Investment and reforms to further education needed

The Education Committee has released a new report outlining ways the government can achieve its mission of economic growth by investing in the further education (FE) and skills sector. 
 
The cross-party Committee’s new report concludes that the sector has been starved of funding and overlooked for over a decade, despite a growing consensus about the importance of strengthening vocational and technical education and the need for services to support students’ wellbeing. 
 
The report says the sector has been chronically underfunded for 15 years and the disparity between the typical salaries of teachers in FE and secondary schools is now 15%. This has contributed to a crisis in retention and recruitment of staff and a feeling that FE is undervalued. 

The Committee recommends that FE teachers’ pay should be overseen by a new statutory pay review body, like those used to advise the Government on pay increases for primary and secondary school teachers, nurses and doctors, and which the Government is now setting up for school support staff. 

The Committee calls for further devolution of education and training for 16-19-year-olds to Strategic Authorities, and for this provision to be included in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. 

The Government’s Youth Guarantee supports 18-21-year-olds with access to education, training and employment opportunities, and helps prevent young people from becoming NEET (not in employment, education or training). However, the Committee recommends that the Guarantee should be expanded to help 16-24-year-olds so that all young people are given the same opportunities. 
 
The reported also highlights the problems with T Levels, with relatively few students opting for them and the Government finding it difficult to enlist employers to provide work placements that T Level students must complete. Only 71% of the 10,253 students starting T Levels in 2022 finished their course after two years. 

The Committee recommends that the Department for Education (DfE) should consider establishing smaller ‘modular’ T Levels, equivalent to one A Level. The Education Policy Institute suggested these smaller T Levels would enable students to undertake a mixture of academic and technical subjects. 

DfE should also launch a national awareness campaign for T Levels targeting students, parents, and employers. 

The report also recommends that by April 2026, the government creates a streamlined application and reporting process for apprenticeships tailored for businesses, and provide dedicated support and guidance to help small businesses navigate the system.
 
The report also calls for Applied General Qualifications not to be scrapped. They say Level 3 Applied General Qualifications (AGQs), such as BTECs, provide an essential alternative to A Levels and T Levels. Having previously been earmarked for defunding, the Government must publicly commit to the long-term retention of these qualifications and to providing sustained funding for them. Students should be able to pursue a mixture of A Levels, AGQs and T Levels in order to support more tailored and inclusive educational pathways.