When Enrolment Masks a Young Person Falling Away
A student can remain enrolled at college and still miss more than half their sessions. New analysis from the Children's Commissioner found 28,528 young people in that position across the 262 college groups that returned spring attendance data. Applied across all 290 groups approached, the estimate reaches almost 42,000. They aren't recorded as NEET, but they may be receiving very little education. [Children's Commissioner]
The register doesn't tell the whole story
This isn't evidence that colleges have simply lost track of 42,000 students. The national figure is an extrapolation, and colleges don't yet measure attendance in a single consistent way. Placements, cancelled sessions, authorised absence, remote study and late starts can all change the denominator.
Even so, the pattern is hard to ignore. Attendance was lower in English and maths resit classes and lower-level programmes. Young people eligible for free meals, those with an EHCP and looked-after children were more likely to be absent. Transport, mental health, caring responsibilities and paid work sit behind plenty of those missing marks.
DfE says college attendance monitoring and tracking is coming, although the method and timetable haven't been published. Before another return lands with the MIS team, leaders can test the journey they already have: a missed session, a repeated pattern, contact with the learner, support offered, and a recorded outcome. Does that chain hold together?
Adult English and maths are shrinking too
For adults, a different set of numbers points to the same risk of people slipping away from learning. Learning and Work Institute found that average annual Adult Skills Fund spending on regulated English provision was 40 per cent lower in the five years after devolution than in the three years before it. Maths spending fell 37 per cent. Annual achievements in both subjects have roughly halved since 2016/17. [Learning and Work Institute]
The research doesn't prove devolution caused the fall. Spending dropped in devolved and non-devolved areas, and the figures exclude ESOL, Multiply and non-regulated learning. But a legal entitlement doesn't create a viable evening class, a bus route or enough learners to keep a course open. Colleges need their own view of starts, attendance, retention and progression, not just the headline enrolment total.
V Levels move from policy to assessment planning
Ofqual has now settled the core rules for the first V Levels. Each will carry 360 guided learning hours, with 40 per cent of marks from timetabled assessment and one annual assessment series. Digital Systems and Data, plus Accounting and Finance, may use on-screen timetabled assessment. Education won't. [Ofqual]
That puts practical questions on the table for September 2027. Are there enough secure devices and rooms? What happens when the network drops? Do access arrangements work for the learner rather than merely satisfy the specification? Awarding organisations will still determine much of the detail, so buying kit now would be premature. Mapping the gaps isn't.
Two autumn dates worth naming now
Revised 16 to 19 allocation statements are available, and the corrected R12 qualification achievement rate data can now be checked. The final R14 return closes at 6pm on 22 October. Care to Learn and defined vulnerable-groups bursary claims close at 5pm on 11 November. [DfE]
Those dates need named owners across finance, MIS, quality and student support. The first test is close enough: 22 October will show whether the corrected data has actually been turned into corrected learner records.
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