Angling your way to university

Pioneering qualifications for schools and centres

Youngsters will soon be able to earn nationally recognised qualifications through pioneering new angling programmes launching across the UK.

The Countryside Alliance Foundation has unveiled the country’s first Ofqual-regulated “Angling and Countryside” qualifications, available to schools and centres from autumn 2026 following pilot schemes beginning this year. Four schools have already signed up.

The qualifications range from Level 1 to Level 3, equivalent to GCSE, BTEC and A-Level frameworks. Students completing Level 3 will earn UCAS points, formally recognising angling as a route into higher education.

Skills, focus and opportunity for young people

Charles Jardine, director of the Fishing for Schools programme delivering the courses, said they would help “people that always were thought of as not being able to highly achieve” to succeed, providing “practical, transferable skills that will pave the way for a career in angling – a huge global industry”.

Andrew Flitcroft, T&S managing editor, hailed the development as “a marvellous and exciting time for children and budding anglers”, calling access to qualifications recognised by higher education authorities “a real breakthrough”.

Reflecting on his own schooldays in a Norfolk coarse fishing club, he said: “I was far from academic, but this group of boys gave me focus, a sense of teamwork, and recognition. It was something I could excel at and through which I could feel a sense of achievement.”

He expressed hope that the work by Mr Jardine and the foundation marks “the start of a new phase of getting more youngsters outdoors, by the water, appreciating the countryside, while getting recognition for it. Bravo!”