Drawn from interviews with employers, ESOL providers and apprenticeship providers, this guide has been designed to raise awareness of ways in which ESOL learners can benefit from and progress to employment as an apprentice. It also illustrates how a focus on meeting ESOL learners’ needs in the workplace can benefit employers and training providers.

This guide has been developed by Learning and Work Institute as part of a wider project, undertaken at the request of the Department for Education (DfE), to understand and address barriers to apprenticeships for those with English for Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) needs.

The project aimed to:

  • Establish how and to what extent providers facilitate the transition from ESOL learning to apprenticeships
  • Identify current barriers to progression to apprenticeships for learners with ESOL needs
  • Identify ways in which policy and practice could be improved, to enable more people with ESOL needs to access apprenticeships
  • Identify any current effective practice in supporting people with ESOL needs to progress into apprenticeships.

17 February 2026

Labour market dashboard

Every month, Learning and Work Institute produces detailed and timely analysis of the latest labour market statistics from ONS. Explore our interactive charts.

Read more

24 December 2025

Falling short: Understanding further falls in employer training

This briefing looks at how employer investment in training continues to fall – now down 36% per employee since 2005 – and argues that we must turn this around to improve economic growth.

Read more

22 December 2025

From confusion to clarity: rethinking England’s 670 occupational standards

L&W’s Stephen Evans and Pearson’s Donna Ford-Clarke reflect on findings from our recent research on England’s occupational standards – of which there are now more than double the number in countries like Germany and Switzerland.

Read more

8 December 2025

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal meets London learners at an event for adults’ access to essential skills learning

On Wednesday 3 December, Learning and Work Institute was delighted to welcome their patron, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal to an event in London about essential skills for learning and life, like literacy, numeracy and digital.

Read more

27 November 2025

Responding to the full year apprenticeships data release

Learning and Work Institute’s Deputy Head of Research Dr Corin Egglestone responds to the full year apprenticeships data released on 27 November 2025.

Read more

18 November 2025

Responding to higher technical skills needs

Supported by Gatsby Charitable Foundation, this report explores employer and employee decision making about training and the development of higher technical skills.

Read more

7 November 2025

No train no gain

This research, supported by Multiverse, finds that access to training is a boon for people’s pay and careers. The training dividend is greatest for those on the lower rungs of the occupational ladder, helping them go further, faster.

Read more

7 November 2025

Working class people paid more when they get training from their employer

Experts are calling on the Government to do more to get employers investing in training, as research reveals it’s a “boon for people’s pay and careers” – particularly for working class people.

Read more

5 November 2025

Investing in skills: International policy insights for the UK

This report is the first in a series of three publications supported by the Nuffield Foundation that present the findings from multi-year research into employer investment in upskilling and reskilling in a changing economy.

Read more