Latest news from FE Week

First college hit with Ofsted safeguarding ‘not met’ judgment faces intervention

TEC Partnership has become the first college to fail safeguarding under Ofsted’s new inspection framework – triggering government intervention.

The college group’s report, published today following an inspection in May, found that leaders had failed to establish an effective safeguarding culture and had not acted quickly enough to protect some learners from harm.

Inspectors criticised leaders’ oversight and record-keeping of learners’ attendance, including for the group’s 14 to 16 academy at its Grimsby campus, particularly where there were known safeguarding concerns and for those with “complex home lives”.

TEC Partnership leaders “do not ensure learners’ safety and wellbeing by supporting them to return to the academy”, they do not liaise sufficiently well with parents, and nor do they accurately fulfil their statutory duties for reporting on 14 to 16-year-old learners to stakeholders such as the local authority.

Inspectors found that qualified safeguarding staff were in place but that leaders had failed to create a culture in which all staff were sufficiently vigilant about risks affecting vulnerable learners.

A “few” learners also do not have a “sufficiently well-developed knowledge of the risks posed by radicalisation and extremism”, Ofsted added.

Department for Education policy states that it will place a college into intervention where safeguarding is judged ‘not met’.

A TEC Partnership spokesperson confirmed that the college has engaged in discussions with the FE Commissioner following Ofsted’s findings.

The spokesperson said: “Our outcome for safeguarding was not as expected due to a specific issue identified within a small area of our wider offer – specifically within our 14 to 16 provision and a small cohort of 16 to 18 learners at one of our sites.

“We have addressed the specific issue raised by the inspectors. Importantly, no learners were ever at risk, as the matter was strictly procedural. Immediate remedial actions have been taken to ensure all processes, without exception, meet the rigorous standards expected across every part of our provision.

“Our commitment to maintaining a safe, supportive, and high-quality environment for all our learners remains absolute. The core delivery, governance, and day-to-day safeguarding across our provision continue to operate with full integrity and rigour.”

The DfE was approached for comment.

‘We can improve’

TEC Partnership is a large college group that operates mainly across East Riding of Yorkshire and Hull, Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire.

It teaches more than 9,500 students across campuses in Grimsby, Scarborough, Beverley, Bridlington, Hull and Skegness.

The college received nine ‘expected standard’ judgments, including for local skills needs and inclusion, as well as six ‘needs attention’ ratings, including for leadership and governance, young learner achievement and participation, apprenticeship achievement and provision for learners with high needs.

Ofsted praised the quality of teaching, learning, and support provided to adult and younger learners, highlighting their knowledge and skills development as well as high rates of positive destinations.

The report was also positive about the group’s apprenticeship curriculum that responds effectively to local and regional needs.

Inspectors noted that learners and apprentices learn in a “generally inclusive college” where most are supported to overcome their barriers to learning.

Ofsted acknowledged that the college group has appointed campus principals to “ensure local leadership, oversight and accountability”. However, their actions have not led to consistent or sustained improvement in relation to achievement, retention or attendance, according to the report.

A TEC Partnership spokesperson said: “Our recent Ofsted inspection highlighted numerous strengths across our organisation. Inspectors commended the strong relevance of our curriculum, our direct contribution to meeting local and regional skills needs, and the high level of support provided to our learners and apprentices.

“The report also praised our ongoing investment in industry-standard facilities and recognised the significant progress made since our last inspection, including effective improvements to support staff.

“The report also identified areas where we can improve further. We welcome this feedback and are already implementing targeted actions to address these priorities across our organisation.”

Hull council education arm fails Ofsted safeguarding standards

Hull City Council’s education arm has failed to meet Ofsted’s safeguarding standards after inspectors found leaders had not responded effectively to “potentially serious” issues posing risks to learners.

Hull Training and Adult Education (HTAE), which teaches almost 300 young people aged 16 to 18 and more than 900 adults, today became the first local authority-run provider to receive a ‘not met’ safeguarding judgment since Ofsted introduced its new report card approach in November.

Inspectors found that safeguarding cases were too often recorded as closed before suitable steps had been taken to reduce the risk of harm.

Leaders also failed to review whether actions taken to protect learners and apprentices had been effective, meaning they could not assure themselves that safeguarding concerns had been dealt with appropriately.

Ofsted said: “Leaders and governors do not ensure that safeguarding concerns are reported fully and in sufficient detail. Leaders do not respond effectively to potentially serious safeguarding concerns that pose risks to learners and apprentices.”

Intervention prospect

Department for Education guidance states that colleges will be placed into intervention where safeguarding is ‘not met’.

Similar guidance for local authorities says the DfE “could” terminate the contract, issue conditions of funding or impose an FE Commissioner capability assessment in the event of a ‘not met’ safeguarding judgment.

