Two former education secretaries and two former skills ministers were booted out of parliament in yesterday’s general election.
The Liberal Democrats defeated Gillian Keegan in her Chichester constituency by 12,146 votes, overturning a 21,000 majority.
Michelle Donelan, who famously served less than two days as education secretary, was also ousted by the Lib Dems.
Luke Hall and Andrea Jenkyns both served brief stints in the skills minister post under various prime ministers in the last few years.
Jenkyns, best known for raising her middle finger at protesters outside Downing Street on the day she was appointed at DfE, was defeated by Labour in her Leeds South West and Morley constituency.
Hall, who was only made skills minister in March this year, was defeated by the Liberal Democrats in his Thornbury and Yate constituency, overturning a 12,369 majority.
Labour’s Bridget Phillipson was the first MP to be elected last night. She does not officially become the education secretary until appointed by the prime minister, expected later today.
At the declaration in her Houghton and Sunderland South constituency, Phillipson said a Labour government would be “determined to build a better Britain where background is no barrier, no matter who your parents are or where you were born.”
Shadow skills minister Seema Malhotra and Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Munira Wilson were both re-elected.
Conservative Peter Aldous, who championed the sector as chair of the all party parliamentary group (APPG) for further education and lifelong learning, lost to Labour.
And Jonathan Gullis, co-chair of the APPG on apprenticeships, lost to Labour in Stoke-on-Trent North.
Keir Starmer will enter Downing Street later today where he is expected to appoint his first cabinet as prime minister.
The Labour Party won a landslide victory in yesterday’s general election with 412 seats in total and a 174 seat majority.
Speaking this morning, Sir Keir Starmer said: “We did it. Change begins now. A changed Labour party, ready to serve our country, ready to restore Britain to the service of working people.”
Rishi Sunak conceded defeat in the early hours. At his constituency election count, Sunak said: “The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight.. and I take responsibility for the loss.”
Among those losing their seats was former education secretary Gillian Keegan who came second to the Liberal Democrats in her Chichester constituency. (see page 7).
The Conservatives now cross the floor to the opposition benches with significantly reduced numbers. The Lib Dems however bolstered their seats on the opposition benches having ousted Keegan, skills minister Luke Hall and SEND minister David Johnston.
Bridget Phillipson is widely expected to be confirmed as secretary of state for education later today, but it is not yet clear who will emerge as her junior ministers.
With Phillipson at the helm of the Department for Education, junior appointments are expected over the weekend.
It was also unclear whether Seema Malhotra, who had shadowed the skills brief since September, would take the role in government.
Malhotra was re-elected in the safe Labour constituency of Feltham and Heston overnight. But, unlike Phillipson, Malhotra has not been visibly campaigning on Labour’s FE and skills policies.
Speaking at a rally this morning, Starmer said: “We did it. Change begins now. A changed Labour party, ready to serve our country, ready to restore Britain to the service of working people.”
He vowed to “return politics to public service” and “show it can be a force for good”.
“We have the chance to repair our public services because we changed the party… I don’t promise you it will be easy. Changing a country is not like flicking a switch, its hard work, patient work, determined work.
“And we will have to get moving immediately. But even when the going gets tough, and it will, remember tonight and always what this is all about.”
He talked of the “comfort” his parents took from believing that “Britain would always be better for their children… a hope that working class families like mine could build their families around.
“It is a hope that might not burn brightly at the moment, but we have earned the mandate to relight the fire. That is the purpose of this party and of this government.
“Today we start the next chapter. A mission of national renewal to start to rebuild our country.”
State school cabinet
Analysis by social mobility charity the Sutton Trust found 84 per cent of Labour’s current shadow team attended a state comprehensive school, while 6 per cent went to a grammar school. Just one in 10 were privately educated.
Although Starmer may shuffle some of his top team following his election victory, the proportion of state-educated ministers suggests a sea-change from previous Conservative and even Labour administrations.
FE Week found three cabinet ministers who were educated at an FE college.
Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, got a level 2 in social care and took courses in counselling and British Sign Language at Stockton College.
