Life after school: confronting the crisis

In 2016, Impetus-PEF launched their Life After School campaign which found that six out of 10 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds did not have a Level 2 qualification in maths and English by 19 [report indexed in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 124.645]. These qualifications are the gateway to A-Levels and university, apprenticeships and employment. Without them, young people's choices and prospects are limited. To find out what happens to those young people - where they go next, what they study, and their chances of success - Impetus-PEF commissioned Education Datalab to analyse data available through the National Pupil Database (NPD) and Individual Learner Records (ILR) as well as conducting their own field research in the 16-19 education sector.

Young people who fail their English and maths GCSE first time around are supposed to get a second chance but the findings suggest that they are not getting it, irrespective of their background or where they study. The majority of students who do catch up by the end of year 13, do so through Functional Skills, other Level 2 English and maths catch-up courses undertaken by FE students, rather than GCSEs. These qualifications, while increasing in recognition, are still relatively unheard of with little data available measuring their progression potential and lack the currency amongst employers that GCSEs hold. This is the crisis facing 16-19 education and urgent action is needed to address it. The report makes a number of recommendations aimed at redressing this situation.

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