An HTAE spokesperson said the council is “not currently” in formal intervention, but its leaders are in “ongoing communication with key stakeholders to assure them that the required improvements are being implemented as soon as possible”.

FE Week has asked the DfE whether HTAE will be placed into intervention following the Ofsted judgment.

While HTAE leaders were criticised, Ofsted praised staff at the provider’s local centres and subcontractors for establishing a culture of safeguarding.

Staff “care” about their learners and apprentices, inspectors said, and receive appropriate training and provide students with the support and guidance needed to keep them safe.

Learners and apprentices “feel safe and understand how to stay safe from the risks of extremism and radicalisation” and know how to report concerns.

Councillor Linda Tock, portfolio holder for learning and a HTAE governor, said improvements were underway.

“Hull Training and Adult Education is an essential service for so many people across the city and the report acknowledges the great work it does,” she said.

“At the same time, there is clearly the need for improvements to be made, and the team is getting on with that job straightaway.”

HTAE received three ‘needs attention’ judgments alongside eight ‘expected standard’ ratings and three ‘strong standard’ verdicts in the report.

The three low judgments covered leadership and governance, achievement on education programmes for young people, and achievement on adult learning programmes.

Aside from safeguarding, Ofsted criticised the provider’s English and maths results.

It said: “Too few adult learners, and those aged 16 to 18, achieve well in their mathematics and English functional skills qualifications, particularly on level 2 courses.”

HTAE recorded an achievement rate of 78 per cent for education programmes for young people in 2024-25, compared with a national average of 84 per cent.

For adult learning programmes, its achievement rate was 78 per cent, against a national average of 87 per cent.

Ofsted said leaders had “generally realistic plans” to improve achievement across adult learning and study programmes, but these had “not yet been fully realised”.

Staff shortages on some adult courses and apprenticeships had also “negatively impacted on the progress of a few learners and apprentices”.

Some students were left “frustrated” by delays to their learning caused by “frequent staffing changes or cover staff who do not have the subject expertise to teach them fully the curriculum they need to know”.

Ticks for Tock

Ofsted’s highest praise for HTAE was for its provision for learners with high needs, which was rated ‘strong standard’ across achievement, curriculum and teaching, and participation and development.

Learners with high needs were found to make “significant progress”, develop “substantial new knowledge, skills and behaviours” and “consistently produce high-quality written and practical work”.

Tock said: “It is important to recognise that a ‘strong standard’ was awarded for provision for learners with high needs, as well as ‘expected standard’ in the majority of other areas.

“We would like to thank our staff, learners, employers and partners for their continued support as we build on these strengths, make improvements and move forward with confidence.”

Powell hires Get Further boss as special adviser

The boss of a further education tutoring charity has been appointed a special adviser to education secretary Lucy Powell.

Sarah Waite, founder and chief executive of Get Further, advised Powell in opposition, working as a political adviser when the Manchester Central MP was shadow education secretary between 2015 and 2016.

Powell was appointed education secretary last month, replacing Bridget Phillipson in prime minister Andy Burnham’s first cabinet.

Waite began her career teaching maths in Leeds before becoming head of policy at the Social Mobility Commission under Alan Milburn’s chairship, where she developed the concept of Get Further. She also worked on the devolution of the education budget for the Greater London Assembly.

She founded Get Further in 2017, winning the Teach First Innovation Award the following year. The charity delivers small-group tuition in English and maths to students resitting GCSEs in post-16 settings, and has campaigned for disadvantaged learners to receive a student premium equivalent to the pupil premium in schools.

Alice Eardley, Get Further’s deputy chief executive, will take over as interim CEO.

Waite joins two special advisers already appointed to Powell’s team.

Donjeta Miftari previously worked on communications for Andy Burnham, spent a short time as a foreign policy special adviser in Downing Street under Keir Starmer, and advised Shabana Mahmood in opposition. Ant McCaul has returned after serving as Powell’s special adviser when she was leader of the House of Commons, a role that ended when she left cabinet last September.

Special advisers are temporary civil servants appointed personally by ministers and paid from public funds. Unlike permanent officials, they are exempt from political impartiality rules and offer party political advice, brief the media and push their ministers’ policy priorities within the department. Their appointments end automatically when the minister who hired them leaves office or when parliament is dissolved.

Powell used an article in The Times this weekend to reveal a review of what schools teach and blamed the former education secretary Michael Gove for the million young people now outside education, employment and training.

She wrote that a one-size-fits-all system had left too many pupils branded a failure instead of realising their potential, and argued high-quality vocational options should carry equal esteem rather than being treated as a second-class choice.

Her in-tray also includes the transfer of 16 to 19 funding to mayors, Burnham’s technical education pathways for 14 to 16-year-olds and the introduction of new V Level qualifications next year.

