Youth Futures Foundation responds to Government plans to expand technical education pathways, skills training and employer engagement

“Youth Futures Foundation welcomes the direction of travel set out by the Prime Minister today to expand young people’s access to technical education pathways, work experience and connections with employers from an earlier stage in their education.

Countries who have had far greater success than the UK in supporting their young people to participate in the labour market tend to have much stronger links between their education systems and the world of work. This includes greater involvement from employers in pathways from an early stage and higher prioritisation of real-world learning through interventions such as work experience.

The evidence tells us that vocational and technical education, especially apprenticeships, are effective in getting young people into good work and are particularly impactful for those from marginalised backgrounds. Yet in recent years, we have seen a narrowing of both these early pathways and opportunities. While we will need to see full details about how this will work in practice, today’s announcement is a positive step in the right direction towards providing meaningful chances to all young people.

Education reform is important, but technical pathways alone will not remove the barriers faced by many young people, particularly those experiencing multiple disadvantages. To address the scale and stubbornness of the youth unemployment and inactivity challenge, these reforms must be part of a much bigger integrated approach across employment support, labour market, health, youth policy and more.

As the What Works Centre for Youth Employment, we look forward to seeing the recommendations of the final Young People and Work report, led by Alan Milburn, due to be published this Autumn. We also look forward to continuing to work with policy makers, employers and the wider sector to help ensure more young people move into, and stay in, good work”

Sarah Yong, Deputy CEO