Award categories and criteria

The Natspec Innovation Awards recognise and celebrate innovative practice in the specialist further education sector. The awards shine a light on initiatives which have resulted in improved outcomes for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. We want to unearth exciting new ways of doing things that go beyond what you might typically see in specialist colleges and share these across the sector. Winning entries will focus on a particular pioneering project or aspect of your practice that is helping you make a real difference for your students. We have created an innovation checklist that you could use as a guideline when considering your application.

So, get ready to tell us about a specific innovation that you have introduced, what makes it different from typical approaches, and how you know it’s working. To have the best chance of winning, make sure you include evidence of outcomes in whatever format works best for your project. Think learner voice videos, before and after data, quotes, or survey feedback from different stakeholders.

Innovative use of technology

This award will go to the project or initiative which demonstrates most innovative use of technology to enhance students’ experience of college. The technology itself does not have to be new; it is the use of it that must be innovative.

Perhaps you’ve adapted hardware or software so that it’s become accessible to students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to use it, or further developed it to open up new opportunities. Maybe you’re making radically different use of hardware or software which is normally used for something else completely. Maybe you’re using technology in an aspect of education, health or care where you’d least expect it.

If you’re using technology in a way that is a little bit different, and it’s having a positive impact for students, this is the category for you. Remember to focus on a specific use of technology rather than your whole-college approach.

Tell us:

  1. how and why you are using technology within your specific project or initiative and what makes that innovative
  2. how your innovative use of technology within this specific project or initiative is leading to an enhanced experience for students while in college, for example by increasing their ability to access learning; allowing them to take part in activities otherwise inaccessible; helping them to gain new skills; enabling them to have enhanced quality of life
  1. how students’ own aspirations, interests, preferences, opinions, and feedback have been central to the development of the innovative practice
  2. what evidence you have that your innovative use of technology within this specific project or initiative is making a positive difference for students.

This award is sponsored by teamSOS.


Innovative routes into employment

This award will go to the most innovative project or initiative designed to improve students’ chances of post-college employment.

Maybe you’ve set up an enterprise with an unusual focus. Perhaps you’ve found a route into a sector with a limited track record of employing people with SEND or you’re working with unlikely partners to expand work placement opportunities. Maybe you’re helping students to get jobs who traditionally would not have been considered suited to employment (e.g. PMLD students) or you’re helping students achieve a different type of employment: self-employment, online selling, or in a micro-business. Maybe you’ve introduced some surprising content into your employability curriculum.

If you’re doing something a little bit different and you have evidence that it’s increasing your students’ chances of employment, this is the category for you. Remember to focus on a specific aspect of what you do rather than your whole approach to preparing students for employment.

Tell us:

  1. about a specific innovative project or initiative, what makes it different from typical approaches, why you introduced it, and how it is improving students’ chances of gaining employment after leaving college
  2. how employers and / or other partners have helped, or are helping you to make this innovative practice successful
  3. how students’ aspirations, interests, strengths and skills are central to your innovative approach
  4. what evidence you have that this specific innovative practice has made a positive difference for students in terms of employment outcomes such as paid work.

Innovation in student voice

This award will go to the most innovative project or initiative in terms of student voice.

Maybe you have found an exciting new way to listen to groups of students whose voices often go unheard. Perhaps you’re using student voice in higher level decision-making than typically happens in a college. Innovative use of technology may have taken you to new places with student voice, or it could be that your students have shaped a new way of sharing their opinions with you and you’ve followed their lead.

If you’re doing something a little bit different with student voice that’s having real impact, then this is the category for you. Remember to focus on a specific aspect of your student voice practice rather than on your college-wide approach.

Tell us:

  1. what specific new student voice project or initiative you have introduced, why you introduced it and what makes it innovative
  2. how your innovative new practice has empowered students and allowed them to have a greater say about what happens in college and / or on their courses
  3. how you have used the voices of students, heard as a result of this specific innovative practice, to make positive changes in your college or more widely
  4. what evidence you have that your specific new practice has had a positive impact on students, for example in terms of the skills, confidence, or self-esteem they have developed.

This award is sponsored by Peridot Partners.


Innovative approach to mental health and wellbeing

This award will go to most innovative practice, project or initiative relating to mental health and wellbeing.

Perhaps you have developed some exciting new resources to support students or found an innovative way to make existing resources meaningful or accessible to a particular student group. Maybe your approach to wellbeing involves people, activities or facilities that wouldn’t normally be associated with mental health support or you’re making inventive use of technology to support student wellbeing. Perhaps the original ideas for your groundbreaking approach came from your students or the students have led the whole project.

If you are supporting students’ mental health and wellbeing in way that is a little bit different and are having some success, then this is the category for you. Remember to focus on a specific aspect of what you do rather than on your whole-college approach.

Tell us:

  1. what specific new wellbeing or mental health practice you have introduced, why it was needed and what makes it innovative
  2. how students have been involved in the design and / or implementation of the innovative practice
  3. how your new practice fits into your wider healthy-college approach
  4. what evidence you have that your innovative new practice is having a positive impact on students, for example in terms of improved wellbeing and / or mental health, being better informed, more aware of sources or support, or more able to communicate about their mental health / wellbeing needs.

This award is sponsored by AssuredPartners Hettle Andrews.