Waite and see… Get Further boss and her insights on Powell and Milburn

Mayors to take control of 16-19 funding

Mayors will be handed control of 16-to-19 funding in a radical break from England’s Whitehall-run post-16 education system.

Further education colleges, sixth form colleges, school sixth forms and independent training providers are all within scope of major reforms announced by prime minister Andy Burnham tonight.

Number 10 described the plans as the biggest transfer of power, funding and responsibility from Westminster in a generation.

Local leaders will also gain greater control over employment support, transport, housing, planning and public services.

The statement gave no detail on how the new 16-to-19 funding system will operate. The wider transfer of powers is due to be implemented within this parliament, with proposals, legislation and a timetable to be set out in a white paper alongside the autumn budget.

The government expects arrangements to differ between areas and will work with colleges, schools, mayors and other partners to agree the precise parameters and protections before powers are devolved.

A cabinet statement published on Friday said the reforms would amount to “devolution, not delegation”, with central government no longer duplicating functions once they had been transferred.

“We will give mayors the powers, flexibility and accountability to bring together education, employment, health and local support into a clear route for young people, so that no one falls through the cracks,” it said.

The government wants every area to have a strategic authority by the end of 2028 but said it would not impose mayors where there was insufficient local support.

Non-mayoral authorities will receive an enhanced set of powers, although the government said the suite available to mayors would be greater.

‘Nightmayor’

The announcement marks a dramatic reversal after years of tension between mayors and the Department for Education over control of post-16 funding.

Mayors have repeatedly demanded influence over the national 16-19 budget, arguing local leaders are better placed to align courses to the needs of their local economies

But ministers have until now resisted those calls.

Skills minister Jacqui Smith, recently reappointed by Burnham, acknowledged last year there was “tension” between DfE and mayors on this issue.

She told MPs: “I could not envisage that we would devolve all of 16-19 funding to mayors,” although she suggested individual elements could be transferred.

Burnham himself, then mayor of Greater Manchester, had described DfE, then led by Bridget Phillipson, whom he demoted in last week’s reshuffle, as his “biggest frustration” because it would not release control over post-16 education.

It comes days after plans were unveiled for mayors and other local leaders to design new technical education pathways for pupils from the age of 14.

‘Tread very carefully’

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said the announcement could be a “very positive step”, giving colleges greater investment, support and prominence in local economies.

But he warned the plans would “tear up” the national system and make colleges and school sixth forms accountable to elected mayors.

AoC said the existing £9.5 billion system serves 1.275 million students across more than 2,500 colleges, schools and training organisations.

Hughes urged ministers to “tread very carefully”, work through the detail with the sector and pilot changes before a wider rollout.

He called for a strong national framework with “guide-rails” to reduce the risks of devolution.

Colleges would also need freedom from national regulations that prevented them responding to local priorities, alongside long-term capital and revenue investment to expand provision and improve staff pay, he said.

Hughes added that mayors would need to convene employers more effectively and exercise stronger powers over schools to ensure they collaborated with colleges post-14.

“None of these things are straight forward, and this devolution will take significant time to work through the system and best serve students,” he said.

Sixth Form Colleges Association chief executive Bill Watkin also welcomed the opportunity for schools and colleges to work more closely with devolved authorities.

But he said any new model must give college leaders freedom to respond to local needs while preserving equal access to academic routes.

Watkin said: “We look forward to a high-trust system where college leaders have the freedom to tailor their curriculum and resources to meet the individual needs of students.

“That means a system in which colleges can both meet local skills needs, and deliver a core academic curriculum that gives students equal access to higher education and graduate jobs, irrespective of where they come from.”

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Ben Rowland welcomed the focus on skills but said the reforms must work for employers operating across several regions.

He said: “As the detailed plans are developed, it is important that the government focuses on what will work for employers, including those employers who work across multiple regions.

“Even better news for the prime minister and the chancellor is that many independent training providers are able to raise the upfront capital to prepare for this next chapter without recourse to the public purse.

“This is an exciting new chapter for England, but one fraught with risks.”

Already devolved adults

Mayors have had control over adult skills budgets since they were devolved out of the Department for Education in 2019.

Those powers allow local leaders to commission courses against local economic and social priorities, set their own funding rules and eligibility requirements within budgets determined by central government.

Devolution has allowed authorities to set local priorities, widen access to selected courses and vary funding rules according to regional needs.

This has led to varying eligibility rules, funding rates and accountability arrangements in different parts of the country.

The freedoms have also given elected mayors the ability to exclude groups from accessing public funding.

Greater Lincolnshire’s Reform UK mayor, Andrea Jenkyns, decided that English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses will not be funded from the area’s devolved adult skills budget for most learners from August 2027.

