Do you know how to support a student with a recent autism diagnosis?

As a member of staff with Asperger’s Syndrome, I have first-hand experience of the kind of support that can really help, writes Harry Empsall

I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome in 1999 at the age of four. My journey hasn’t been an easy one because along the way I have encountered ignorance and bullying.

But I was also lucky. I had the best support behind me in the way of family, friends and staff. They encouraged me to be the best I can be even when I didn’t always find it easy. That alongside my own determination meant I achieved good GCSE and A-level grades.

I now work as a personal skills assistant at my local college for young people with a wide range of difficulties that can be both physical and cognitive.

Nothing comes without its challenges however, and the hardest thing I have had to learn is not overthink the day’s events.

What does it mean when someone gets a diagnosis?

An autism spectrum disorder diagnosis has a positive and a negative side to it. Some see it as a barrier to life which it can be because it can increase anxiety.

To others the diagnosis means that you can start asking questions and accessing support through school, college and external services.

Remember, there are no two autistic people that are the same. Even if you have a set of identical twins there is only a 76 per cent chance of the second twin being autistic, and they can still have different hobbies and interests.

What support can be accessed?

For a student with ASD a GP can recommend occupational therapy (which aims to improve your ability to do daily tasks or develop skills), speech therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy. The reason for my CBT was that I struggle with anxiety and depression.

Colleges can also provide learning support in the classroom. Having learning support really helped me during education. But it also made me feel uneasy to have support as other students began to single me out for being “special”. Remember that as a member of staff.

What can you do?

It’s important to remember that a recent diagnosis of ASD can mean the young person’s specific needs are still being assessed and identified.

This means that the student and in some cases the parents can struggle to understand the condition.

With this in mind it would be good to start researching the condition so you can provide support and answers to questions the student may have.

I would also speak to the young person which would hopefully make them more comfortable and means that they would eventually begin to trust me.

I would endeavour to learn about the young person’s likes and dislikes, their hobbies and interests.

Also read carefully through the young person’s EHCP (Education Health and Care Plan) – but you should respect how they would like to be supported because it will help them to trust you.

I would also find out what had worked for the young person and the family in the past in education. I would ask what previous schools had done, what external services had been accessed and where I could improve things.

So in my role I may give students extra time to process information and most importantly reassure them when they become anxious or stressed about any impending changes.

To avoid unnecessary stress, I always try and make myself aware of upcoming routine changes so I can warn the young person well in advance. I can tell them where they need to go, at what time, on what days.

Since I’ve been working I’ve learnt so much from my colleagues on how to deal with things and sometimes how to react to things.

A great example of this is not letting things bother me so much when it isn’t anything I have control over – sudden change for instance.

Supporting young people with difficulties in the way I was supported years before is the most rewarding feeling in the world. It’s about knowing I’ve made a difference to someone’s life no matter how big or small that is.

Government seeks views on AEB tender as funding squeeze looms

Government officials are seeking sector views as they design the next national adult education budget (AEB) tender – which one specialist is predicting will face a further funding squeeze.

Several Education and Skills Funding Agency market engagement events are scheduled for later this month, September, ahead of the launch of the invitation to tender, which is expected to get underway before the end of 2022.

It will be a rerun of the controversial 2021 AEB procurement for providers in non-devolved areas of England, which was hit with multiple delays and significantly reduced the private provider base.

But there are likely to be several differences this time around amid the government’s funding and accountability reforms, which are currently in the public domain for consultation. These include proposals for new and increased funding rates.

This, alongside increased devolution and growing investment in other provision (such as skills bootcamps and the roll-out of the new Multiply programme) could lead to a smaller funding pot.

The last AEB tender totalled £74 million, down by one-fifth on the £92 million in the previous AEB tender from 2017. FE Week analysis found the number of private providers with a direct ESFA AEB contract shrunk by almost 60 per cent, from 208 to 88.

Jim Carley, a procurement specialist in the FE sector who runs Carley Consult, said: “With the increase of alternative provision such as skills bootcamps alongside new devolution deals, such as D2N2, on the horizon, the national AEB pot may face a further squeeze.”

At the same time, he added, AEB remains “highly desirable for providers, so we can expect an increasingly high level of competition, with only those bidders achieving the highest scores winning a slice of the funding”.

