Colleges Have Been Asked to Bring Young People Back. What Changes Next?
Almost 150,000 16 to 18-year-olds are not in education, employment or training, according to the Education Secretary. At the Association of Colleges conference on Wednesday, Lucy Powell asked colleges to help bring them back. She also acknowledged a problem college teams have raised for years: the rules can make a second chance difficult to offer. [DfE]
A promise to ease the barriers
The Department for Education says it will allow more flexibility in the English and maths hours expected of young people returning to college from outside education. It also wants remaining hours to be offered through one-to-one or small-group support. Powell promised more certainty when colleges enrol young people during the year and said the way progress is measured needs attention. [DfE]
Those are proposals and commitments, not a new condition of funding. The DfE has not yet published who will qualify, how many hours might change or when a revised funding rule would take effect. [FE Week] Colleges still need to plan against the rules in force today.
That detail matters. A young person who has spent months away from learning may need a different first few weeks from a student who has moved directly from school. A flexible timetable could help, but it must come with a clear route back into sustained English and maths learning, as well as careers advice, practical study and support that makes attendance possible.
The local offer has to work
Powell asked colleges to work with employers on meaningful work experience and bring forward ideas for reaching young people who have dropped out. [DfE] The practical test is local: who knows these young people, how will they be contacted, which courses have places after September, and what happens when transport, confidence or caring responsibilities get in the way?
Colleges can map existing entry points with local authorities, youth services and employers now. They can also track what happens after a young person comes back, rather than counting a return to the classroom as the finish line. These are sensible planning steps, not new national reporting duties.
Adult learning belongs in the same conversation
AoC president Gerry McDonald warned at the conference that poorly designed 16 to 19 devolution could create hard borders between areas. He also called for renewed attention to adult education. [FE Week] Last week's DfE update gave several areas a more definite timetable for adult skills fund devolution. That timetable is useful context, but it doesn't settle the proposed 16 to 19 arrangements. A college serving young people and adults across neighbouring areas needs to know how access and progression will work on both sides of a boundary.
Another qualification consultation opens
On Thursday, Ofqual began releasing consultations on subject-level rules for the second group of V Levels, planned for first teaching in September 2028. Health and care and science consultations are open, with further sectors to follow. All six are due to close in January 2027. [Ofqual] Curriculum and assessment teams can check the proposals relevant to their offer, while keeping future qualifications distinct from courses and funding available now.
The immediate question for colleges is simpler than the policy timetable: can someone who wants to return find a course, the support to stay, and a credible next step? The answer will depend on the rules ministers publish and the local partnerships colleges build in the meantime.
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