Elsewhere, the announcement confirms trailed plans to allow mayors to retain a greater share of locally generated business rates and income tax revenues. Meanwhile, in Whitehall, the civil service will become “smaller and more strategic, focusing on the responsibilities that are best exercised at a national level.”

SWAP job outcomes hit lowest rate as starts surge

Fewer than 36 per cent of jobseekers who started a sector-based work academy programme (SWAP) last September were in work six months later, the worst result since the Department for Work and Pensions began publishing the figures.

SWAPs are short programmes for benefit claimants, running up to six weeks and made up of pre-employment training, a work placement and a job interview.

Jobcentre Plus staff arrange them locally with employers, and colleges and independent training providers deliver the training, funded from adult skills budgets.

Ministers have raised the annual delivery target twice in two years, from 80,000 to 100,000 and then to 115,000 for 2026-27.

Quarterly management information published today showed the three lowest monthly results since the data began, all in the most recent figures available. Jobcentres also recorded their busiest opening quarter on the programme.

Here are five things we learned.

1. Outcomes have fallen to their lowest level since the data began

DWP tracks SWAP participants through HM Revenue and Customs earnings records and reports the proportion with earnings six months after they started.

Of those who began a SWAP in September 2025, 35.2 per cent were earning six months later.

No monthly cohort has performed worse since the series started in April 2021, when the figure stood at 55.6 per cent. Participants who started in October and August last year, at 35.8 per cent and 36 per cent, produced the second and third worst results.

All three of those months appeared in the data for the first time today.

The department also tracks participants at nine months, which allows for people who take longer to find work. That measure is falling too, from 44.5 per cent for those who started in February 2025 to 39.9 per cent for those who started in July.

The figures cast doubt on a claim DWP made in May, when it said around four in ten SWAP participants moved into “sustained work” within six months. The measure counts anyone with earnings in a single month, not sustained employment.

Outcomes data was published for the first time this April, five years after the programme was expanded and following an FE Week investigation into the department’s refusal to release it.

2. Ministers missed last year’s target, then raised it by 15 per cent

Jobcentres delivered 97,130 SWAP starts in 2025-26, short of the 100,000 target. That target had itself been raised from the 80,000 that applied in each of the four previous years.

Ministers increased it again, to 115,000, for 2026-27.

Delivery so far suggests the higher target is achievable. Jobcentres recorded 28,490 starts between April and June, up 22.9 per cent on the same quarter last year.

Last year’s first quarter accounted for just under 24 per cent of the eventual annual total. On the same trajectory, 2026-27 would finish close to 119,400 starts.

3. Public sector, construction and security dominate

Pre-employment training is bought to match local employer vacancies, so the sector mix shows what colleges and providers are being asked to deliver.

Three sectors accounted for close to half of all starts in the quarter. The public sector was the largest at 5,190, followed by construction on 4,960 and security on 3,190.

Construction has grown 33 per cent since 2021-22 and recorded 16,620 starts last year, its strongest yet. Security has grown at a similar rate and now takes more than one start in ten.

The fastest growth over the life of the programme has been in education and teaching, which covers support roles in schools and colleges rather than teaching posts. Starts rose from 3,120 in 2021-22 to 8,910 last year, close to a threefold increase, though growth flattened this quarter at 5.6 per cent.

Elsewhere, the figures have reversed. Logistics and freight transport was the fourth largest sector in 2021-22 and has fallen 40 per cent since, despite rebounding 61 per cent this quarter. Administration is down 12 per cent over the same period and manufacturing down 30 per cent.

Ministers named health and social care in May as one of three priority sectors for the expanded programme, alongside construction and hospitality.

Healthcare recorded 3,880 starts last year, unchanged from 2021-22. Adult social care reached 3,270, having grown 30 per cent over four years from a low base. Between them the two sectors account for under 7 per cent of starts this quarter

4. Earnings have not improved in real terms

Participants who found work earned an average £1,415 a month six months after starting during 2025-26, up from £1,215 for the first group tracked in 2021-22.

That 16.5 per cent cash increase is slightly below inflation. Consumer prices rose 18.3 per cent between the months the two groups were actually earning, leaving the latest figure around 1.6 per cent lower in real terms.

Adjusted to today’s prices, the four earlier years land between £1,376 and £1,438. Four years on, participants who find work are earning no more than the first group did.

DWP has used the figure itself, citing average earnings of £1,400 a month when it announced the expanded target in May.

What the data does not show is the quality of the jobs behind it, a gap flagged when the department published its impact assessment of the programme last year.

That assessment found that for every 100 people who started a SWAP, roughly an extra 13 were in work two years later than in a matched comparison group. It also found the programme returned £1.83 to the exchequer for every pound spent.