A prior information notice published by the ESFA last week about the upcoming tender states that the agency will discuss how potential procurement will “interact with the proposed FE reforms and potential further devolution of skills provision”, which includes the “possible introduction of new funding rates, accountability arrangements, and the implication of further devolution deals for contracts”.

The ESFA also wants to “understand learner needs in non-devolved areas and what kind of provision needs to be prioritised” and hear “reflections on previous procurements and use this to explore potential delivery models and performance standards”.

The agency also wants to test market capacity to deliver ESFA AEB among other procurements occurring across the skills landscape, including Multiply, skills bootcamps, free courses for jobs, traineeships and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

It is not clear how much funding in total will be up for grabs through the procurement, or even the exact timeline, but contracts are expected to start August 2023.

Jack Flynn, assistant director of bid services at Carley Consult, said given increased devolution and greater focus on skills bootcamps, providers will have a challenging time growing their ESFA allocation, as the scope will be narrower.

The best route to doing this, he said, is by “committing to deliver more of what the ESFA needs, rather than asking for more funding for what the provider is currently doing – evolution of the offer will be crucial to maximise the funding awarded to providers”.

Online market engagement events for the upcoming tender are scheduled for September 27, 11am to 12pm, and September 29, 10am to 11am. Click here for more information.

Dates set for 26 college strikes this term

College strikes over below-inflation pay offers will take place across 10 days in four weeks this autumn, the University and College Union has confirmed.

Picketing line dates have been announced for 26 colleges, 24 of which will begin with three days of industrial action from Monday September 26.

That will then continue the following week on October 6 and 7, October 10 and 11 the week after and a further three days on October 18, 19 and 20.

Chichester College Group had been announced for the 10 days earlier this week at both its Chichester and Crawley sites, but on Thursday the UCU confirmed notifications for those had been pulled to give management more time to make an offer.

Those two colleges will strike from October 6 unless an acceptable offer is received, it said.

The UCU said that there were live mandates to strike over pay at a further nine colleges, meaning more industrial action could happen unless suitable pay offers were made for those.

Staff at Oldham, Burnley and Manchester colleges, which were balloted separately, went on strike on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said staff “cannot go on being paid so little”.

“College staff deliver excellent education but over the last twelve years their pay has fallen behind inflation by 35 per cent [since 2009] and now thousands are skipping meals, restricting energy use and considering leaving the sector altogether,” Grady said.

“College leaders need to wake up to this crisis, stop dining off the goodwill of their workforce and make a serious pay offer. Failure to do so will lead to the largest strike action that English further education has ever seen.”

The full strike dates are as follows:

Monday 26 September

Tuesday 27 September

Wednesday 28 September

Thursday 6 October

Friday 7 October

Monday 10 October

Tuesday 11 October

Tuesday 18 October

Wednesday 19 October

Thursday 20 October

In June, the Association of Colleges put forward a 2.5 per cent pay offer to the UCU – up from its 2.25 per cent offer in May.

But union bosses said it was “totally unacceptable”, citing the cost of living crisis and the pay gap with teachers in schools, which is estimated to be up to £9,000.

It called for a 10 per cent rise with a minimum uplift of £2,000.

David Hughes, AoC chief executive, said college leaders want to increase staff pay, but “the money is simply not there”.

“The modest increase in funding rates last year contributed to our increased pay recommendation this year, the largest in over a decade, but this funding has largely been eaten up by soaring inflation and spiralling energy costs,” he said.

“This pay increase is both inadequate compared with inflation but also on the cusp of what is affordable for most colleges.”

The AoC wrote to then-education secretary James Cleverly over the summer outlining a series of priorities in the further education sector, which included a plea to address staff pay.

It warned that it could result in more skills gaps and could hamper the rollout of T Levels and higher technical qualifications. It called for increased funding for skilled shortage subjects.

In a further letter about the cost of energy to the new chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, last week, the AoC requested a new key sector workforce fund to recruit and retain teachers, a VAT exemption for colleges and a review of funding for 16-19 learners, apprenticeships and adult education.

The AoC said: “The college workforce crisis is already limiting training and education opportunities for young people and adults alike.”

UK inflation was recorded at 10.1 per cent by the Office for National Statistics in July.

In July, 89.9 per cent of voting UCU members voted for strike action, with an overall turnout of 57.9 per cent.