Yvette Cooper, vying to become home secretary today, did her A Levels at Alton College.
And business secretary Jonathan Raynolds studied at City of Sunderland College.
While shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth studied at Bury College, he lost his Leicester South seat to an independent last night.
New MPs will arrive in Westminster on Tuesday where they will elect a speaker and begin to be sworn in.
Newly appointed ministers will begin preparations for the King’s Speech which will take place the following week on Wednesday, July 17.
Legislation announced in the King’s Speech could include a bill to replace the current apprenticeship levy with a skills and growth levy.
Skills England, a new “cross-government taskforce”, will decide what non-apprenticeship qualifications employers can spend their levy funds on.
New ministers will face questions in parliament for the first time on Tuesday, July 23, and Starmer’s first PMQs as prime minister will happen a day later.
The incoming Labour government has been pressed to make quick decisions on level 3 qualification reforms, with college leaders demanding an urgent pause on removal of funding for swathes of qualifications. Colleges also want clarity on the future of T Levels and the Advanced British Standard.
FE Week understands officials are already being mobilised from the Department for Education’s existing arms-length bodies to staff Skills England from as early as next week.
Skills England will also be responsible for helping the new government reduce reliance on foreign workers in key sectors such as construction, health and social care.
And it will be the gatekeeper for a ‘technical excellence colleges’ bidding round in the future.
Former prime minister Rishi Sunak will formally resign at Buckingham Palace later today. Conventionally, leaders of political parties that lose their election campaigns stand down shortly afterwards. Whoever takes over will need to rapidly form a shadow cabinet to replace the likes of Keegan.
Attention will quickly turn to Rachel Reeves’ first Budget and spending review as Britain’s first women chancellor.
Labour was accused of participating in “a conspiracy of silence” during the election campaign over billions of pounds of cuts to unprotected public services including further education.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies highlighted further education as a sector vulnerable to cuts alongside courts, prisons and local government.
Education secretary Gillian Keegan has lost her seat in Parliament.
The Liberal Democrats defeated the Conservative politician in Chichester with 25,540 votes to Keegan’s 13,368.
Keegan said it was “not the outcome we wanted, but clearly, the people have spoken across the country and here in Chichester”.
It comes amid a disastrous night for the Tories, who the exit poll predicts will win just 131 seats, while Labour is predicted to take 410 in a landslide.
Keegan has served as education secretary since October 2022, when she was appointed to the role by prime minister Rishi Sunak. She was the tenth Conservative to hold the role since 2010, and the sixth since the last election in 2019.
Before that Keegan held the apprenticeships and skills brief as a junior minister at the Department for Education from February 2020 to September 2021.
She is among several senior Conservatives who have lost their seats, including House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, justice secretary Alex Chalk and defence secretary Grant Shapps.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
“The British people have chosen change,” Bridget Phillipson has declared, after the exit poll predicted a Labour election landslide.
The shadow education secretary’s Houghton and Sunderland South seat was the first to declare its result after today’s election. She won comfortably with over 18,000 votes, but Reform UK beat the Conservatives into third place with more than 11,000.
A government powered by hope. By the belief that tomorrow could not just be different from today, but better
The national exit poll – commissioned by the major broadcasters – has estimated Sir Keir Starmer’s party has won a 170-seat majority.
If it is borne out in the formal results, that would leave Labour with 410 seats, the Conservatives with 131, the Liberal Democrats with 61, Reform with 13 and the Greens with two.
In her victory speech in the north east, Phillipson said “if the exit poll this evening is again a guide to the results across our country as it so often is, then after 14 years the British people have chosen change.
“They have chosen Labour and they have chosen the leadership of Keir Starmer. Today our country, with its proud history, has chosen a brighter future. The British people have decided that they believe, as Labour believes, that our best days lie ahead of us.
“Hope and unity, not decline and division. Stability over chaos. A government powered by hope. By the belief that tomorrow could not just be different from today, but better. A government of service.
“A government with purpose – above all to change our society for good. A government determined to build a Britain where background is no barrier, no matter who your parents are or where you were born.
