Medr/2025/08: Further Education Professional Learning Funding (PLF) AY 2025/26 – guidance and funding application templates

Introduction

1. The Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022 (TERA), Section 5 states that Medr must promote continuous improvement in the quality of Welsh tertiary education and, in discharging this duty, must have regard to:
a) the importance of ensuring that members of the tertiary education workforce are capable of providing tertiary education of a high quality, and
b) the reasonable requirements of members of the tertiary education workforce for continuous professional development.

2. Section 5 (3) identifies members of the tertiary education workforce to be:
a) teachers of persons receiving tertiary education,
b) persons who provide support to such teachers, and
c) persons who provide support to learners to participate in tertiary education.

3. To support the discharge of this duty, professional learning is featured in Medr’s Strategic Plan under Strategic Aim 3.

Strategic Aim 3 To ensure learners receive the highest-quality provision in a tertiary education sector that strives for continuous improvement.

Growth commitment We will support the tertiary education workforce to access effective professional learning and explore ways to share best practice, extending effective pedagogy across the whole sector.

4. Professional learning in this context may include mandatory training, continuous professional development (CPD), subject and industrial knowledge, professional qualifications, action research and professional inquiry.

Use of the Professional Learning Fund

5. The Welsh Government’s funding letter to Medr for 2025/26 includes £5 million to support the professional learning and development of the further education workforce. Funding has been allocated to FE institutions based on the size of institution as a proxy for the number of staff. Allocations are set out in Annex A.

6. The funding allocated by Medr is made available subject to the general conditions for payment of funds set out in Medr’s Terms and Conditions of Funding.

7. Funding will support professional learning for practitioners and learning support staff and can be used to enable institutions to deliver or commission professional learning aligned to the themes outlined in this guidance. Funding should only be used for the development of staff involved in delivery of FE teaching and learning.

8. The funding can be used for activities that reflect each institution’s individual priorities, based on its own policies and the identified needs of its staff. Institutions are also encouraged to use the funding for collaborative activity and can choose to “pool” a proportion of this funding to support collaborative projects.

9. In drawing together applications for use of funding, we expect all institutions to consider:

• Professional standards for FE teachers, WBL practitioners and AL practitioners/Educators Wales
• Collaboration across the sector to improve efficiencies, peer support and sharing good practice.
• Previous learning to build on and embed the work developed in previous years.
• Balancing the learning needs of the institution (CPD) and the decisions practitioners make about their own professional learning needs and interests.
• The development of staff skills to support complex needs and skills priorities.
• Where institutions are undertaking professional learning relating to digital delivery, we will ask them to use the Digital Professional Standards which have been developed by Jisc as part of our Digital 2030 work.

10. Applications must focus on the eligible themes listed below. The list below covers mandatory themes which must be included and optional themes.

Mandatory themes

• Welsh language development.
• Professional learning required to create and support an anti-racist culture.

Optional themes

• Digital learning.
• Teaching and learning strategies, including differentiated learning.
• Literacy and numeracy (including ESOL).
• Enhancement of industrial skills linked to labour market needs (including capacity to delivery higher level qualifications).
• Strengthening A level and vocational pedagogy.
• Action research.
• Professional learning for specialist teaching and support staff for learners with complex needs.
• Delivery of activities designed to accelerate and build expertise for staff which will increase the learner’s knowledge and learning experience.

11. Institutions will be expected to report against each activity as part of the interim and final reporting requirements.

Key issues and methods of working

12. In preparing applications, institutions should consider other cross cutting policies and ways of working. These must include:

• Social Partnership
  FEIs are expected to develop their proposals using social partnership principles, to ensure their recognised trade unions are fully involved in planning, decision making, and implementing changes that will affect staff.
• Anti-Racist Wales
  Individuals and institutions should take responsibility for creating an anti-racist culture and driving lasting positive change, and in doing so, we would expect you to consider the professional learning required within your institution to help realise the ambition of an Anti-racist Wales by 2030.
• Creating a bilingual Wales
  Medr has a role to play in contributing to the Welsh Government’s ambition to achieve 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050 and have a duty to encourage greater use of the Welsh language. We therefore expect you to consider this when preparing your applications.

Professional Learning Strategies

13. As a condition of funding, Medr will require all institutions to submit a formal professional learning strategy. Institutions can either review an existing strategy, or develop a new one. The PLF can be used to fund the release of staff time to develop and evaluate strategies, and/or to bring in external expertise to support the process if required. Strategies will need to be submitted to Medr with their interim reports in February 2026.

Eligible activities

14. Funding can be used to:

• Undertake accredited teaching qualifications.
• Undertake specific modules or units of training to enhance teaching skills (eg MA modules).
• Update and enhance staff’s industrial/vocational skills.
• Purchase bespoke training, including the costs of external trainers or facilitators.
• Purchase or develop e-learning packages.
• Meet the costs of backfill for staff who are undertaking professional learning.
• Undertake research including action research.
• Collaborative design and delivery of professional learning and leadership development, including joint training on a regional basis.
• Developing bilingual professional learning resources and guidance for sector-wide benefit, including in work-based and adult learning.
• Professional learning for specialist teaching and support staff for learners with complex needs.
• Delivery of activities designed to accelerate and build expertise for staff which will increase the learner’s knowledge and learning experience.

15. The funding cannot be used for the purchase of capital equipment or software or for course development for learners.

16. If you are unsure whether your proposed use of funding is eligible please contact [email protected].

Evaluation criteria

17. Proposals must:

• Deliver professional learning in line with the Professional standards for FE teachers, WBL practitioners and AL practitioners/Educators Wales
• Identify clear benefits and show how impact will be evaluated.
• Be aligned to the themes listed within this guidance.
• Include activities which support Welsh language development
• Demonstrate professional learning which will create and support an anti-racist culture
• Demonstrate a clear rationale which reflects the identified professional learning needs of the institution’s staff.

How to apply

18. Each institution is required to complete and return a signed copy of the form at Annex C to:

• Formally confirm your institution’s acceptance of the funding
• Nominate an appropriate individual in your institution as the lead contact in relation to this funding
• Briefly outline your intentions for use of this funding

19. Signed forms should be returned to [email protected] by 7 July 2025.

20. Please notify Medr at the earliest opportunity if you foresee that you will not be able to spend your full allocation. If funding is released by individual institutions, Medr will consider if it is feasible to re-allocate this funding.

Monitoring and payment of funding

21. Subject to the return of Annex C, an interim payment (65% of your institution’s funding allocation) will be scheduled during February 2026.

22. You will be required to provide expenditure information by 31 July 2026 to release final payment. You should only claim against actual expenditure incurred by 31 July 2026. The amount of this final payment will be adjusted in line with the actual expenditure incurred, up to the total value of your institution’s allocation.

23. Interim and final report templates along with end-of-year expenditure information will be added as Annex D. Nominated funding leads will be notified when these forms are available.

24. Confirmation of the allocation is subject to Medr’s approval of activities.

Further information

25. Any queries regarding this guidance and supporting documentation should be directed to Karron Williams at [email protected].