The 26 colleges due to strike on those dates are as follows:

  1. Abingdon & Witney College
  2. Bath College
  3. Blackburn College
  4. Bridgwater and Taunton College
  5. Chichester College Group (Crawley)
  6. Chichester College Group (Chichester)
  7. City College Plymouth
  8. City of Bristol College
  9. Croydon College
  10. Derby College
  11. Halesowen College
  12. Hereward College of FE
  13. Lambeth College
  14. New College Swindon
  15. Lewisham College
  16. Southwark College
  17. Carlisle College
  18. Newcastle College (including Newcastle Sixth Form)
  19. West Lancashire College
  20. Bournville College of FE
  21. South & City College Birmingham
  22. Strode College
  23. Truro & Penwith College
  24. Weston College
  25. Wiltshire College
  26. Yeovil College

The nine colleges where live mandates remain but dates yet to be announced are:

  1. Barnet & Southgate College
  2. Epping Forest College
  3. Hackney College
  4. Havering College
  5. Liverpool College
  6. Redbridge College
  7. Sandwell College of FHE
  8. Sparsholt College Hampshire (including Andover College)
  9. Tower Hamlets College

The funding consultation doesn’t tackle our biggest challenges – but there’s hope

FE desperately needs simplified funding lines but this consultation must go further, writes Marguerite Hogg

It didn’t seem like the best time of year to launch a government consultation when most of the college sector was trying to get a summer break.

However, the Department for Education’s second funding and accountability consultation launched at the end of July and there are now only a few weeks left to respond before the 21 September closing date. 

Once you add in the recent political turmoil and the fact there’s now a new prime minister, it might be hard for the department to meet its timetable to bring in all the new funding changes in 2023. 

Our take on the latest consultation is that the funding proposals are modest. 

The sector lives with the burden of multiple funding lines and need some simplification. One principal told me they have over 50 funding likes – and they won’t be on their own!

The DfE hopes to combine the adult education budget and “Free Courses for Jobs” into a “single skills fund” in 2023-4 but this will sit alongside apprenticeships, Multiply, bootcamps and the strategic development fund for a few more years.

The consultation promises a longer-term simplification in 2025 but would still leave apprenticeships as a parallel system.

The background for these plans is last autumn’s spending review.

The Treasury increased spending via the national skills fund but worked on an assumption that inflation wouldn’t exist between 2022 and 2025.

This is putting severe pressure on the skills system and has severely limited the choices available to the DfE in this consultation.

They’d planned to bring in a formula in 2023 to distribute money to the combined authorities but the timetable is being pushed back until the next spending review.

Instead the changes are concentrated on the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s non-devolved budget and on the money that goes between funder and provider.

Many of these changes are sensible but some could be disruptive.

There are a new set of programme uplifts, some of which reflect skills priorities.

There are adjustments to the funding matrix to remove some complexity. There are reforms to non-qualification funding and a planned innovation allowance.

Meanwhile the accountability reforms bring new accountability agreements and a performance dashboard. But, without a fresh approach on audit, form-filling and checking will remain predominant.

Without a fresh approach on audit, form-filling will remain dominant

So lots of detail and plenty of issues to work through. The consultation doesn’t address the biggest challenges faced by college staff and students but there are steps in the right direction.

It is clear that the DfE has listened to responses made back in 2021.

They are delaying the devolved formula because they have insufficient funds to smooth implementation.

They propose a three per cent allowance for innovation.

The performance dashboard has excluded financial health ratings and Ofsted will not be using these in their new inspections.

There are areas of concern that still persist (for example a possibly narrow definition of community learning) but there’s a chance to query and hopefully amend certain details.

Given the challenges that the cost-of-living crisis presents to colleges – not least the negative impact on many of our learners and staff – this consultation is possibly not top of the list for college leaders.

While we are encouraging AoC members to get involved in our response or to respond on behalf of their own colleges, there may be other more pressing matters to attend to. 

The DfE has a consultation response webinar for all stakeholders planned for early September.

We will also be holding our own roundtable discussion on the consultation with DfE and one of our national policy groups in order to unpick certain elements of the consultation.

All in all, the summer break is starting to feel like a long time ago.

Adult literacy must be top of the new PM’s despatch box

Changes in government policy and funding in the last decade have reversed previous positive trends, writes Robert Glick

We should acknowledge the chronic low levels of adult literacy, which ranks the UK below average in the OECD – especially since Friday was international literacy day.

Resolving this challenge offers the new prime minister a way to address one of the UK’s deep rooted problems – its chronically low productivity. 