But Institute for Fiscal Studies economist Imran Tahir said the assessment gave an “incomplete picture” because it could not show what kind of jobs participants moved into, warning they “may be insecure and low-paid”. The monthly earnings figures are the first published data to address that.

Earlier DWP research, based on 93 interviews and published after FE Week pressed for it, found only a “small number” of claimants reported moving into work. Few were offered the work placement and job interview the programme is supposed to guarantee.

5. London dominates, and Greater Manchester lags

London accounted for 20,220 starts last year, more than one in five nationally, and recorded 6,330 in the quarter, up 40 per cent year on year. No other region reached 3,300.

Growth was fastest in the north east, where starts nearly doubled from a low base of 630 to 1,230, and in Yorkshire and the Humber, up 40 per cent. The east of England was slowest at 7.7 per cent.

At combined authority level, Greater Manchester’s ten boroughs recorded 4,180 starts in 2025-26. The seven boroughs of the West Midlands Combined Authority, covering a similar population, recorded 7,080. Birmingham on its own recorded 4,200, more than the whole of Greater Manchester.

West Yorkshire, with roughly a fifth fewer residents, also outstripped Greater Manchester on 4,500.

Mayoral combined authorities control adult skills funding in these areas. Mayors have separately told the National Audit Office they feel treated as “delivery arms of central government”, naming DWP among the departments initially reluctant to give ground on delivery targets.

Colleges hit hard as high-cost HE funding withdrawn

College higher education grant allocations for the 2026-27 academic year have fallen more than twice as fast as those across the wider sector, with Bradford College warning some arts courses will have to close.

FE Week analysis of initial Office for Students allocations to 139 further education colleges and designated institutions found their combined recurrent funding has dropped by £2.72 million, or 9.3 per cent, from £29.15 million to £26.43 million.

Comparable allocations across all providers fell by 3.9 per cent, from £1.243 billion in 2025-26 to £1.195 billion this year, meaning the college reduction was around 2.4 times faster.

Seven in ten colleges analysed, 98, will receive less than last year. Sixty-nine lose at least 10 per cent and 39 lose at least one-fifth.

Around £1.59 million of the college reduction was in high-cost course funding, while about £1.13 million was in student access and success allocations. Those allocations also reflect changes in weighted student numbers and other formula elements.

The government required the OfS to stop providing general high-cost subject funding for computing, nursing, geographical systems, archaeology and creative and performing arts. A separate £32.1 million supplement for nursing, midwifery and allied health courses remained.

Bradford College’s allocation was cut by £223,600, or 64.9 per cent, from £344,429 to £120,829.

Deputy chief executive Christopher Malish said removing high-cost funding for creative subjects meant some specialist higher education arts provision was “no longer financially sustainable”.

Many programmes had small student numbers and were delivered at a loss because of their educational and cultural value to Bradford, he said.

“We will now need to review, and in some cases close, niche higher education arts provision that can no longer be supported,” Malish added.

He criticised the timing, saying the changes came too late in the business-planning cycle and would place college-based higher education offers nationally at risk.

Bradford will accelerate its focus on employer-led level 4 and 5 higher technical provision in line with the industrial strategy and the West Yorkshire local skills improvement plan.

But Malish warned the wider reductions could harm widening participation and social mobility in a city where many learners were the first in their families to enter higher education.

Luminate Education Group’s allocation fell by £162,366, or 25.7 per cent.

The group said reductions to strategic priorities grant funding for creative arts and computing explained its loss.

University Centre Leeds will continue to offer the affected courses, but Luminate said the funding model failed to recognise their contribution to the UK economy, “creative arts in particular”.

NCG, the largest college group in England, received the biggest cash reduction among the colleges analysed. Its allocation fell by £708,687, or 30.7 per cent, from £2.31 million to £1.60 million.

A spokesperson said its allocation reflected “a number of changes to the funding methodology and eligibility criteria applied across the sector”.

NCG had anticipated the changes and planned accordingly, they added, with “no current plans” to alter its course offer.

Individual changes can also reflect providers’ student numbers, subject mix, study intensity and completion rates.

A government spokesperson said universities and colleges would receive more than £1.25 billion through the strategic priorities grant, alongside £336 million in capital funding over four years.

“While we have had to make difficult decisions across all our budgets, we have protected support for high-cost subjects and funding for students with disabilities and mental health needs,” they said.

DfE pointed to retained funding for chemistry, engineering and physics.

It said removed funding represented less than 3 per cent of total per-student funding once tuition fees were included, while inflation-linked fee rises were expected to generate around £6 billion for the sector over five years.

DfE and the OfS are reviewing the grant to target funding more closely at future skills needs and disadvantaged students.

DfE did not address why college allocations had fallen 2.4 times faster than comparable allocations across all providers.

The Office for Students was approached for comment.

Meet the Greater Manchester mayoral hopefuls: what have they said about FE and skills?

