City & Guilds CEO Kirstie Donnelly delivers powerful message at AELP Conference

The AELP conference theme, ‘Change is Coming – The Future is Skills’, set the stage for a thought-provoking keynote from City & Guilds CEO Kirstie Donnelly.

13 November 2025

Her speech highlighted the urgent need for the skills sector to lead, not wait for government policy. She emphasised that disruption is already reshaping work, learning, and technology, driven by AI and globalisation. Kirstie called for collaboration across providers, employers, and the sector to create a modern, agile skills system that meets learners where they are.
Now more than ever with the publication of the Post 16 Education and Skills White Paper and the Curriculum and Assessment Review the skills agenda is getting the attention it deserves as a key driver of growth and opportunity.

Key points of the speech included:

City & Guilds’ bold move to join forces with PeopleCert, securing investment and innovation to thrive in the AI-driven Fourth Industrial Revolution – please see our website for more details.
A vision for lifelong learning that fuels employability and productivity, beyond the limitations of current policy.
The need for modular, adaptive, and personalised learning, supported by AI, to keep pace with rapid change.
A rallying cry for the sector to stop waiting for answers from government and start building the future of skills collectively.

Kirstie’s message was clear: the sector faces a global skills emergency, but also a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead transformation. Now more than ever we need to take the lead and set the skills agenda, we know that skills change lives and its vital that as a sector we come together to achieve that.

It was a fantastic event and full of energy, ideas, brought together by a clear commitment to shaping the future of skills.