Young People In Low Level Vocational Education: Characteristics, Trajectories and Labour Market Outcomes
The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP)
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
The worth of technical and vocational provision at and below Level 2 is still routinely questioned. This paper looks at how valid such criticisms are.
Report authors Augustin de Coulon, Sophie Hedges, Vahe Nafilyan, Stefan
Published by Speckesser Centre for Vocational Education Research (March 2017)
There is a recurrent tendency to criticise the worth of technical and vocational provision at and below Level 2; a theme that can be traced back to Alison Wolf's Review of Technical Education in 2011 which reported that: "The staple offer for between a quarter and a third of the post-16 cohort is a diet of low-level vocational qualifications, most of which have little to no labour market value." This resulted in an overhaul of provision at this level, seeing off the old foundation learning tier and introducing study programmes. Notwithstanding this, the worth of provision below Level 2 is still routinely questioned. However, this paper from CVER in 2017 goes some way to filling the gap in hard evidence as to how valid such criticisms are.
Concentrating on the 10 per cent of school leavers who start low level vocational education (normally below Level 2, or "BL2"), it found that 45 per cent showed clear progression in college-based vocational programmes at higher levels, that 21 per cent moved into sustained employment, and that 13 per cent moved into apprenticeships. Another key finding was that achieving a low level qualification started by the age of 16 leads to better employment prospects and to higher earnings four years later. Therefore, nearly 80 per cent of all BL2 learners make successful transitions to employment, higher level learning or apprenticeships during the first 36 months after leaving secondary school. This suggests that such qualifications do have a labour market worth, and the authors conclude that policy should encourage and support adolescent engagement until they successfully gain their (low level) qualification.
Methodology
The report is co-authored by three young members of the eXtreme group, supported by Investing in Children (IiC), a children's human rights project based in North East England.
A group of 12 young research volunteers from eXtreme, supported by an IiC project worker, decided to focus their research on disabled children and young people's understanding and experience of transitions, to improve this process across the local authority.
Theoretical vs applied content
The authors state that while the UK has the third lowest rate of education participation for 15-19 year olds in Europe - only Malta and Cyprus are lower - we have one of the highest tertiary education rates, "suggesting a profound imbalance in education participation in favour of the academic route". They also cite evidence that qualifications do not have a particularly important role in the recruitment of low-skilled employees, with employers preferring to recruit based on other evidence of skills, characteristics and attributes, and that the programmes most suited are those that "focus on improving the efficient deployment of existing skills".
This is of particular interest given their view that while literacy and numeracy skills are undoubtedly greatly valued by employers "targeting such cognitive skills in isolation is not sufficient for long-term impacts on successful labour market performances.
"Non-cognitive skills such as conscientiousness, self-discipline, perseverance, co-operation and willingness to be managed by more senior/adult employees are nearly equally essential ingredients to success on the labour market."
This is particularly pertinent to the current discussion surrounding the GCSE resit policy, whereby those who attain a Grade 3 in GCSE maths and English must resit the examination, if necessary on multiple occasions, until they attain a Grade 4. The evidence in this report raises questions as to the value of this insistence on passing one particular type of academic examination when other forms of learning are available such as functional skills, that teach literacy and numeracy skills to the same level but in a more applied context - one that may often be more appropriate for those who struggle with the more theoretical content of GCSEs. This aligns with the author's view that it is the combination of cognitive and non-cognitive content that gives BL2 learners their labour market worth.
Implications for practice
While the report clearly demonstrates the value of BL2 learning, there are still a considerable number of the cohort - 21 per cent - that transition from BL2 to Neet (not in education, employment or training) status, although the authors found a particular association with BL2 courses with duration of less than a year.
This would suggest that the policy of raising the participation age to 18 - whereby young people must follow some kind of education or training for this period - is sound.
The research also indicates that such training should not be confined to theoretically based academic pathways, but should incorporate a range of applied "life" skills that enable cognitive learning to be applied in real-life settings. This raises the chance that BL2 learners will enjoy a positive transition to sustained employment, higher levels of learning, and ultimately an enhanced income premium.
- The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) represents the interests of over 900 organisations delivering vocational learning and employability support for 380,000 employers
FURTHER READING
T Levels - Evaluation of the Industry Placements Pilot, Research report for the DfE. Becci Newton, Joy Williams, Ruth Francis, Rosie Gloster, Jonathan Buzzeo, Morwenna Byford, Kate Spiegelhalter (IES); Dr Bill Esmond (iCeGS), December 2018
Implementation of T Level Programmes: Government Consultation Response, Department for Education, May 2018
Apprenticeship training in England - a cost-effective model for firms? Education Policy Institute, April 2018
Work In Progress Report, YMCA April 2017
England's Apprenticeships: Assessing the New System, IPPR briefing paper, August 2016
The Value of Apprenticeships: Beyond Wages, Social Market Foundation, June 2016
Apprenticeships - What Do Young People Really Think?, ACCA November 2015
This article is part of CYP Now's Apprenticeships Special Report. Click here for more