Post-16 education and training systems across the UK have been
undermined by constant policy churn, fragmented pathways, and a
lack of sustained focus from policymakers, according to a new
report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) and the
University of Oxford's Centre for Skills, Knowledge and
Organisational Performance (SKOPE).
These findings come from a multi-year project jointly conducted
by EPI and SKOPE, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, which
reviewed post-16 education and training systems across all four
UK nations. Key findings from the project
include:
-
Policy churn, fragmented pathways, and a lack of sustained
focus from policymakers have created confusion for young
people, entrenched inequalities, and raised serious concerns
among employers.
-
Educational outcomes in Wales are particularly concerning,
with lower participation, attainment, and higher rates of
young people not in education, employment or training,
particularly among disadvantaged young people.
The project's final report, “Comparing policies, participation
and inequalities across UK Post-16 Education and Training
landscapes”, identifies a series of key recommendations to
improve the effectiveness and coherence of post-16 education and
training systems.
Key Recommendations:
- Improve apprenticeship participation: all four nations should
conduct an urgent review to increase the apprenticeship
participation of young people and those from more disadvantaged
backgrounds.
- Pay for Further Education (FE) staff: there is an urgent need
to conduct a full review of pay and conditions for FE staff.
- Establish stable post-16 pathways: there is a huge complexity
in post-16 pathways across all four nations, with constant policy
churn adding to the mix. Policymakers should target a stable set
of post-16 pathways.
- Improve coordination: policymakers should establish greater
coordination at both national and local levels.
- Embed employability skills: employability skills should be
explicitly integrated into post-16 curricula as part of ongoing
curriculum and assessment review.
- Use better data to target inequalities: the UK government and
devolved administrations should enhance data collection to
facilitate more robust comparisons across nations, with a
particular focus on addressing inequalities.
- Improve outcomes in Wales: urgent action is needed in Wales
to raise the proportion of young people achieving Level 3
qualifications, which is notably lower than the rest of the
UK. The share of Welsh boys going to university has hardly
increased at all in the last 25 years and is now lower than it
was 6 years ago before the pandemic.
Luke Sibieta, Research Fellow at the Education Policy
Institute (EPI), said:
“Post-16 education and training institutions are a vital
part of the UK's educational landscape. Yet they are often an
afterthought for policymakers, with constant policy churn adding
to the complexity across all four nations. Policymakers must
prioritise creating a stable set of high-quality post-16
institutions, with a stronger focus on tackling persistent
inequalities.
“The share of young people in Wales achieving A-levels or
equivalent is lower than anywhere else in the UK, particularly
among those from working-class backgrounds. This likely reflects
persistently low skills and outcomes in schools. Disadvantaged
young people in Wales have worse outcomes before age 16 than
their peers elsewhere in the UK - a problem that has been
recognised for years, if not decades. Policymakers in Wales must
take urgent action to address the root causes, ensuring that
another generation of disadvantaged young people is not
failed.”
Professor James Robson, Director of the Centre for
Skills, Knowledge, and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) at the
University of Oxford, said:
“This research highlights the challenges post-16 education and
training faces across the whole of the UK and the difficulties
both employers and young people face in navigating complex
pathways and sets of qualifications. However, across the UK
nations, there is a trend towards more joined up policy
approaches to education and training that emphasise greater
collaboration between HE and FE, the state playing a greater role
in coordinating skills supply, and a more place-based approach to
the development of an integrated tertiary education system. This
policy approach needs to be developed further to ensure post-16
education and training is working effectively and efficiently for
both the economy and society.”
Dr Emily Tanner, Programme Head at the Nuffield
Foundation said:
"This research demonstrates the value of taking a four-nation
perspective on education and training policy. Young people face
similar challenges in the transition to employment and the policy
solutions being tested offer rich opportunities for shared
learning. Improving data would unlock further opportunities to
understand and address inequalities."