In our increasingly complex and challenging world, a skilled and well-educated workforce is a precondition for success.

For that we really need every adult to be able to read, write and understand maths at a level that allows them to participate effectively in the workforce and in the community.

But the fact is, as many as nine million working-age adults in Britain have low basic skills in literacy or numeracy.

That figure includes some five million who are already in work.

In other words, up to 25 percent of the workforce is underprepared for the challenges of the modern economy.

And more than  20 per cent of adults lack the “life” skills needed to participate in a digital world.

Basic public services, shopping, managing personal finances, news services and entertainment are increasingly moving online.

It means that the more than a fifth of Britons who lack the skills and confidence to use an app or fill in a web form will become increasingly marginalised.

Not only are non-readers less likely to be able to contribute fully at work, they are effectively made to feel like second-class citizens by their inability to access services or relevant state support.

Their health can suffer  too, from anxiety and stress at being excluded, and from the stigma of not being a full participant in society.

We have long known what the solutions are, but they need investment in the right places. And they need it now.

Changes in government policy and falling funding in the last decade have reversed previous positive trends.

Adult participation in English, maths, and ESOL (English as a Second Language) learning has fallen 60 per cent over the last decade.

And where there are adult education courses available, fewer than two in five adults know that they exist, and that figure is likely lower for those who might benefit most from free English and maths provision.

How can we turn the tide?

The Adult Literacy Trust is a new volunteer-led initiative to support adult learners, helping them find the confidence and determination to learn.

But this and the work of other charities is a drop in the ocean compared to the need.

What is required is a properly funded adult education programme.

It should be one that is at least equivalent to Multiply, the government’s much-lauded £560 million adult numeracy programme that is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

We need a properly funded adult literacy programme like Multiply

Some of that support should flow through formal further education services.

But more imaginative approaches are also required.

Partnerships with employers and employer’s associations should provide work-based learning.

More community-based programmes are needed, including family learning and partnerships with schools, providing opportunities for accessible learning locally and supporting parents to help with their children’s education.

Literacy learning support should be integrated into the work JobCentre Plus does to prepare candidates for interviews and work placements.

There are roles for volunteers to help, but they require a clear framework and plan to operate within. That is currently lacking.

Improving adult literacy education needs is the far-sighted intervention that can help solve the UK’s long-standing productivity problem, and put the country back on the pathway to growth and prosperity.

Even with relatively low levels of investment in adult skills, the government can make great progress in achieving the skilled workforce required to improve national productivity.

This will help us to get out of the trap of perennially low growth that has seen the UK fall down the economic league tables.

And while quick, emergency fixes are needed for the country’s immediate challenges, longer-term action is needed to restore international competitiveness.

Addressing deep-seated problems is something only governments can do. 

FE settings should close on September 19 for Queen’s funeral, says DfE

Schools, colleges and training providers should close on Monday September 19 for the Queen’s funeral which will be a bank holiday, the government announced this evening.

King Charles III approved an order for the funeral to be a bank holiday today at St James’s Palace in London as he was formally declared head of state.

In an email to schools and FE settings, the Department for Education said: “The official date of the State Funeral is 19 September 2022.

“This day will be a bank holiday and settings that are normally closed on a bank holiday should close on this day as a mark of respect. This will include schools and colleges.”

The DfE added that for schools and further education settings normal attendance is expected throughout the national mourning period, other than the bank holiday. The bank holiday will mark the end of the mourning period.

But education leaders “continue to have the power to authorise leaves of absence for pupils in exceptional circumstances”. Any requests for leave of absence should be “considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account individual circumstances”.

FE providers based in London should contact their local authority or police service for information on local disruptions during the national mourning period.

Students with work placements during the national period of mourning should continue as planned, guidance states.

Employers that do not usually close for bank holidays are not expected to do so.

The DfE also confirmed that Ofsted inspections will continue as normal through the mourning period, but no inspections will be scheduled on the bank holiday.

FE providers should “discuss any concerns with Ofsted, including whether they are facing exceptional circumstances that might warrant deferral of their inspection”.

Ofsted did however tell FE Week yesterday that it will pause publishing reports during the mourning period.

What’s in the Kit bag? Education leaders’ top asks of the new education secretary

Soaring energy bills, a staff recruitment crisis, and long-running funding headaches should be at the top of the new education secretary’s in-tray, industry chiefs have told FE Week. 

