An international comparison of technical education funding systems: what can England learn from successful countries?

This report undertakes a comprehensive comparison of technical education in England and the UK with other developed countries. The research considers how far England is behind leading nations, and what reforms would be necessary in order to match their technical education offer. This report undertakes a comprehensive comparison of technical education in England and the UK with other developed countries. The research considers how far England is behind leading nations, and what reforms would be necessary in order to match their technical education offer. The UK government is aiming to establish a clear technical upper secondary pathway, with clear progression routes and labour market currency. In this context, this report reviews successful upper secondary (16-19 in England) technical education and funding systems, and compares them with England, to understand what lessons we can learn, how England could achieve a world-standard technical education, and the likely barriers to doing so. The countries chosen are Denmark, Norway, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. These countries have been selected because of high literacy and numeracy levels of young people and/or labour market returns from upper secondary education.

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