“Determined to tear down the barriers to opportunity, which hold back too many of our children. That is Labour’s purpose.”
The person purporting to be Adam Philip showed me “evidence” the CSCS card he was selling would evade anti-fraud smart card checker machines (designed to stop fraudsters like him), thereby getting me access to work on construction sites.
Severe skills shortages across the construction sector, arguably made worse by recent qualifications reforms, have sparked a flourishing trade in fake CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) cards. FE Week has uncovered evidence of them being sold to people without the necessary training to do building work – putting lives at risk.
We found fake CSCS cards being sold across social media networks. And in some cases, gangs have infiltrated training centres to sell cards to people who aren’t given the necessary health and safety training.
For almost 30 years CSCS cards have acted as golden tickets to work on building sites.
Getting a genuine card through official routes only costs £36. But in most cases, it requires proof that the applicant has the relevant building trade qualifications and has taken a health and safety course at a registered centre.
CSCS, the company running the scheme for the industry, explained that “this takes time and incurs costs. Fraudsters know this and tempt people to cut corners by offering a fake card”.
A post on Facebook for CSCS cards
Soaring vacancies
The UK construction industry has faced acute skills shortages since Brexit.
The workforce had 39,000 vacancies between March and May this year, compared to 23,000 during the same period in 2016. More than 251,500 extra construction workers are needed over the next five years, says the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), the skills body for the industry. And it said for almost a third of construction employers, finding “suitable skilled staff remains their key challenge, particularly with more older workers retiring and not being replaced”.
Philip is one of at least 10 sellers FE Week discovered flogging fake CSCS cards via the communications app Telegram.
Much of this activity is advanced fee fraud, where criminals purport to be selling CSCS cards online with “no exams needed”. In most cases, the cards never arrive in the post as promised. But some do.
Last month, GQA Qualifications Ltd posted a warning that “over the past few months we’ve had increased reports of fake CSCS cards being used on construction sites throughout the country”.
In 2023, 30 people were arrested for criminal offences related to the CITB related to the illicit facilitation, administration or undertaking of health and safety and environment (HS&E) tests – compared to just seven in 2019. Eight investigations are currently with the Crown Prosecution Service.
A level 3 electrical skills certificate that was being sold online
Training centre criminality
GQA Qualifications warned that as well as advanced fee fraud, “qualification fraud” is taking place whereby “organised criminals assist candidates to obtain a genuine qualification”, and a “centre’s integrity becomes compromised”.
In some cases of malpractice, examiners pass candidates who do not meet required standards and “deliberately falsify records to claim certificates”.
The CITB said 20 centres offering HS&E tests had been investigated for criminality since 2020, of which 12 had accreditation terminated and eight were reinstated with action plans.
In the same period, 10,000 HS&E tests were revoked. The CITB offered everyone awarded the cards the opportunity to retake the test, but take-up was low.
In 2022, Callum Ingram, 28, from Manchester, and Stephen McWhirk, 62, of Macclesfield, Cheshire, were sentenced to 28 months each for conspiring to commit fraud and fraud by false representation after falsifying CITB HS&E tests. The pair, who made £37,700 from the operation, were test centre administrators at the accredited DWM Plant Ltd in Cheshire.
Mostly foreign nationals – some of whom were found to speak no English – were assisted with their tests, with some candidates taking their tests in only four to five minutes by means of assistance via a remote mouse.
An typical ad on social media for skills certificates and CSCS cards with “no exam”
Scammers working online
FE Week has seen dozens of ads across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X, as well as Telegram, purporting to sell CSCS cards with “no exams” needed. CSCS itself does not operate on these social media platforms.
Some people also sell driving licences, passports and a wide range of NVQ certificates. For example, “Standard Chatered Service UK driver’s lisence [sic]”, which set up an account (@ThomasIssa999) on X in May and claims to be based in Manchester, offers “real passports” among other forms of ID, boldly stating that: “no physical participation [is] needed” to obtain them. Its Telegram account has around 500 subscribers.
