Written evidence by Association of Colleges (FES0276)

Education committee

Further Education and Skills

Introduction

1. The Education Committee opened an inquiry into further education and skills in January 2025. AoC provided written and oral evidence in March 2025. We are submitting this as supplementary evidence to ensure that information on recent events is available for the committee’s report.

Curriculum and qualifications in further education

2. The interim report from the Curriculum and Assessment Review (CAR) was published on 18 March 2025. This sets out a number of areas which will be addressed in the final report due later this year. The areas specific to post-16 education are:

• exploring Level 3 pathways, with the aim of building on the successes of existing academic and technical pathways, with particular attention paid to how best to support learners who do not study A Levels or T Levels.

• considering how best to develop strong occupational pathways at Level 2 and examining how to strengthen progression routes from Level 2 to Level 3.

• considering how best to ensure learners who did not achieve the required standard in English and maths at GCSE are best supported to do so by age 18.

3. The final CAR report will be published in autumn 2025. The Department for Education (DfE) will then publish a response. This will leave limited time for implementation of any post-16 changes in the 2026-7 academic year, given that information and advice to Year 11 students starts in September 2025 and the multi-year lead time for qualification updates. We anticipate the majority of the changes will need to be scheduled for 2027, 2028 or even later. Any reform following the CAR will take place in a system which continues to evolve. Students starting in September 2025 will be able to take new Technical Occupational Qualifications (TOQs) and Alternative Academic Qualifications (AAQs) available for the first time in a small number of subjects[1] as well as six updated T Levels and one new T Level in Marketing[2]. Over the next two years, DfE anticipates that some significant qualifications will lose funding approval. In its rapid review published in December 2024, DfE extended funding approval for 157 qualifications for one or two years (until either July 2026 or July 2027)[3]. The number of students starting T Levels continues to rise (to 25,000 in 2024-5[4]), but the recent National Audit Office report confirms that numbers are below DfE expectations[5].

4. This context means that DfE will need to make some short-term decisions alongside some longer-term ones about the 16-19 curriculum. A longer-term plan will help with planning, staffing and guidance for students and parents. The future 16-19 curriculum will be defined partly by A Levels and T Levels, but, in the 2024-5 academic year, these qualifications are taken by 53% and 2.3% of 16–19-year-olds respectively[6]. DfE anticipates that T Level starts will grow to 66,000 by 2029-30, which would be around 10% of the Year 12 cohort[7]. These are outline estimates rather than firm projections, however, A Level numbers won’t increase if GCSE results don’t change significantly, so this leaves a maximum of 65% of the age group taking A Levels or T Levels and a clear need for other options for the remaining 35% - 40%. It would be wrong to characterise this as just a “third route” given that this will be a significant group of young people taking Level 3 and Level 2 qualifications, apprenticeships, foundation apprenticeships and other programmes. In our view, government, education leaders and others should be working on a 16-18 system which has options and routes varying by sector (sometimes broad sectors). Long-term curriculum and qualification planning should be done on a subject-by-subject basis, enabling students to choose qualifications which meet their intended destinations.

5. The 16-18 education system currently does not cater for the two-thirds of 16-and 17-year-olds who take Level 3 qualifications[8] and needs to be flexible enough to provide routes into a variety of sectors, some of which are served by Level 2 and below technical qualifications.

6. The future system may work best if there is more integration between key stage 4 (KS4) and post-16 education, a more modular or credit-based approach to qualifications, more integration with apprenticeships and greater use of technology in teaching and assessment.

7. A focus on qualifications alone is not sufficient to prepare students for the modern world. Students benefit from a broader curriculum and through enrichment activities outside timetabled hours. Not all learning requires certification, but a framework can support planning.  

8. The burden of standardised external assessment needs to be reduced, with more opportunities to value student progress and achievement at all stages and provide achievable progression increments within an open and inclusive framework for all learners, so that it is possible for every student to access pathways which will help them achieve their aspirations.

9. Several short-term decisions will be needed to smooth the transition to the longer-term steady state. T Levels have many strengths, but the content and assessment need to continue to be streamlined, as is what is currently happening with the new generation 2 T Levels, and the employer-set project needs to be more manageable for staff and students. Scale-up will require significantly more placements which are not readily available in the numbers required in subjects such as the Health T Level.

10. Funding for several Level 3 Applied General Qualifications (AGQs) and technical qualifications such as Electrical Installation should be extended beyond their current July 2026 and July 2027 end dates to provide clarity for both learners and providers.

