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Welcome to the Learning and Skills Beacon status website

Beacon status provides public recognition of the excellence and innovation that exists within the further education system. It celebrates outstanding delivery in the further education sector from a range of learning and skills providers across England. Beacon status is awarded to those funded by the Skills Funding Agency and/or the Young People’s Learning Agency, and inspected by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted).

For a full list of current Beacon providers please click here.


LSIS, in partnership with stakeholders and providers of the learning and skills sector, is making some changes to Beacon status, and its support programme, as a result of changes within LSIS designed to reflect our intention to put more funding directly into the sector, and to deal with the significant budget cut announced last year by BIS. We will continue in 2010 to award Beacon status (see below), but we are exploring some options for a revised award which will reflect the commitment, and achievements, of those organisations who demonstrate sector leadership through their active role in raising standards more widely across the sector as well as within their own organisations.

In the meantime, Beacon innovation funding will be re-directed into the new LSIS Flexibility and Innovation Fund. The next bidding round for this closes at midday on 18 June, and you can find more information about it on the Excellence Gateway at: http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=263452 .

Beacon expertise sharing activity is now being managed through the Improvement Adviser Service, to create a more coherent approach to improving standards of performance.

What are the criteria for Beacon status?

The key criteria currently are from inspection evidence:

grade 1 for Leadership and Management

nothing less than grade 2 for all other areas inspected

LSIS will also consult with the appropriate funding body to ensure that organisations under consideration for the award of Beacon status are fully worthy of that award.

How does our organisation become a Beacon?

Those organisations meeting the inspection criteria, and who are in all other respects considered to be worthy of the award, will be invited to submit a declaration of interest, to confirm their willingness to receive this prestigious award.