From Transactional to Transformational: Rethinking Employer Engagement in FE

By Tracey Wood, Chief Commercial Officer at the Trafford and Stockport College Group

As college leaders, we are all too familiar with the growing pressures facing our sector: constrained budgets, shifting policy priorities, and an increasing expectation to align our provision with the rapidly evolving needs of employers. Yet within these challenges lies a significant opportunity—to reframe employer engagement not as a transactional necessity, but as a transformational lever for driving local economic resilience, innovation, and inclusive growth.

To realise this potential, we must shift away from fragmented, ad hoc interactions and towards sustained, strategic partnerships—particularly with micro businesses and SMEs that form the backbone of our regional economies. But this raises critical questions: At what cost? How do we meaningfully support and serve employers, especially those with limited capacity? How do we become more visible, accessible, and responsive to the needs of industry without significant investment?

This challenge becomes even more pronounced when we consider the role of curriculum leaders, who are often expected to lead and maintain these employer relationships while juggling the day-to-day responsibilities of teaching, quality assurance, and staff management. Meaningful employer engagement is not a side project—it is relational, time-intensive work that requires consistency, sector expertise, and trust-building over time. Without dedicated structures, support, and investment, expecting curriculum teams to carry this additional workload is neither fair nor sustainable.

The reality is that transformational engagement requires a services marketing mindset—one that prioritises relationship management, understands the needs of different employer segments, and creates long-term value. This isn’t without cost. It demands cross-functional collaboration, highly skilled staff, and infrastructure. Yet the FE sector is often expected to absorb this within existing funding envelopes. If we are to truly embed FE at the heart of regional growth, this work must be resourced, recognised, and strategically prioritised.

FE’s role in the local skills ecosystem

Vocational and technical education and training is central to addressing regional skills gaps and boosting innovation. As the Local Government Association (2023) noted, aligning skills provision with employer demand could unlock an additional £125bn in economic output. With their local insight and community reach, we as colleges are ideally positioned to be the conduit between education and industry.

This is particularly vital for SMEs, which account for 99.9% of UK businesses and employ over 60% of the workforce (BEIS, 2022). Despite their economic significance, many operate below the radar of traditional engagement mechanisms, lacking the time or confidence to navigate the complexity of FE provision.

Beyond tick-box engagement

We must move beyond the outdated notion that inviting employers to advisory boards, arranging work placements, or recruiting apprentices equates to meaningful collaboration. True employer engagement is co-creation—of curriculum, assessment methods, training models, and even shared learning spaces. To unlock this potential, we need to adopt a learning delivery partnership approach, where employers are co-owners of the skills agenda, not just contributors.

The introduction of the Skills Accountability Statement and the evolving Ofsted inspection framework further reinforce our duty to align provision with employer needs. This necessitates embedding employer voice and labour market intelligence into strategic planning and curriculum design.

However, a vital dimension that remains underreported is the real cost of this work—in both time and resource. Building meaningful relationships with employers and wider stakeholders takes investment. It requires staff with commercial acumen, data capability, and sectoral knowledge who can translate employer needs into high-impact learning.

Serving micro businesses and SMEs

For many SMEs, engaging with colleges can feel complex and inaccessible. Time pressures, lack of understanding of the qualifications landscape, and a policy environment in constant flux all contribute to their hesitancy.

To better support SMEs, colleges can act as skills brokers, simplifying the system and providing tailored guidance. Offer modular, flexible learning, such as micro-credentials and short courses. Develop innovation hubs or shared facilities, co-designed with employers to foster direct interaction with learners and educators. As the Commission on the College of the Future (2021) argued, colleges must function as “anchor institutions”—proactively shaping the local economy, not just serving it.

Do employers understand inclusive growth?

We also have a role to play in reframing the skills conversation with employers. Many still see training through a narrow lens—focused on recruitment or compliance. But skills development is foundational to broader outcomes: productivity, innovation, wellbeing, and community cohesion.

We must help businesses see themselves not just as consumers of skills, but as co-investors in an inclusive, sustainable economy..

Barriers to strategic engagement

Despite best intentions, we face several persistent barriers, funding models that prioritise volume over value discourage innovation and local responsiveness. Resource constraints limit our capacity to maintain the deep relationships that transformational engagement requires. Policy churn and complexity, including reforms to apprenticeships and the rollout of LSIPs, can create confusion for both colleges and employers. Impact measurement remains challenging, especially in early-stage or place-based partnerships where outcomes are long-term.

To move forward, we must advocate for investment in the infrastructure of employer engagement, not just the delivery of training.

Cost vs value: what are we willing to invest?

Transformational partnerships don’t happen by chance—and they don’t come cheap. Whether through employer relationship managers, specialist engagement teams, curriculum co-development, or co-branded facilities, this work takes serious investment.

As we respond to demands from local, regional, and national employers, we must guard against engagement becoming tokenistic or extractive. The challenge for college leaders is to balance short-term delivery pressures with long-term system building while making the case for funding that reflects the real cost of this work.

Measuring ROI: why It matters

To truly position employer engagement as a strategic function within colleges, we must move beyond activity metrics and focus on measuring impact. It’s no longer sufficient to count contacts or placements—we must ask: What value are we creating? ROI is not solely about tangible income, such as apprenticeship starts or commercial revenue. While those are crucial for financial viability, the real return includes a co-designed curriculum, improved learner outcomes, employer satisfaction, and wider social and economic impact.

Investment in engagement teams should be evaluated through this broader lens—reflecting strategic influence, long-term partnerships, and contribution to local and regional growth. A one-size-fits-all model won’t do—ROI must be contextual, flexible, and aligned with our wider mission.

Final thoughts: from collaboration to co-ownership

The government’s ambition to “kickstart the economy” cannot succeed without Further Education at its heart. But for FE to fulfil this role, employer engagement must be reimagined—not as a one-way transaction, but as a mutual, strategic partnership.

The future lies in deeper, more meaningful relationships with industry—particularly with the SMEs that power our towns and cities. It’s time to move from transactional partnerships to transformational alliances.

And as college leaders, the opportunity—and the responsibility—to lead this shift sits firmly with us.