Barely three months after publishing yet another ‘skills’ white paper—close to 100 pages diagnosing the UK’s long‑running skills crisis and promising new technical qualifications, NEET initiatives and rebrands for further and higher education—the government has unveiled something very different. And arguably, something that should be closer to the reality facing workers in the 2020s. The […]
Labour market statistics for December 2025, put unemployment for young people not in full-time education at over 1 in 8, with another 1 in 6 ‘economically inactive’. Youth unemployment has historically been much worse than for other groups, but these high levels of are symptomatic of broader changes in the labour market, the economy and […]
Data published last week just reaffirms longer term changes in the nature of apprenticeships – particularly who does them and at what level. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships/2024-25 It’s a mistake to see apprenticeships as an alternative pathway for 16- and 17-year-olds not continuing on the academic track, the original intention for their reintroduction at the start of the […]
Many people, it seems, even some practitioners and activists, don’t seem to be aware that the law requires all young people in England to continue in education or training until their 18th birthday. Enforcing this legislation (part of the 2008 Education Act) has been difficult – the most recent ONS statistics show 75,000 16–17-year-olds categorised as […]
The government’s post-16 education and skills White Paper has finally been published, but it was a pre-released announcement about the introduction of another new vocational qualification that made headlines. The announcement that the government will be consulting over new V (Vocational Level) awards has sent alarm bells through the post-16 sector, not least because it’s […]
books and articles by Martin Allen 