The new Further Education (FE) White Paper claims its proposals will transform post-16 education and training in England. It acknowledges that not enough people develop technical skills at Level 3 and above. Yet it has nothing to say about the thousands of young people who do not progress smoothly from GCSEs to Level 3 programmes. In this post, first published by policy@manchesterblogs, we discuss our research on the 40% of young people who do not gain a grade 4/C or higher in their English and maths GCSEs. We examine what options are open to these so-called ‘lower attainers’ and suggest what government at central, regional and local levels can do to reduce inequalities in post-16 progression.

• The GCSE in England continues to act as a crucial watershed, sorting young people into different post-16 routes.
• ‘Lower attainers’ at GCSE are not failures. Most have multiple achievements. But progression is more complex and difficult for them than for higher achieving peers, and too many are not able to build on their achievements between 16 and 19.
• England needs a recognised Upper Secondary Education and Training Phase, and curriculum and accountability measures in the pre-16 Key Stage 4 should be changed to promote wider achievement.

January’s long-awaited, FE White Paper, ‘Skills for Jobs’, claims to “put an end to the illusion that a degree is (more…)