the wider Calderdale community all playing a part. Together, we're making adult education fit the needs of real people for real jobs, right here in Calderdale.

Naseem Aqeel, Community Learning Manager, Calderdale College

The challenge: making adult education fit real lives and a changing job market

Traditional education models often overlook the adult learner whose background, goals and circumstances don’t fit a standard course. Calderdale College’s adult learners arrive with unique backgrounds, challenges and ambitions, and a single fixed pathway rarely serves all of them well. At the same time, the local labour market is moving quickly, so the skills learners need to reach real jobs keep changing. The college needed a way to personalise adult education to the individual, and to keep that provision responsive as demand shifted.

How Calderdale College built its ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ model

Calderdale College’s Community Learning Manager, Naseem Aqeel, introduced a ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ education model, reminiscent of a nostalgic sweet shop counter, that lets adult learners personalise their education pathways to suit their own career ambitions and interests. Rather than fitting the learner to the course, the model fits the course to the learner, catering to the backgrounds, challenges and ambitions that a fixed pathway overlooks.

To keep the offer relevant, the college built partnerships with local employers, including the NHS and Bluebird Care, whose insight into the labour market helps align what learners study with where the real vacancies are. Its collaboration with Gateway Qualifications gave the model a flexible programme blueprint that can evolve as market needs change, which matters in areas such as health and social care, childcare, IT and digital, fashion, textiles and the creative industries, where skill gaps have been widened by Brexit and the Covid pandemic. When the government extended free childcare hours in 2024, for example, the college adapted its curriculum to prepare learners for the workforce opportunities that change would open up.

The results: from a 15-learner pilot to over 900 learners

The ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ model began as a pilot with 15 students post-Covid in 2021 and grew to over 900 learners within two years. Ofsted has recognised the college’s approach, awarding Calderdale College an ‘Outstanding’ rating in Adult Education. The learners themselves have become the model’s strongest advocates, which is the proof that matters most in adult community learning: people who came for one thing, found a pathway that fit, and stayed to recommend it.

The success of our model is not the end of the journey. We're always adapting, engaging with local employers, and refining our approach to make sure our learners are best prepared for what's next. In a rapidly changing world, we're proving that adult education can be flexible, responsive, and genuinely make a difference in people's lives.

Naseem Aqeel, Community Learning Manager, Calderdale College

What this could mean for your learners

Calderdale College did not just add more courses. It built a way for adult learners to shape their own path toward real work, and then kept that provision moving as the local job market moved. That happened because the qualification design was flexible enough to bend around the learner and the place, rather than the other way round, and the same is possible for very different learners, in very different settings. If you would like to explore what a flexible, personalised approach could look like for yours, we’re here whenever you’d like to talk.