Greater Manchester voters go to the polls tomorrow to elect a new mayor after Andy Burnham won the Makerfield by-election, automatically disqualifying him from the mayoralty. He has since become prime minister.

Seven candidates have made it onto the ballot. Whoever wins will inherit some of the country’s most significant devolved powers over adult education, skills and employment.

The incoming mayor will oversee a total skills and employment pot of nearly £421 million across three years, including £140 million of adult skills revenue funding for 2026-27, supporting nearly 50,000 residents.

FE Week looked at what each candidate brings to the brief and what they have pledged so far.

Bev Craig, Labour

Craig has been leader of Manchester City Council since 2021 and manages the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s economy, business and inclusive growth portfolio. She also previously led the digital and education, skills, work and apprenticeships portfolio.

Born and raised on a council estate just outside of Belfast, Craig moved to the city to study a degree in politics and modern history from the University of Manchester.

She then began her career in local government with Blackburn with Darwen Council, focusing on policy development and community and youth engagement. She also worked on off-campus student engagement at both the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University and worked as UNISON’s assistant national officer for care sector organising.

Craig has been a city councillor for Burnage and a school governor for Kingsway Community Trust for the last 15 years.

She was also chair of youth charity Burnage Multi Agency Group (BMAG) which promoted local activities to young people, until it wound up in 2013.

If elected, she has pledged to write to Andy Burnham on day one to ask for more devolved powers so Greater Manchester becomes the first city region with a “fully devolved skills system to cut youth unemployment and Get Greater Manchester working”.

Her manifesto includes a call for Greater Manchester to pilot the Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc), create a “Greater Manchester Family of Schools” programme to join up schools and roll out “Skills for Life” across the region – a Manchester City Council programme piloting skills ambitions amongst schoolchildren and young people.

She also pledged that every town would have a youth centre that is linked to universities and youth services as well as a “new approach” to design industry-appropriate apprenticeships locally instead of relying on Skills England.

Other pledges include a “Gen-Z” commission to give people aged 18 to 27 a voice on policy and a requirement for every public sector body to offer school leaver work placements.

At local hustings earlier this month, she also promised to “make it easier and cheaper to access education and work through the Bee Network” via free bus travel for 11 to 18-year-olds and half-price travel for 18 to 24-year-old NEETs who are looking for work or a college course.

Craig’s manifesto also promises an adult careers and retraining service linked to the region’s Local Skills Improvement Plan. It proposes working with training providers and other local partners to offer bursaries, travel passes and childcare vouchers to help unemployed and low-paid adults access education.

Phil Eckersley, Conservative

Eckersley is a Trafford councillor, deputy leader of the council’s Conservative group and shadow executive member for healthy and independent lives.

He founded Bridgewater Home Care, a home-care provider, in Wigan in 2010. The company employs more than 100 staff across six branches.

Eckersley previously served as president of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Wigan division and was a board member of Wigan Council’s forward board to drive economic growth in the borough.

He has pledged to bring together employers, schools, colleges and training providers to align skills funding with “genuine” vacancies, according to local reports.

“I would also require major GMCA contractors to report on apprenticeships and opportunities created for local young people,” he said at a recent local husting.

“Careers support must reflect the whole economy, including engineering, digital, construction, health, social care and entrepreneurship,” he added.

Eckersley has focused his campaign on balancing what he describes as GMCA’s £1.4 billion debt. He told the BBC that he would continue free travel for 16- to 18-year-olds only when they were travelling to work, arguing that the scheme should support the economy.

Geraldine Coggins, Green Party

Coggins has been a Trafford councillor since 2018 and has prior experience in higher education.

She has philosophy degrees at Trinity College Dublin and St Andrews and a PhD from Durham University. Later, she had a faculty post at Keele University as a lecturer.

Coggins would expand the Greater Manchester youth jobs guarantee to offer “fairly” paid six-month placements to 18- to 25-year-olds who have been out of education, employment or training for more than a year.

Coggins’ flagship pledge is building 20,000 affordable homes, a programme which she has said should offer training and apprenticeships and a “new generation of green skilled workers”.

Her manifesto would require apprentices or trainees to make up at least 5 per cent of workers on housing and retrofit sites. Contractors would also have to provide at least 7.5 apprenticeship weeks for every £1 million of contract value.

“I’ll also back local businesses, green industries and apprenticeships while improving public transport and making buses free for under-22s so that opportunities are within reach wherever you live,” she told a local audience earlier this month.

She also pledged to give “greater weight” to local employment, apprenticeships and local supply chains under GMCA’s procurement powers.

Richard Kilpatrick, Liberal Democrats

Kilpatrick studied politics, history and English at Prior Pursglove Sixth Form College in north Yorkshire before later returning as a learning support teacher in politics, history and philosophy.