Kit Malthouse, now at the helm of the education department faces a “daunting” to-do list for the FE sector, according to the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB). 

At the top of that pile is the ongoing cost pressures headlined by escalating energy bills. The Association of Colleges (AoC) warned that energy bills for colleges are at risk of quadrupling, and have left colleges having to spread their already-squeezed budgets even thinner. 

Funding rates for both young people and adults in further education have historically been a concern for the sector. The Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) and the AoC have both called for an in-year uplift to 16 to 19 funding to help address rocketing costs – including wider cost of living pressures – while a reform and increase of bursary and free college meal funding will aid students. 

In a letter to then-education secretary James Cleverly over the summer with a series of priorities, the AoC said capital projects beginning with soon supported government grants had soared in costs because of inflation, and needed an inflation adjustment to enable them to go ahead. 

It also said boosting the pay of college teachers – whose salaries can be up to £9,000 behind those of school teachers – would prevent staffing issues from hampering the rollout of T Levels and higher technical qualifications. 

In addition, a 10 per cent uplift in T Level funding enabled through the 16 to 19 budget underspend would address the “cost pressures on delivery and incentivise colleges to grow their T Level provision,” it said. 

Holex, the industry body for adult and community education providers, has called for the government to inject £5.2 billion into basic and level 2 adult education, with a 10-year budget that “breaks the cycle of low skills, which in turn will pay for itself through a boost in productivity”. 

Sue Pember from the organisation said measures such as the Multiply programme – a national scheme aimed at boosting adult numeracy skills – should be mirrored with versions for literacy and language too. 

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) over the summer outlined a series of key asks from the new prime minister and education secretary. 

It included refreshed calls to temporarily re-introduce the £3,000 apprenticeship new hire incentive for employers, which it said could be funded from the underspend in the apprenticeship programme budget for new apprentices aged 16 to 24. 

Elsewhere, the future role of applied general qualifications like BTECs has been raised. The SFCA’s deputy chief executive, James Kewin, urged the government to “listen to calls from the #ProtectStudentChoice campaign and abandon plans to scrap the majority of BTECs,” and “end the ongoing uncertainty surrounding these qualifications by shelving plans to run yet another bureaucratic reapproval process”. 

FAB also cited bureaucratic barriers. Tom Bewick, chief executive, said: “More effective skills policies – implemented by government and employers – are the main way of equipping workers and businesses with the tools to succeed. The stark reality is that despite over a decade of hyperactive Whitehall driven reforms, the skills and productivity dashboard is flashing red. Adult skills participation has plummeted. Apprenticeships have lost their way. Achievement rates on government funded programmes are in the doldrums.” 

FAB said it would like to see reform to the apprenticeship levy in order to boost starts numbers, and improve the overall national achievement rate – which for 2020/21 was 57.7 per cent. 

AELP said that fully funded 16 to 18 apprenticeship training and assessment should be extended to all employers that do not pay the levy, not just those who have 50 employees or less, while an underspend in the traineeship budget could fund the introduction of a training allowance to boost the number of young people enrolling. 

In the adult education sphere, the AELP said the new government must address learner numbers, and should consider doubling the current £1.3 billion investment in the adult education budget. “This would bring funding back to the level of investment a decade ago,” said AELP chief executive Jane Hickie. 

Holex said it wanted to see a plan to address shortages in level 2 qualifications for subject areas such as health and care, the service sector and transport, as well as preparatory work for emerging areas like green skills. 

Other broader asks from the sector included a request from FAB to streamline the complicated network of quangos, a national promotional campaign outlining the adult education offer put forward by Holex, and the AoC pressing for a VAT exemption for colleges in a similar way to schools. 

Ofsted reports paused during Queen mourning, but inspections continue

Ofsted will pause publishing reports during the mourning of Queen Elizabeth II, but has said inspections will continue.

Senior officials at the inspectorate met this morning. A statement from the inspectorate read: “In line with government guidance that public services should continue and schools and FE settings should remain open during the period of mourning, our inspections will carry on.”

A spokesperson said they will be “understanding of any arrangements or activities education settings have planned or are planning during this period, and our inspectors will work flexibly around them”.

However they will be “pausing the routine publication of inspection reports until the mourning period concludes”.

The FE community has paid tribute to the Queen’s “dedication to public service”. She died aged 96 at Balmoral yesterday afternoon. 

A period of national mourning has begun, which will last until the end of the day of the state funeral. Royal mourning will continue seven days after the funeral. 