11. Some Technical Occupational Qualifications (TOQs) are only available to adults and should be open to young people. If made available to 16 to 18-year-olds, these qualifications could offer a more manageable and flexible option alongside English and maths.

12. There is also a case for large Alternative Academic Qualifications (AAQs). The current design assumes that those students who don’t take T Levels will take mixed programmes of A-levels and AAQs but this does not take into account the divided institutional landscape in which many school sixth forms only offer academic programmes, and one-third of FE colleges focus only on large vocational and technical qualifications.

13. The language around how we talk about qualifications needs to change. All Ofqual regulated qualifications should be seen as high quality. Terms like “gold standard”, “alternative”, or “other” are divisive and unhelpful to government objectives. All qualifications should be valued equally.

14. The CAR’s recommendations on programmes below Level 2 are also important. A third of 16 to 17-year-olds study at Level 2 or below, taking apprenticeships or are outside education altogether[9]. Colleges educate a large number of Level 2 students in subjects like construction, hair and catering. For many of these students, Level 2 is their starting point in college (52% of whom are 16), while others have progressed through entry and/or Level 1 (14% of students start Level 2 at 18). Some students start Level 2 with the aim of progressing to Level 3; others will use Level 2 as a springboard to employment or an apprenticeship. 45% of students starting a Level 3 vocational technical qualification other than a T Level do so at age 17, and an additional 24% start at age 18, indicating that they may have started at a lower qualification level at age 16. The previous government’s reforms set out to rationalise Level 2 qualifications by purpose, and from September 2025, TOQs in some subjects will be available. As with the rapid review of Level 3, a sector-by-sector approach would make sense because this would recognise the diverse entry requirements, employment routes and progression patterns across industries. Qualification pathways at this level should be sufficiently flexible to allow progression to a range of courses.

15. A new approach to English and maths is crucial to increase the number of young people who reach the age of 19 with competence at Level 2 in these key subjects. In the 2024/25 academic year, 300,000 students are taking English and maths in colleges, with 53% of all 16 to 18-year-olds at GFE and land-based colleges studying English and/or maths, mainly on Level 2 study programmes. The condition of funding policy introduced in 2014 and tightened in 2025 requires colleges to enrol every student who has not achieved a GCSE at grade 4 in English and maths. With school GCSE achievement levels back at pre-Covid levels, the growing population of young people means significantly more 16-18-year-olds taking resit courses.

16. Colleges have worked hard over the past 10 years to embed, track and deliver high-quality English and maths. Despite this hard work and investment, the Curriculum and Assessment Review interim report noted that there is only a 6% difference in the number of students achieving a Level 2 in English and maths now in comparison with 2014[10].

17. The achievement of 16 to 18-year-old students cannot be seen in isolation. Just 20% of low-achieving pupils at the end of KS2 achieve both English and maths at the end of KS4[11]. Achievement of Level 2 English and maths between 16 and 19 over the past few years is just under 30%[12]. Within this figure achievement rates vary. Students on A Level and Level 3 vocational programmes are much more likely to pass because they may only need to retake one of GCSE English or maths, and they may have achieved grade 4s or above in most or all of their other subjects. Colleges with large proportions of students on construction programmes, where students’ overall grades on entry are lower, see fewer students pass. A recent EPI report5 found that students’ resit attainment can be largely explained by their prior attainment. 

18. Recent DfE policy has focused on increasing in-person teaching time, decreasing tolerance on the condition of funding and focusing on professional development for staff, but the experience of the past 10 years means that this is only likely to deliver incremental improvements. A better approach might be a new curriculum for maths/numeracy and English language/literacy, which is universal, taken by all students from Key Stage 4 via 16-18 into adulthood and which covers the basic building blocks required as a citizen of modern-day Britain.

Apprenticeship and Skills

19. Ministers have set out plans to change the levy to become a Growth and Skills Levy[13], but we expect Skills England (officially launched in May 2025) to make announcements in the coming months about which non-apprenticeship programmes can be funded from the levy. The government’s Industrial Strategy published in June 2025[14] identified 8 growth-driving sectors. These, along with construction and health, are likely to be the priority for funding.