In an attempt to prove he could be trusted, Philip sent me reviews from customers thanking him – which revealed he also sells diazepam. He said he would send me a level-one green labourer CSCS card and licence for £160 within four days, with a £100 deposit paid upfront and the rest paid upon delivery.
Mark Allison’s image, being used online without his permission to sell JIB gold cards
Catherine Storer, a construction training specialist at Essential Site Skills (ESS), believes there has been “an explosion in the number of fraudulent profiles across social media”.
She claimed that scammers “even provide copies of ‘example certificates’ that are evidently photoshopped with awarding body logos and providers’ logos.”
Mark Allison, an established electrician based in East Riding, was alarmed to find his image being used on online adverts for CSCS JIB gold cards, which normally require the equivalent of a level 3 NVQ in an electrotechnical field.
He describes this as “fraudulent attempts to rip vulnerable and desperate people off” and is concerned that “fake cards are commonplace” in the workplace now.
Health and safety consultant Charlene Meek said on LinkedIn that there are “far too many Facebook groups” offering CSCS cards and training certificates without practical training or exams.
“There are THOUSANDS of members on these groups, all in our industry, all asking for cards… you cannot simply take these cards at face value,” she warned. “I’ve checked many of these cards and found many are fake.”
There is also an illicit trade in CSCS cards going on offline.
A senior source from one of the largest property services contractors in the UK told FE Week that the sale of fake cards tends to be through “word of mouth” rather than online. They had persuaded a seller of such cards to stop but this person was buying them from a larger supplier who is still understood to be operating in Liverpool.
Who is applying for fakes?
Bricklayers, roofers and retrofitters are all on the government’s UK immigration salary list of jobs where migrants can be used to plug workforce shortages. But some of the foreigners working in the construction industry lack the qualifications for the job, and the English language skills needed to get them.
In the commercial heart of Birmingham, Michael and Peter from Poland are sat eating sandwiches on their lunchbreak from a job fitting windows at a building site. Although they have level-two qualifications themselves, they know other foreign construction workers who “don’t speak English, buying fake CSCS cards”, said Michael.
Peter said that “on most” construction sites now, he meets “people from Moldovia” who it is “very hard to communicate with” because of the language barrier.
Michael said the purchase of fake CSCS cards by Moldovans was “not a problem, because these guys are really good workers and are working safely – the barrier is the language.”
Polish window fitters Michael and Peter
Challenge to stop the gangs
While some scamming operations have been shut down, it can take authorities a long time to take action.
The website of an outfit calling itself Construction Card Scheme Online UK, offering industry skills cards without tests via a WhatsApp number, was able to operate for over a year after CSCS set its lawyers on them.
CSCS’s investigations showed those responsible were taking payments but not delivering health and safety tests, training or qualifications.
CSCS said its fraud investigation team “constantly monitor and take action to shut such operations down”.
CSCS cards on sale on website taken down earlier this summer
Chipping away at fakes
From April, CSCS replaced its card-verification platform with a new ‘Smart Check’ scheme, claiming its software would flag fake or counterfeit cards.
In the two months since, on average 2.2 million scans a month have been made under the new system, which CSCS described as “very encouraging”. But it admitted that “more work” was required to “fully integrate” the platform across the industry.
“Only with regular electronic checking of cards (using CSCS Smart Check) at site gates and collaboration between the sector and law enforcement will we be able to get ahead of the fraudsters,” it said.
Allison believes electronic card checking “does weed [the fake cards] out”. But he said the “trouble is site agents/managers don’t check often enough and take the cards at face value”. The Smart Check system reads a CSCS card’s microchip, which stores the cardholder’s identity, qualifications and training records information.
Chartered electrical engineer Gary Alder said the microchipped cards were “the best way” of stopping fakes.
He added that clues a card is fake include a name printed in the wrong format or an expiry date “too far in the future”.
David Wilkins Vice principal Bedford College
Pleas for better training
Part of the card fraud problem lies in not enough young people being trained up to join the industry.
