At today’s Conservative Party Conference the Prime Minister made a host of new announcements including a new Advanced British Standard (ABS).
Having spent Sunday – Tuesday at the Conservative Party Conference sharing our insight, expertise and the collective voices of thousands of young people I wanted to take a moment to consider the key themes and messages I heard throughout the sessions:
- Youth NEET figures: NEET figures for young people are increasing, connections to quality work are not being made and there were many calls of support to the Young Person’s Guarantee (which was gladly received by the Minister for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression Mims Davies MP, who also agreed to champion the Guarantee)
- L2 and L3 skills reform isn’t where it needs to be: T levels need more time, there are issues in both supply and demand and, most worryingly, the unintended consequences to these reforms of leaving groups of students locked out of the highly rigorous academic system and a majority of young people unable to access their chosen route where they live
- Where you live matters: place directly impacts what you have access to, your health, how safe it is access what you need and the likelihood you will get careers advice or work experience
- Skills for the future workforce: how can we make sure we are supporting a skilled and productive workforce, that we are engaging people into growth sectors and retaining, training and retraining them where necessary was a source of conversation at every panel for every sector.
These issues were highlighted in the Youth Voice Census too, the 2023 results tell us a story of young people feeling disconnected from opportunity, their community and each other. The surmounting pressure to “catch up” academically, with work experience and life experiences. A constant state of change has left young people fearing that they are not prepared to face the future because in reality they do not know what is coming next. Young people are worried about the access to quality work where they live with just 12.4% feeling that they had access to a quality opportunity.
What does today’s education announcement mean for young people?
There is much more detail to come following today’s announcements and at Youth Employment UK we will be consulting young people and our employer Members in the coming days.
But for now we welcome the commitment to invest into recruiting and supporting our teaching workforce, both schools and across FE need the support from the government to meet the needs of pupils. This should also be realised in ensuring the quality and safety of the facilities our young people are educated in.
The big announcements regarding the Advanced British Standard (ABS) will need more careful consideration. There is little detail yet as to how the system will work, and what it means for the heavy investment that the Department has spent on T Level roll out. Little was said about the role of Apprenticeships in today’s announcements, we know that apprenticeships can really deliver for young people and employers.
There is even less detail about the pathway for those learners who are not able to move onto a rigorous academic Level 3 qualification pathway. To be clear it is not about lack of aspiration for these learners, it is much more complex and individual than that.
Youth Employment UK is concerned about the plans to scrap Vocational Technical Qualifications at Level 2 and Level 3, before we see a full roll out of T Levels and their success outcomes. Our Commission is looking into the impact of the reform on youth employment and will continue its work and hope to add value to the evolving strategy in the Department for Education.
A world class system for everyone, everywhere and at every level should be the goal and we hope to support this with our work and insight.
