Policy and Campaigns

Schools and Academies Show 2024: Insights for School Leaders

The Schools and Academies Show takes place twice a year, attracting 6,000 attendees. The event is committed to fostering innovation, inspiration and learning in…

Big Data and Educational Trends: Insights for Students and Schools

Five things to look out for on results day for A levels, T levels and other Level 3 qualifications.  As results day approaches for…

University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education offers tuition fee bursary for NEC A level students

Applications open now  Continuing the relationship that began in 2021, the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) and NEC are once again collaborating to offer…

Five study bursaries for state sector teachers to take online A level Classical Civilisation offered by The Classical Association

Learners enrolled on A level Classical Civilisation with NEC study the literature and culture of the ancient world, from epic poetry and ancient comedy,…

Rapid change and the need to upskill and reskill means more of us are likely to be second-chance learners

Traditional providers alone can’t solve inequality “The next government must fully embrace ‘second-chance’ education in the drive to reverse the decline in social mobility.”…

How NEC Considers Web Accessibility for Students

What is meant by Web Accessibility? Web accessibility simply means that any website, technology, and online tools created are designed with people with different…

Embracing Distance Learning: A Path to Inclusive Education and Lifelong Learning

In the realm of education policy, recent discussions have circled around the merits of reshaping our approach to learning, making it more inclusive and…

Why study Classics as a teacher?

The Classical Association is offering five bursaries for state sector teachers to study A level Classical Civilisation flexibly with NEC. Bursary recipients will be…

The benefits of offering Classics to your students

The Classical Association is offering five bursaries for state sector teachers to study A level Classical Civilisation flexibly with NEC. Bursary recipients will be…

The key to reviving social mobility

In our blog post on 13th July 2023, Is education the answer to social mobility? The contribution of the National Extension College, Ros Morpeth,…

Other articles...

Tribute to Hilary Perraton

Hilary Perraton, one of the first members of staff of the National Extension College (NEC), sadly died of cancer on 15th November 2021. (Obituary…

Tina enrolled with NEC to pursue a teaching career. She enrolled her teenage son for GCSEs.

Tina chose to enrol with NEC in 2016 in order to gain the qualifications needed to access a career in teaching. “I wanted to…

Vita gained an offer from the University of Oxford after gaining an A level online with NEC

Motivated by her desire to study chemistry at undergraduate level, Vita realised that she would need to take A level Maths, particularly if she…

Try something new this year!

Throughout NEC’s history, many retired people have chosen to spend some of their new-found leisure time studying a subject that they’ve always been passionate…

[Closed] Save 15% off all courses until midnight 31st January

It’s the beginning of a new year and time to start work on your New Year’s resolution. So, have you decided to stop doing…

Season’s greetings from NEC!

A message from our CEO Esther Chesterman: “I have been immensely humbled by the collective efforts of our staff, students and college community over…

Reaching for the stars with flexible online learning

Holly took the decision to leave mainstream education in Year 10 after struggling to cope in school. She has autism and suffered from anxiety…

A gift from NEC this December

Win back your course fee – up to £2,225. Be in with a chance to win back your full course fee when you enrol…

Online A levels with NEC leads to BSc Political Science at University of Amsterdam

Mina started the International Baccalaureate but found that it didn’t afford her a lot of subject choice. Fitting the study schedule around her social…

Aspiring medic uses distance learning with NEC to prepare for her GCSEs from Ukraine

Sanya had been attending school in Edinburgh before the Covid-19 outbreak; the first five months she spent distance learning were more of an urgent…