Labour’s general election manifesto singled out the construction and social care sectors for “training plans” to reduce a “long-term reliance” on overseas workers.
“The days of a sector languishing endlessly on immigration shortage lists with no action to train up workers will come to an end,” the party claimed.
But the manifesto was silent on Labour’s approach to level 2 and 3 qualifications.
The new T Level construction courses which were launched in 2021-22 have not proven popular. In 2022-23, only 75 people started the onsite construction course, of whom 67 specialised in carpentry and joinery and only eight took bricklaying.
Another problem is that those undergoing a construction-related qualification, which requires the completion of a minimum 30-day work placement, such as T Levels, should apply for the Industry Placement CSCS card. Challenges were raised to FE Week around getting this card.
Bedford College is in its third year of offering the design, surveying and planning T Level. Its vice principal David Wilkins said only a dozen people a year had signed up for it, despite the college “really pushing” the course.
Construction site in Birmingham
The college has had only four completions of the onsite construction and building services engineering T Level specialisms, which Wilkins said was because learners “know and we know the route to that industry is an apprenticeship. So they’re reluctant to pick up high level-three study, when if they want to be a bricklayer, they don’t need to do that level of work”.
Graham Hasting-Evans, chief executive of training provider NOCN and president of the British Association of Construction Heads, said that it was therefore “crucial” that level 2 qualifications “remain funded, or we will see even more acute pressures facing the construction industry which could lead to a further rise in people seeking to join the sector through unofficial routes, or coming in as unskilled labourers”.
Meanwhile, after trying to persuade me to send cash for a CSCS card via crypto currencies, Philip eventually assured me that the card was registered on the CSCS card checker, and sent a screenshot of a card as “proof”.
However, at the time of writing, I am still waiting for my card to arrive – and to hear from Philip again.
This story has been updated to clarify that a CSCS card for T Level industry placement students is available but that challenges were raised to FE Week around getting them.
Higher technical qualifications “should be a strong contender” for funding from Labour’s expanded skills and growth levy, say policy and research experts at Public First.
Modelling by the consultancy firm, shared exclusively with FE Week, shows pushing employers to boost investment in level 4 and 5 courses through the levy could generate up to £12.3 billion in lifetime earnings.
Labour has pledged to replace the existing apprenticeship levy with a “growth and skills levy” that would allow businesses to spend up to 50 per cent of their contributions on a wider range of training qualifications.
The party’s proposed new body, Skills England, will be tasked with creating a list of approved qualifications on which businesses can flexibly spend their levy money.
Public First’s modelling, based on existing wage return research, set out to explore the impact of Labour’s levy changes.
It found higher technical qualifications (HTQs) are already available in the subjects Labour has said it will prioritise, align to occupational standards set by employers and can be taken flexibly, including by those in work, as they are “well suited” to a modular approach.
Public First also said previous government-commissioned reviews, including the 2018 Augar review of post-18 education, highlighted level 4 and 5 provision as a “missing middle” that could help meet demand for technical skills and boost productivity.
The consultancy firm’s modelling worked by breaking down spend of the apprenticeship levy by levy payers for the financial year 2021-22. Of the total DfE apprenticeship budget for that year of just over £2.4 billion, just under £1.6 billion was spent by levy payers on apprenticeships, with just over £800 million then recycled to non-levy payers.
Assuming employer spending behaviour does not change under the new growth and skills levy, Public First’s model finds “substantial benefits” from using the flexible levy portion to fund greater uptake of HTQs, with a benefit-cost ratio of 15:1.
It said if all £800 million of the levy not spent by levy payers was spent on HTQs, the “total lifetime economic return of such newly trained individuals could reach £12.3 billion”.
Under a more realistic scenario that Labour uses, a phased approach with 30 per cent of the flexible levy directed to HTQs “could result in 58,000 new qualifications and £7.8 billion in lifetime economic gains”, according to Public First.
This modelling assumes Labour would backfill the apprenticeship budget for non-levy payers, to ensure that spending on non-apprenticeship qualifications does not displace the overall number of apprenticeship starts.
