Education Secretary Lucy Powell has pledged to tackle the growing number of young people not in education, employment or training, describing the crisis as a “clarion call” for government as students prepare to receive their exam results.
Lucy Powell has vowed to “rewire” the education system to ensure more young people leave school with a clear route into further education, training or employment.
Writing on social media as this year’s results period approaches, the Education Secretary said:
“As we approach this year’s results, the NEETs crisis is a clarion call for us all.”
Her intervention follows a Manchester Evening News interview highlighting concerns that around 58,000 teenagers are expected not to receive results this week, underlining the scale of the challenge facing young people who risk falling out of education and training altogether.
The issue has become an early priority for Powell since her appointment as Education Secretary by Prime Minister Andy Burnham last month. Her brief covers schools, further and higher education, apprenticeships and skills.
Powell has argued that the scale of the NEET challenge demonstrates the need for fundamental changes to education, including strengthening core subjects, reforming SEND provision and ensuring technical and vocational education is no longer treated as a “second fiddle” to academic routes.
The government says more than one million young people are currently not in education, employment or training – around one in eight young people in England. Announcing additional investment last week, Powell said too many young people faced unnecessary barriers to apprenticeships, college places and training and pledged to help thousands more gain the skills and experience needed to build successful careers.
The push forms part of the Burnham government’s wider attempt to reshape the education and skills system around employment opportunities.
Last month, the Prime Minister announced new technical education routes that will give young people from the age of 14 earlier access to technical skills, work experience and links with local employers. The reforms are intended to put technical and vocational education on a stronger footing alongside traditional academic qualifications.
For Powell, the immediate concern is ensuring that young people receiving their results this summer are not allowed to disappear from the system if their results do not go as planned.
The Manchester Central MP has made clear that tackling the NEETs crisis will require intervention across government, with better connections between schools, colleges, apprenticeships, employers and employment support.
Her comments come amid a wider debate over how early government and schools should intervene. Alan Milburn, a senior government adviser, has suggested children at risk of becoming NEET should be identified much earlier, potentially from primary-school age – a proposal that has prompted debate over how much responsibility schools should bear for preventing youth unemployment.
Powell’s message, however, is that the current numbers demand action rather than acceptance.
As thousands of teenagers prepare for one of the most important weeks of their education, the Education Secretary is signalling that reducing the number who fall through the gaps will be at the heart of Labour’s education reforms.
