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Looking for free training in Ashfield

If you are looking into boosting your career, you may first have to explore the skills that you need to reach your goals. You can develop these skills by accessing local training courses that are free within the Ashfield district.

Looking for free training courses?

Find out below the top skills that local employers were looking for in their job postings in 2023.

Top 10 specialised skills:

  1. Warehousing
  2. Nursing
  3. Auditing
  4. Invoicing
  5. Personal care
  6. Finance
  7. Mental health
  8. Midwifery
  9. Key performance indicators (KPIs)
  10. Machinery

Top 10 common skills:

  1. Communication
  2. Management
  3. Customer service
  4. Detail-oriented
  5. Sales
  6. Planning
  7. Teaching
  8. Leadership
  9. Organisational skills
  10. English language

Free training opportunities for Ashfield residents

Enterprising Ashfield short courses

Enterprising Ashfield is a Towns Fund project created in partnership with Nottingham Trent University that provides free training courses to Ashfield residents living in Kirkby in Ashfield and Sutton in Ashfield.

The courses take place in person at the Summit Centre, in Kirkby in Ashfield. They are held once a week and take around 2 to 5 weeks to complete. Here are some examples below of courses and their start dates in 2024.

  • 3D Printing, Laser Cutting and CNC for Prototyping - starts 1 May 2024
  • Selling Skills: Business to Business - starts 2 May 2024
  • Finance for Freelancers and Small Businesses - starts 3 June 2024
  • Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace - starts 4 June 2024
  • Product Photography using Smartphones - starts 5 June 2024
  • Exploring Neurodiversity in the Workplace - starts 11 June 2024
  • Consumer Psychology for Designers - starts 12 September 2024
  • Fashion Design using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator - starts 1 October 2024
  • Tax Returns for Freelancers and Small Businesses - starts 4 December 2024
  • Cyber Security: Essential Skills and Knowledge for Employees - start date to be confirmed.
  • Business Intelligence - start date to be confirmed

More information about how to enrol on the courses is available on Nottingham Trent University's website:

Free Courses in England

This is an online platform that offers free courses for adults in England.

You can search for free courses and be connected to training providers that utilise the UK Government’s Adult Education Budget to fund courses completely for free. These courses are accredited by either NCFE CACHE or TQUK, making qualifications and certificates nationally recognised and regulated by Ofqual.

Multiply

Multiply is a new government-funded programme to help adults improve their numeracy skills.

If you’re aged 19 and over and don’t have a maths GCSE at grade C (or equivalent), you can access free numeracy courses through Multiply to build your confidence with numbers and gain a qualification.

Providers that deliver the Multiply programme in Ashfield are:

Digital Skills in Local Communities programme - Ashfield

As part of Ashfield District Council’s allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), a new digital skills programme has been developed and is available for communities within the Ashfield district.

Academy Transformation Trust Further Education (ATTFE) College will be delivering the programme, with the aim of supporting residents to develop basic digital skills needed for day-to-day living, such as using a mobile phone, online banking, and applying for jobs online.

Essential Skills for Life programme - Ashfield

As part of Ashfield District Council’s allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), a new basic and life skills programme has been developed and is available for communities within the Ashfield district.

The Futures Group will be delivering the programme, with the aim of supporting residents to acquire the basic and life skills needed for the workplace, including English, maths, information technology, confidence building, budgeting skills, and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).

Free courses funded through the Adult Education Budget

The Adult Education Budget (AEB) is a fund that has been set up by the government to help support the delivery of education and training to people aged 19 and over. AEB funding aims to engage adults in learning and provide them with opportunities to help attain new skills and knowledge to gain employment, progress in work, or to further their education.

Local providers that deliver AEB funded courses include:

Skills Bootcamps

Skills Bootcamps has free flexible courses of up to 16 weeks for people looking for a new role or job opportunity.

There are fully-funded courses available in many business sectors including:

  • Business administration
  • Construction
  • Engineering
  • Green skills
  • Digital skills
  • HGV driving
  • Hospitality.

Visit the Skills Bootcamps website and find the right course for you:

Local providers that deliver Skills Bootcamps include:

Transform your Future programme - Ashfield

As part of Ashfield District Council’s allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), a new programme is available to support residents that are not currently seeking work, but would like support in sharpening up their skills in order to fulfil their potential. This programme is now available for communities within the Ashfield district.

The Futures Group will be delivering the programme, with the aim of supporting residents to acquire some employability-related skills in order to prepare them to work in the future.

Van Elle Construction Training Centre

Van Elle has a purpose-built training facility in Kirkby-in-Ashfield offering a wide range of construction training and courses to support, enhance learning and develop skills.

Van Elle can deliver training courses in the following areas:

- PLANT – CPCS, NPORS
- CIVILS – NRSWA
- CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT
- SITE SAFETY
- VOCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
- BESPOKE TRAINING COURSES

Page last updated: 19 April 2024