Many events – including music performances and football matches – have been cancelled.

Inspections were suspended during the first lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. A full programme of routine inspections was not brought back until September last year.

Schools and FE settings have been told to remain open following the Queen’s death.

Details of the Queen’s funeral are yet to be confirmed but her son, King Charles III, will decide whether it is designated a bank holiday.

If it is, it’s thought likely that schools would close for the day. Further guidance is expected when a decision is made.

Mental health worries dominate 2022 youth voice census

A survey of over 4,000 11- to 30-year-olds has reported that anxiety and poor mental health are holding back more than half of young people.  

The youth voice census, conducted by the charity Youth Employment UK, is now in its sixth year. 

Careers education, experience of assessment and access to work experience were all topics covered, with fewer young people than ever before saying they feel prepared for the world of work.  

Mental health issues accounted for two of the top five barriers reported to finding a job and half of respondents said that exams and assessments impact their mental health negatively.  

Throughout the report, the impact of Covid 19 lockdowns is laid bare, with sizable proportions of young people discussing loneliness and low self-esteem in their responses. 

“The numbers reveal the extent of the emergency,” said LJ Rawlings, chief executive and founder of Youth Employment UK. 

“51 per cent of young people looking for work thought their anxiety was the biggest barrier to accessing work. 31.2 per cent of young people in work struggle with their wellbeing. Nearly a third (28.5 per cent) of young people said they are experiencing ‘social, emotional and mental health challenges’.  

“The numbers are horrific, and behind each statistic is a young person needing support.” 

Over 80% had apprenticeships discussed once or more in secondary school 

Most young people were never taught about T Levels, starting their own business or Traineeships, according to the survey. Findings report that 72 per cent hadn’t discussed T Levels, 59 per cent hadn’t discussed starting a business and Traineeships weren’t part of discussions for 66 per cent on young people surveyed. Young people on free school meals were 6 per cent more likely to have heard about T Levels once or more.  

Last year, the number of young people reporting that they had discussion A levels and apprenticeship options was almost equal, at 87 per cent and 86 per cent respectively. This year’s results show the gap widened slightly, with 87 per cent saying they had discussed A levels more than once and 84 per cent discussed apprenticeships at least once. 

1 in 4 young people rated their secondary school careers education as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ 

Only 2 per cent of the young people surveyed said that they visited a training provider as part of their careers education at secondary school. Just shy of 17 per cent said they had visited a college. The most common form of careers education reported were face to face advice (39 per cent) and careers lessons (38 per cent).  

Overall, most young people – 45 per cent – said that the quality of their careers education was ‘average’ and 25 per cent said it was ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’. Of those, young people with additional needs were 4 per cent more likely to rate their careers education as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’. 

Boys were twice as likely to be ‘very likely’ and young people on free school meals were five per cent more likely to apply for an apprenticeship. 

Over two-thirds of college and sixth form students work or want to work alongside studying 

Working while studying is likely to become even more prevalent as household bills continue to rise. At the time of this survey, 39 per cent of college and sixth form students were working alongside studying, and a further 30 per cent were looking for jobs alongside their course.   

Students from low-income backgrounds were much more likely to be looking for work. Those eligible for free school meals were twice as likely to be looking for work. 

Mental health concerns top barriers finding jobs 

When asked about entering the world of work, two of the top five barriers reported by young people related to mental health.  

‘Lack of work experience’ was the top barrier selected, with 55 per cent, however ‘anxiety’ and ‘mental health challenges’ were selected by 51 per cent and 32 per cent respectively.  

Similarly, young people that were already in work reported. 

Only 1 in 4 young apprentices feel ‘prepared’ or ‘very prepared’ for their end-point assessment. 

The vast majority – nearly 75 per cent – of apprentices that completed the survey said their apprenticeships was either ‘helpful’ or ‘very helpful’ in preparing them for their next steps.  

However only 24 per cent said that they felt ‘prepared’ or ‘very prepared’ for their End Point Assessment, with written responses calling for better communication about EPAs from training providers and employers.  

Two in five college and sixth form students don’t know what they’ll do next 

According to the survey, a majority of young people think the quality of education at college or sixth form is good, but a sizable number don’t know what they want to do next.  

The survey found that 42 per cent of college and sixth form students said they either didn’t know or were unsure about their next steps. This is a four percentage-point increase on the same figure from last year’s survey.