Public First director Mike Crowhurst said: “Level 4 and 5 have long been the ‘missing middle’ in our skills system. Encouraging employers to use levy funds for these qualifications could stimulate demand for them and produce significant wage gains for workers – helping to deliver Labour’s goals on economic growth.”
There are around 163 HTQs currently approved for delivery by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.
The government’s apprenticeships quango has lost 30 staff after being ordered to find savings by the Department for Education.
Headcount at the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has reduced to 282 following a voluntary exit scheme launched this year.
One of the big-name departures is second-in-command Rob Nitsch, IfATE’s current delivery director and a former chief operating officer. He stepped down to take over as chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies next month.
IfATE did not share information about which other departments had lost staff or how much their exits would save the organisation.
Staff costs at the quango ballooned from £14.4 million in 2020-21 to £21.5 million in 2022-23 as additional responsibilities were handed to the institute through the Skills and Post-16 Education Act.
In that period the institute’s hiring spree led to its average full-time equivalent staff figure growing from 200 to over 300.
FE Week understands the new Labour government is gearing up for further changes to IfATE’s workforce as it embarks on its plan for a new body called Skills England to oversee its skills strategy. Restructures could come as soon as next week.
READ MORE: Rob Nitsch moves to FAB
Launched in 2017 to spearhead the government’s apprenticeship reforms, IfATE, then known as the Institute for Apprenticeships, has seen its responsibilities and workforce expand in the past seven years.
“Technical Education” was added to the quango’s name and brief in 2019 as the authority also took over the content of T Levels and procurement for awarding organisations.
The institute had around 80 full-time staff in its first year of operation.
IfATE was handed new powers as set out in the 2021 FE white paper and skills bill, such as defining and approving new categories of technical qualifications as well as reviewing those already on offer and withdrawing their approval where they were no longer performing as expected.
There are certain experiences so universal among a group that their naming is simple.
In teaching, there’s The Dream. This dream usually goes along the lines of apprehension, fear and the unmasking of incompetence.
For me, the Dream tends to involve something like being brought into a year 9 class halfway through a lesson and halfway through the year. (I haven’t taught Year 9 for over 25 years.) I know none of the students’ names. They are running riot, and without their names I can’t control them. I am supposed to be teaching them Physics. Except I don’t know a thing about it.
It is, quite literally, a nightmare. But that is just the universal teacher experience of The Dream.
There is also The Slump, which is no doubt equally familiar to everyone in education.
You are running on full throttle, working 50- to 60-hour weeks and putting things off until summer comes. You pass the point of normal tiredness. You’re using up reserves. Then you’re running on empty.
Thankfully the holidays arrive. At first, it’s a weekend like any other. You don’t even notice. You spend some time with the kids, you do some work. Like any other weekend. Then, on Monday morning, you get up later than normal (after waking bang-on as normal), and something happens.
Maybe you carry on with your work, trying to get it done at the start of the break so you can relax later. And you make the fateful decision to take today off. A reward. You clean the house. You go into town for lunch.
And then out jumps The Slump to club you about the back of the head.
The Slump is that moment in a break when you feel yourself jolt as you come off the escalator. Your mood drops. Your energy is gone. You ponder the meaning of existence. You wonder how much longer you can go on in life like this. You crash.
The technical term for it is leisure sickness
That’s The Slump. Then all those things you so looked forward to doing don’t really gleam like you thought they would. You don’t relax over that coffee as much as you thought you would. Because you’re living in the shadow of the Slump.
The thing is, the Slump doesn’t last. It’s fleeting and it’s normal. So let yourself slump. But then get yourself back up again. There’s a break there waiting, a well-earned pause in proceedings that is not to be wasted.
The technical term for The Slump is leisure sickness. It is common and seems to hinge around the movement from work to non-work. It may be a reaction to a drop in the stress hormones which have kept us going and, ironically, kept us healthy. The safe moment to slump comes and our bodies make the most of it.
The presence of The Slump in your life should come as no surprise if you are a teacher, but it should come as a warning.