Innovative interdisciplinary working

This award will go to the most innovative project or initiative involving joint working between staff in different disciplines.

Perhaps you’ve brought together staff from disciplines that don’t normally work together. Maybe staff from different disciplines have worked on a project that would typically be handled by just one team. Or maybe you’re doing something that you wouldn’t expect to see in a specialist college at all, and it’s been made possible through the combined efforts of different teams.

If staff from different disciplines are working together in a way that is a little bit different and students are clearly benefiting, then this is the category for you. Remember to focus on a specific aspect of what you do rather than on your college-wide approach to interdisciplinary working.

Tell us:

  1. about a specific innovative interdisciplinary project or initiative which different disciplines are involve in, what makes it different from typical approaches and why you introduced it
  2. why interdisciplinary working was key in achieving your objectives within this innovative project or initiative
  3. how the innovative approach has enabled staff from different disciplines to learn from one another and how staff sharing their learning has helped students
  4. what evidence you have that students have benefited from this innovative interdisciplinary practice, for example in terms of increased independence or capacity for self-determination, improved progress in their learning, or increased access to learning opportunities.

Innovative partnership working

This award will go to the most innovative project or initiative involving partnership working. The project or initiative must involve external partners and have resulted in expanded or improved opportunities for students.

Perhaps you are working with some unusual partners, or you’ve formed a different type of working relationship. It could be that the partners themselves are not unusual (the local authority, an employer or a nearby general FE college) but you’re getting into completely different territory from normal. Maybe, by working in partnership, you’ve been able to introduce something totally new to your college. Perhaps you’re involving partners in something that specialist colleges typically do on their own – or don’t usually do at all.

If there’s something a little bit different about your approach to partnership working, then this is the category for you. Remember to focus on a specific project or initiative and the partner(s) involved rather than on your college-wide approach to partnership working.

Tell us:

  1. about a specific innovative project or initiative, how partnership is central to its success and what makes your approach innovative
  2. about the different contributions of each partner involved in the innovative project or initiative
  3. how you are maintaining the partnership so that your project or initiative is sustainable
  4. what evidence you have to show that your innovative approach to partnership working in this project is having a positive impact on students, for example enabling them to achieve ambitious learning outcomes, develop skills relevant to their post-college ambitions or benefit from new or improved expertise.

This award is sponsored by Innovation Broking.


Curriculum innovation

A man and a woman having a discussion over a file folder

This award will go to the most innovative curriculum project or initiative. The project or initiative could relate to curriculum content, design, or delivery in relation to a specific aspect of the curriculum or to a particular student group.

Perhaps you’ve introduced an exciting new subject or sector to your curriculum. Maybe you’ve thoroughly modernised an aspect of your curriculum so that it is now truly cutting edge. You might have gone about curriculum review and redesign in a particularly creative way, for example through genuine co-creation with learners. Perhaps you’re using inventive resources or pedagogies, involving unexpected people in the design or delivery of your curriculum, or students are learning in unusual settings. Maybe you’ve found new ways to make parts of the curriculum exciting or accessible for particular groups.

If you’ve gone about shaping or delivering your curriculum in a way that is a little bit different, then this is the category for you. Remember to focus on a specific aspect of what you do rather than on your college-wide approach to the curriculum.

Tell us:

  1. about a specific innovative project or initiative, why you have introduced it and what makes your practice different from typical curriculum approaches
  2. how you have involved students in your innovative curriculum project or initiative and how you have ensured that they are enthusiastic about and motivated by it
  3. how your innovative approach is helping to ensure that your curriculum is up-to-date, consistent with best / industry practice or other guidelines, and / or relevant for the intended students
  4. what evidence you have that shows your innovative approach is benefiting students, for example in helping them to access new learning, engage more fully or make improved progress.

Innovative approach to equality, diversity and inclusion

A group of college students standing outside the college. Some are in wheelchairs.

This award will go to the most innovative project or initiative in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion.

While the project or initiative may include staff and other stakeholders, it must involve students. It can relate to the whole organisation or address a particular equality, diversity or inclusion issue, for example in relation to a particular student group, activity within the college, or curriculum area.

Maybe you have addressed an EDI issue not typically prioritised in a specialist college or found an unusual way to address a common issue. Perhaps you have found new ways to empower particular groups of students. Maybe a different way of looking at data has revealed an EDI issue that you’ve gone on to tackle successfully. You might have introduced exciting new training (innovative in its content or its delivery) or worked with an unusual partner to raise awareness. Perhaps students’ opinions on the EDI issues they face have taken you down an unexpected route.

If you are working to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in a way that is a little bit different and you can see it’s working, then this is the category for you. Remember to focus on a specific aspect of your EDI work rather than on your college-wide approach.

Tell us:

  1. about your specific new equality, diversity and / or inclusion project or initiative, why you have introduced it, how students have been involved and what makes it innovative
  2. how the attitudes, behaviours, knowledge and / or understanding of students and staff have changed as a result of this specific innovation
  3. how you will ensure that the impact of your innovative project or initiative is far-reaching and that it continues over time to help you build and sustain an inclusive organisation in which all people are treated fairly and where intersectionality is recognised and diversity celebrated
  4. what evidence you have that your innovative equality, diversity and / or inclusion project or initiative has made a positive difference for the target group and the wider college.

If you have any further questions not covered here, please check our frequently asked questions and guidance page.