He was also elected as city councillor in 2018 and served as the Manchester Liberal Democrats spokesperson for education.

Kilpatrick has stated he wanted to work with “outstanding further education institutions” to create learning hubs that build AI and digital infrastructure to give young people access to future jobs and technical training.

BBC reports also cite pledges to extend free Bee Network travel to under-22s as a first step, funded through an additional 1 per cent increase in the mayoral council-tax precept. His longer-term ambition is to make the network free for all passengers within 20 years.

He added he would build on the MBacc to focus on the AI and technology sector within the Greater Manchester region.

Sian Astley, Reform UK

Astley is an interior designer who has run her own building and design business for over 20 years.

Born and raised in Greater Manchester, Astley studied law (LLB) at the University of Manchester after attending QEGS school in Blackburn.

She was elected as a councillor to Manchester City Council earlier in May and has not published any specific FE or skills policies to date.

Astley, however, told the BBC she would keep the free 16 to 18 travel pass but instead of partly funding it through mayoral council tax, she proposed to cut diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes and PR/social media advice.

Marlon West, Restore Britain

West went to university in Manchester and was a mental health nurse for around 30 years until he was suspended this month by the Nursing and Midwifery Council for 18 months over comments he made online about sexual grooming by Pakistani men.

He became a prominent campaigner against child grooming gangs after his daughter was targeted and raped. His main political message is around the “lack of support” from social services, police and education.

On education, West reportedly wants apprenticeships made more accessible to young people, alongside cutting childcare costs and free breakfasts to primary school age children.

He told the BBC that as mayor he would work with the larger businesses to “find out exactly what they need and work around that”, adding that he would “definitely” continue the Manchester Baccalaureate.

Marcus Farmer, Independent

This is Farmer’s third time standing for Greater Manchester mayor. He received just under 1 per cent of the vote in 2021.

Unlike the other candidates, Farmer has not submitted an election address for the official booklet distributed to voters.

He has also not published any specific education or skills plans but said on a recent podcast that his number one issue was to examine student debt, but did not detail how he would address the issue.

On NEETs, Farmer said: “Businesses don’t really see value in 16-year-olds and 18-year-old people… it’s expensive to employ young people.”

“We have to encourage youth employment, and I think part of the big deal is dealing with red tape. Red tape has got to come right down – the risk assessments and all that type of stuff.”

He also told the BBC in an interview that he would rather ask young people what they want rather than dictate policy.

Post-14 technical pathways could be transformational – but major questions remain

The government is right to recognise that England faces a serious challenge in the growing number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). The announcement of new technical pathways for 14 to 16-year-olds reflects an understanding that the current system does not work well enough for every young person and that more must be done to connect education with employment.

However, ASCL has concerns about the timing of this announcement. School and college leaders have spent the past year responding to major reforms to the curriculum, assessment and qualifications. Launching another substantial programme during the summer holidays, with few implementation details, makes meaningful engagement difficult and places further pressure on a profession already managing an exceptionally demanding programme of change.

Despite this, the ambition is welcome. Too often, vocational and technical education has been treated as a secondary option rather than an equally valuable route to success. If these reforms create genuine parity of esteem and provide clearer progression into employment, apprenticeships and further study, they could make a real difference. But several important questions now need answering.

System coherence

Only months ago, the government proposed a post-16 system built around three level 3 pathways: A Levels, T Levels and the proposed V Levels. Yet the Prime Minister’s announcement appears to present only two pathways at Key Stage 4: academic and technical.

How these systems fit together is unclear. If learners will eventually choose between three routes at 16, the relationship between the new technical pathway and future T Levels and V Levels must be much better explained. Without that clarity, there is a risk of creating confusion rather than simplification.

English, maths and progression

Any discussion about vocational reform must also address the longstanding problems associated with GCSE English and maths resits.

ASCL does not support the proposed stepping-stone qualifications. Instead, we continue to advocate universal literacy and numeracy qualifications that learners can take when they are ready.

We also believe it is time to move away from the arbitrary grade 4 benchmark and remove the condition of funding attached to GCSE resits. The case for this policy has already been weakened by the decision to remove the equivalent requirement for apprentices aged 19 and over. If grade 4 is no longer essential in one part of the system, it is reasonable to ask why it remains such a significant barrier elsewhere.

Work experience and careers

We welcome the emphasis on employer engagement. Evidence shows that meaningful encounters with employers improve outcomes and reduce the likelihood of becoming NEET.

However, research also highlights practical barriers, including unequal access to placements, limited employer capacity and the reliance on family networks to secure opportunities. If work experience is to become central to technical pathways, government must explain how schools, colleges and employers will be supported to deliver it consistently at scale.