I have learned a thing or two over my years of teaching others. I have found that taking work home was a false economy, since that work took longer to do at home than it did at work.
When my kids were younger, I had no choice about timings: I had to drop them at school or pick them up afterwards. However, as they have grown I have tried to keep my work at work, even if that means going in earlier or coming home later.
When I have managed this, The Slump has not reared its head but slumbered on, undisturbed.
So my advice is simple. Trace the shape of your slump. Mark out its boundaries. Notice when it appears, time how long it lasts, see when it has passed. And try to ease yourself into the break.
Really, approaching a holiday as a race to the line is always going to be a disaster. That is like driving into a corner at full speed; you will only career off the road. Slow into the break. Keep the work at work as far as you can.
And when you are home, work can then stay in its place.
Properly resourced, colleges can dramatically improve the outlook for young people who are not enjoying and often not attending more traditional forms of 14-16 education. A new government must consider them as part of the solution to some of the challenges facing schools and the economy.
Leeds City College’s 14+ Academies offer a different environment and level of support for young people to complete valuable GCSE qualifications while also gaining a vocational element to their studies. The different environment, culture and level of support on offer has proven particularly effective in engaging young people disenfranchised by a more traditional approach to 14-16 education.
And demand for this provision far outstrips supply. Each year, almost 2,000 enquiries compete for the 110 places we can offer. What might the number be nationally?
These high levels of demand are indicative of how traditional 14-16 education is failing to effectively meet the needs of all learners. Our 14+ learners often come from challenging backgrounds, with many having experienced mental health issues, bullying or special educational needs. Parents and carers regularly tell us our 14+ Academies provide an invaluable ‘lifeline’ to children.
Although currently underutilised, further education colleges sit in a unique position to provide more tailored and engaging support to learners whose needs are not being met. They can also support traditional 14-16 education settings by taking on provision that they would otherwise struggle to offer.
Often, the failure of traditional schooling to cater for diverse learner circumstances and needs further disenfranchises those young people. This leads to falling levels of attendance as they progress to increasingly important years of their education. This process can be seriously detrimental.
As well as options to take core GCSE subjects, Leeds City College’s 14+ Academies students also have access to specialist English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) or P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) courses.
2,000 enquiries compete for the 110 places we can offer
Colleges can also offer practical, technical forms of education that are out of reach for traditional 14-16 settings. Through our 14+ Academies, we know that teaching technical skills that young people can see will benefit them in the world of work motivates and empowers students to succeed in subjects that would otherwise not have interested them, like English and maths.
Sometimes, it is the positive experience they encounter when pursuing a technical subject that encourages them into more academic forms of education. Other times, it can be the realisation that maths and English can be a requirement to pursue the technical option they have enjoyed at a higher level.
This impact is so great, in fact, that we frequently witness 14+ Academies students go on to pursue A levels that they would have thought completely out of reach beforehand.
There is general consensus that our education system should better encourage uptake of technical subjects. Likewise, the economic case for more young people to pursue technical subjects to tackle shortages in critical roles across the economy is well understood.
Expanding college-based 14-16 provision could play a significant role in widening the bridge young people cross when travelling from academic to technical education. This could increase the overall number of post-16 students taking up vocational forms of study – and succeeding first time in their English and maths GCSEs.
There is another facet of the economic argument for college-based provision of 14-16 education too. If our 14+ students were not attending the Academies, most would be in Alternative Provision or Pupil Referral Units. Such settings cost taxpayers around twice as much per student as our 14+ Academies and secure far poorer outcomes in the process.
The Association of Colleges is currently working with IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, on a Nuffield-funded research project exploring the offer to and experience of 14 to 16-year-olds in colleges, and what enables them to achieve their full potential and flourish.
Whatever the colour of the incoming government, a review of the funding behind colleges’ capacity to deliver this type of provision could prove incredibly valuable. So too would establishing local pilots to gather detailed data on their impact.
If we are serious about finding ways to improve outcomes for young people whose needs are not met by mainstream school environments, then this is a great place to start.