20. Trailblazer foundation and short apprenticeships were announced in recent months and will be available for new starts from September 2025. DfE has allocated £40 million to support construction foundation apprenticeships[15] in the next few years. DfE has also worked with the sector to reform apprenticeship standards. As a result, adult apprentices will no longer be required to take English and maths certificates[16] and employers and training providers will now have more flexibility over assessment arrangements.  DfE have announced an age-related eligibility rule or Level 7 standards[17] to help redirect spending towards younger apprentices and priority areas. Although HM Treasury has allocated a 2025-6 financial year budget that is 10.5% larger than 2024-5[18], this may not be sufficient for the continuing volume of starts and the shift to higher cost standards. The current design of the levy puts full control of spending in the hands of current employers. In a changing job market and at a time when public funds are limited, there is a continuing case for reforms to prioritise and plan apprenticeships to focus activity towards younger people at the start of their career or those switching into growth and priority sectors.

21. In the HM Treasury’s Spring statement at the end of March, the Chancellor announced a £625 million budget over 4 years to increase the number of people with construction skills to provide the workforce to deliver more homes and public projects. In the months that followed, DfE has provided more information on construction skills projects. These include new foundation apprenticeships and skills bootcamps, the promise of more revenue funding for construction education and an invitation to set up 10 technical excellence colleges in construction[19]. DfE received bids in early July 2025 and is due to make an announcement soon.

Funding

22. Between March and June 2025, the Department for Education made a series of announcements which settled further education funding for the 2025-6 academic year. These included:

• Increases in 16-18 funding rates to help colleges match recent pay increases in schools. Decisions include a 5.4% increase in headline funding rates and rises in formula weightings[20]. This followed the May 2025 report of the School Teacher Review Body[21] which noted that teaching staff turnover, retention, and recruitment were worse in colleges and schools. The extra money provided by DfE means that 16-18 funding will be more than £500 million more in 2025-6 than in 2024-5 but the decision to use the 16-18 formula as the distribution route for a sector-wide workforce issue leaves colleges with a higher proportion of adult learners, higher education students or apprentices struggling to make pay rises in line with these expectations.

• A 3% cash cut to the 2025-6 adult skills budget[22]. Two-thirds of this budget (£900 million) is now devolved to 13 strategic authorities, with £450 million paid nationally by a DfE formula to support activity in non-devolved areas.

• A March 2025 change in the rules for exceptional 16-18 in-year growth funding left some colleges hundreds of thousands of pounds short of what they’d expected to receive[23]. DfE explained that higher enrolments than anticipated on more expensive technical courses necessitated a change of approach, but this places the financial risk on colleges for taking on extra students.

• Funding to protect colleges, as public sector institutions, from the costs associated with the April 2025 national insurance increase[24].

• A plan to increase DfE FE revenue spending so that the budget is £1.2 billion bigger in 2028-9 and 2025-6. HM Treasury states that this includes funding an additional 65,000 additional learners, but it is unclear at this stage what share of the increase is allocated for that purpose[25]. There is a risk that adult skills spending will continue to be static in cash terms (a real-terms cut) or worse.  However, ministers have also promised a levy on international student fees and a higher immigration skills charge, both of which may be partly used to fund adult skills.

• A formula grant to help FE colleges keep buildings in adequate condition for education and training. HM Treasury’s ten-year infrastructure plan[26] published in June 2025 confirmed that this budget will continue until the end of the decade and beyond. DfE has a £2.2 billion skills capital budget for the 4 years from 2026 to 2030 to maintain building condition, to improve energy efficiency, to expand 16-19 places and to develop technical excellence colleges with the capital funding for TECs coming from a £200 million skills Mission fund.

23. The funding provided via DfE for 16-19 education, for capital spending and to cover recent increases in national insurance and teacher pensions has protected the majority of colleges from the need to make redundancies, has helped fund pay rises and means that a growing population of young people can access a higher quality education, but the financial situation remains challenging. Currently, seven colleges have financial health notices to improve from DfE, adult skills spending continues to reduce in value each year, pay gaps and teaching staff vacancies remain, and some of the work needed to respond to the government missions and the industrial strategy is being done on a shoestring. Colleges will work with the government and other stakeholders to prioritise, but the financial situation will force difficult choices between now and 2030.

Association of Colleges
 

Who we are

The Association of Colleges (AoC) represents 98% of FE colleges and 52% of sixth forms  

in England incorporated under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. English  

colleges educate over 1.6 million students every year and employ approximately  

133,000 staff. Further education colleges are an essential part of England’s education  

system. Whether it is through top-class technical education, basic skills or lifelong  

learning, colleges help people of all ages and backgrounds to make the most of their  

talents and ambitions. Rooted in local communities, colleges are crucial in driving social mobility and providing the skills to boost local and regional economies.

September 2025

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