High-quality careers education, information, advice and guidance will also be critical, particularly for disadvantaged learners and those with SEND, who are disproportionately represented among young people who are NEET.

Funding, workforce and FE

Technical education is more expensive to deliver than classroom-based academic provision. It requires specialist facilities, equipment, employer partnerships and teachers with current industry expertise.

Yet early indications suggest these reforms may be funded from existing budgets. Schools and colleges need clarity about how they will be financed.

Recruitment difficulties already affect many technical subjects, while FE colleges continue to struggle to recruit and retain staff because pay has fallen behind both schools and industry. If colleges are expected to play a greater role in delivering technical pathways, government must address FE pay parity and set out a credible workforce strategy.

Colleges already possess much of the specialist expertise, facilities and employer relationships needed to make these reforms succeed. But expanding provision for younger learners cannot happen without additional investment or at the expense of existing students.

National delivery and accountability

Much of the government’s vision depends on strategic authorities shaping local pathways. That may work well where devolved arrangements are strong, but young people’s opportunities should not depend on where they live. A national framework is needed to ensure every area can offer high-quality technical pathways, supported by stronger incentives for employer engagement.

The proposed reforms also depend on changes to school accountability and inspection. Given that both performance measures and Ofsted arrangements are already under review, government must explain how these changes will support technical education without creating further complexity.

The government’s objective is the right one. England needs stronger technical pathways that engage young people, support progression and help tackle the growing NEET challenge.

This announcement is therefore an important and potentially positive step. But success will depend on much more than ambition. Government now needs to provide clear answers on system design, English and maths, employer engagement, funding, workforce capacity and implementation. Only then can we be confident these reforms will deliver the opportunities every young person deserves.

New technical pathways for 14-year-olds could build on UTC model

This week’s announcement that all young people will have access to technical education pathways and meaningful employer engagement from the age of 14 has the potential to be one of the most significant education reforms in a generation.

It requires a change in the way schools think about their purpose; changing their focus to the destinations and future employment of their students, while maintaining the myriad of other roles played by modern schools. If implemented well, it could help tackle the rising number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), change communities and address the skills shortages that continue to hold back economic growth.

The government deserves real credit for recognising that technical education should sit alongside academic education as an equally ambitious and respected route. It is also a powerful endorsement of an approach that has already been proven.

For nearly 20 years, the 44 University Technical Colleges (UTCs), supported by Baker Dearing Educational Trust, have been delivering employer-guided technical education from the age of 14 across England. They combine academic study with technical learning, local and national employer partnerships and provide clear progression routes into apprenticeships, higher education and skilled careers.

Rather than starting from scratch, the government has the opportunity to build on the UTC model that is already delivering strong outcomes for thousands of young people. Baker Dearing and the UTC network stand ready to help. We have spent nearly two decades developing curricula, employer partnerships, teacher development and quality assurance that could help schools introduce these new pathways more quickly and with confidence.

This is already being demonstrated in the schools in Greater Manchester and Barrow-in-Furness adopting the ‘UTC Sleeve’ model, which builds employer supported, technical pathways into existing secondary schools.

Alternatively, the 14-16 provision offered by colleges has offered a fresh start in education for many young people who have struggled with old-fashioned academic learning. This provision could also be applied in certain schools. However, we believe the UTC model could work across a much wider span of education settings.

Andy Burnham understands the value of the UTC approach. Working with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Baker Dearing helped develop the technical framework that underpins the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc) Award, ensuring that employer engagement, technical learning and workplace skills are rewarded alongside academic achievement.

As Greater Manchester expands its technical education offer, UTCs and the new UTC Sleeve model will continue to play an important role in supporting the ambitions of the MBacc.

This spirit of collaboration should now be reflected nationally. Baker Dearing, UTC leaders and employer partners would welcome the opportunity to work with government, combined authorities, schools and Ofsted to help shape the framework for these new technical pathways. We do not need to reinvent technical education – we need to build on what has already been shown to work.

The ambition is welcome. The next challenge is delivery. For example, there is a shortage of teachers with the right technical experience and knowledge, something that Baker Dearing has rectified for UTCs by developing an engineering training programme, supported by the Gene Haas Foundation and the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851; heavyweight sponsors with deep links in industry.

We also work with Zen Educate who source teachers with experience of industry and develop our own teachers through a SCITT (school-centred initial teacher training) lead by the oldest UTC, The JCB Academy.

To achieve the scale that Burnham’s vision requires will need much more investment in innovative training and recruitment methods.

Schools will also need capital funding to deliver these new opportunities. New workshops and specialist classrooms will need equipment that matches what is used in industry, so students can learn on the tools they will use in the workplace.

With the right investment, employer partnerships and support for teachers, England has an opportunity to create a world-class technical education system that gives every young person access to high-quality technical learning and a clear route into skilled employment.