Programme owner
AI Edge Skills
Career growth pathway, portal, evidence model and employer-led progression.
Proof of concept with Newcastle College
A career growth pathway for the AI economy
AI Edge Skills helps learners, apprentices, employees and career changers build the confidence, judgement, softer skills and evidence they need to use AI safely and practically in work.
Starting with Newcastle College, the PoC tests how educators, employers and partners can turn AI learning into real capability, employer evidence and routes into future work.
Initial Foundation and Bronze PoC7 October to 9 December 2026
Education partner
Built with education, employers and regional partners
The first PoC is rooted in the North East and developed with Newcastle College as an initial education partner. Employers and sponsors can help shape live briefs, learner evidence, funded routes and progression opportunities.
Education partner
Newcastle College
Education partner supporting learner delivery, tutor engagement and the first Foundation and Bronze PoC.
Open invitation
Employers and sponsors
Live briefs, mentoring, evidence review, social value, skills insight and progression routes.
7 October to 9 December 2026
The first PoC programme
From 7 October to 9 December 2026, learners will move through Foundation and Bronze. Foundation creates a safe AI baseline. Bronze turns that baseline into everyday productivity, evidence and confidence.
Foundation
AI awareness, safety, trust, ethics, privacy, AI-assisted work, human judgement and personal guardrails.
Bronze
Prompting, summarising, drafting, research, checking, task planning, productivity and quality control.
Evidence
Learners build a portfolio showing what they did, what AI helped with, what they checked and how they applied human judgement.
Regional growth
AI capability as a growth agenda
The North East does not just need more AI content. It needs a practical route that helps people grow into the future of work and helps organisations adopt AI with confidence.
AI Edge Skills connects learning to productivity, employability, apprenticeships, employer evidence, social value and regional growth.
For learners
Confidence, practical skills, evidence and hope in a changing labour market.
For employers
Better signals of work-readiness, safer AI adoption and a future talent pipeline.
For sponsors
Measurable social value, brand alignment and practical regional contribution.
For education partners
Structure, evidence and employer relevance that can strengthen existing delivery.
Softer skills
The human edge matters
AI skills are not only technical. The real advantage comes from better questions, clearer communication, critical thinking, collaboration, adaptability, ethical reasoning and the confidence to check before trusting an output.
- Confidence
- Judgement
- Communication
- Curiosity
- Collaboration
- Critical thinking
- Adaptability
- Ethical reasoning
- Service mindset
- Evidence and reflection
A guided progression
Not a catalogue. A pathway to capability.
National platforms help people find AI learning. AI Edge Skills helps turn that learning into confidence, evidence and practical value in work.
The pathway gives learners a clearer route, tutors a structure for delivery and employers a way to see applied capability rather than only course completion.
An open invitation
Help shape the first PoC
We are inviting employers, sponsors, education partners and regional organisations to help shape the Foundation and Bronze PoC, support learner places, create live briefs and review the evidence that shows what practical AI capability looks like.