The RSA has unveiled the updated RSA Badge Standard, a refined framework designed to improve the recognition and trustworthiness of digital badges across various learning environments.
The updated standard offers a clear structure for validating non-accredited learning achievements, ensuring they are meaningful and valuable to learners, educators and employers alike.
Digital badges are online markers of achievement that allow individuals to showcase their skills in a smart, simple, and visual way- across education, employment, and beyond.
The RSA’s updated standard is freely available and guides employers and learners alike. They aim to standardise how digital badges are presented and awarded in an online landscape which has grown rapidly over the past decade, although without overarching guidelines to ensure consistency.
The standards build on the ongoing work of the RSA and Ufi VocTech Trust’s Digital Badging Commission, established in May of last year to transform how learning and skills development are recognised and rewarded across the country.
Set to publish its final findings and recommendations in autumn, the Commission is working towards a trusted, coordinated approach to digital badges, which will help individuals better demonstrate their capabilities while allowing employers to better identify talent.
The updated standards are informed by extensive research and stakeholder engagement. They are designed to meet the evolving needs of badge issuers, employers, and learners over the coming years.
Dr Patrina Law, Lifelong Learning Lead at the RSA, said:
“In a world where learning is lifelong, flexible, and increasingly taking place outside the classroom, the way we recognise skills must keep pace. The updated RSA Badge Standard reflects this shift- offering a meaningful, inclusive, and consistent way to recognise skills and capabilities wherever they’re gained.”
Rebecca Garrod-Waters, CEO of Ufi VochTech, added:
“As the number of digital badges have rapidly expanded in variety and relevance across all parts of the skills system, it is clear that there remains a strong demand for the RSA’s Digital Badging Standard. At Ufi, we are proud to have supported the RSA’s work in digital badging over the last eight years, in addition to supporting the work of the Digital Badging Commission. We are delighted to see the RSA standard revisited alongside the Commission’s work to improve the quality, understanding and adoption of digital badges across the UK.”
What’s new in the 2025 RSA Badge Standard?
The updated standard introduces five clearly defined badge levels:
These levels reflect different stages of learning and contribution, allowing individuals to demonstrate not only subject knowledge but also real-world application, teamwork, and strategic impact. Examples of use are provided to guide those new to assigning the layers of the Standard to their digital badges.
This refreshed structure is designed to align with the needs of both employers and learning providers, helping learners progress with clarity and confidence.
We are the RSA, the royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce. We are a social impact charity that has been at the forefront of social change for 270 years. Through our Design for Life mission, we turn world-leading ideas into world-changing actions. We’re committed to a world where everyone can fulfil their potential and contribute to more resilient, rebalanced, and regenerative futures. Central to all our work is our global network of over 30,000 Fellows, who work collectively to enable people, places and the planet to flourish in harmony.
We invite you to be part of this mission by joining our Fellowship community. Together, we’ll unite people and ideas in collective action to unlock opportunities and regenerate our world.
Ufi VocTech Trust is a UK-based grant funder and investor supporting the adoption and deployment of technology to support adult vocational skills. We champion the power of technology to improve skills for work and deliver better outcomes for all.
Our vision is of a world where vocational skills are celebrated and valued by all and where the development of those skills is made possible by the best technology solutions. To date, we have supported the development of over 230 organisations with more than £37m of funding.
Find out more at ufi.co.uk
In a global first, Ufi VocTech Trust and the RSA launched the Digital Badging Commission in May 2024. Bringing together leading experts from across higher and further education, commerce and technology, the Commission aims to broaden the understanding, development and adoption of digital badges by accrediting organisations and employers and transform skills and qualifications in the UK.
Find out more at badgingcommission.org
