England Football Learning redesigns digital learning model at national scale

England Football Learning, the education division of The Football Association, has introduced a new digital learning platform to help shift its support for coaches, referees, medics and volunteers to more modular and role-specific learning throughout English football.

The organisation reports that 360,000 unique learners used its previous learning management system in the past 12 months, underlining the scale and complexity of delivering education to across the sport.

The newly introduced Learning Experience Platform provides a more tailored experience based on learners’ roles within the game. It gives access to shorter, bite-sized resources and formal qualifications, allowing individuals to engage in shorter sessions and return later if required.

The design isinfluenced by the realities of a largely volunteer-driven workforce. Many learners balance employment, family commitments and coaching responsibilities, which has led to a stronger emphasis on flexibility, relevance and practical application.

Formal qualifications have been restructured into smaller modules so that learners can progress in shorter increments instead of completing longer, linear programmes in a single sitting. The organisation says there are early indications of increased engagement since the platform launched late last year.

The platform is powered by Docebo.

A volunteer coach said: ‘Volunteering as a coach means my time is limited. The new platform lets me complete small sections of a course when it suits me rather than blocking out a full day.’

For L&D leaders, the move highlights the challenge of supporting learning at scale in dispersed and time-constrained workforces. Professional bodies and membership organisations face similar pressures to balance standards, safeguarding requirements and accessibility and make learning manageable for people operating outside traditional employment structures.

England Football Learning says the longer-term aim is to evolve the platform towards greater personalisation, aligning learning more closely with the tasks and responsibilities individuals perform within the game.