How will DfE Build up T Level Student Numbers? | FE Soundbite 790

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 790: 28th March 2025 | How will DfE Build up T Level Student Numbers? | FE Soundbite 790

This is the weekly e-newsletter and e-journal by FE News: ISSN 2732-4095. We know life is busy, so here is a snapshot of the latest announcements and epic thought leadership articles from sector influencers and cool thinkers across FE and Skills this week on FE News

Gavin’s Reflective Perspective

Wow, another hectic week of announcements. So, the big announcement this week was the Spring Statement. Not much new in there for FE, Skills and Construction. Many announcements were made on the Build-up to the Spring Statement. So in the Build-up (sorry, couldn’t help the Dad joke), there was the massive £600M announcement on Construction Skills.

Is this a glimpse of more employer incentives for hard-to-reach Skill priority areas?

Loads in here, from employer incentives of £2000 per each Construction Foundation Apprentice … will this be the case (eg payments to employers for taking on an Apprentice) for other ‘priority areas’ for future skills needs? There were also the ‘big announcements’ from the Spring statement covering Welfare Reform from announcements from last week… Eg Keep Britain Working and Pathways to Work Green Paper... so nothing new for FE, Skills and Employability in the Spring Statement really.. the £600M for Construction Skills Training is actually great news.

NAO tell DfE to build up T Level numbers.. just 25,508 T Level learners in Sept 2024

This week we also had a Record jump in Apprenticeship achievement rates and the National Audit Office told DfE to Build up the number of T Level learners (sorry, there was a building theme this week)! Seeing as T Level numbers are very low (25,508 students started a T Level in September 2024: 42% of DfE’s November 2022 estimate)… putting this into context, 25,000 out of 1.2M learners in total in post 16 education.. this is like 2%! So very low!

How will DfE build up the T Level numbers?

How will DfE build up the T Level numbers? That is a massive ask, do schools, employers, even Uni’s know what T Levels are? Do employers know how to engage in the work experience part of T Levels. Seems like a lot needs to be done and Built up to achieve the NAO’s aims!

Record Jump in Apprenticeship Achievement Rates as Reaches 60.5%

The apprenticeship achievement rate (QAR) for apprenticeship standards has increased by 6 percentage points, now standing at 60.5% for the 2023/24 academic year, compared to 54.3% last year. This is the biggest increase since the standards were introduced and a fantastic result.

Removing Social Mobility Barriers

Baroness Manningham Buller wrote an exclusive article this week asking for your help to over come social mobility barriers for NEETs, the economically inactive etc… she wrote this exclusively for FE News and you, so please do respond to her call for evidence and solutions on removing social mobility barriers and how to address the nearly 1M NEETs!

Articles that are worth a deeper dive this week on FE News:

Well, I mentioned the Baroness already. Love it that she wrote this article to you all and asking for your help.

I loved How to Close the Retrofit Skills Gap By Charlotte Ravenscroft, Author of “Closing the Retrofit Skills Gap“ on the recent Gatsby report… loads on Construction this week, Retrofit is key to achieve our Net Zero aims!

I also loved The Rise of Digital Badges: Why Consistent Design is a Blind Spot for the Sector By Tim Riches, Founding Director, Navigatr … just purely that I had never realised that there are different shaped Digital Badges for the different types of learning. You know me, I love stackable skills.. so this for me was really interesting.

I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week.

Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles

Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week

Firstly, How Can Barriers to Social Mobility be Removed? By Baroness Manningham-Buller, the Chair of the House of Lords special inquiry, Social Mobility Policy Committee 

Secondly, The Rise of Digital Badges: Why Consistent Design is a Blind Spot for the Sector By Tim Riches, Founding Director, Navigatr

Finally, The Importance of Maintaining Devolved Qualifications Regulation By Stuart Martin is the Founder of George Angus Consulting

This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!

• How to Close the Retrofit Skills Gap By Charlotte Ravenscroft, Author of “Closing the Retrofit Skills Gap“
• Placing Apprenticeships at the Heart of the Construction Skills Agenda By Melanie Nicholson is Managing Director of Total People, part of LTE Group
• Adult Education as a Catalyst for Change in Driving Skills, Economic Growth, and Social Mobility By Arinola Edeh, Principal for Westminster Adult Education Service, and Dr Katerina Kolyva, CEO at the Education and Training Foundation (ETF)

What’s New in the World of FE?

Announcements

• £600 Million Construction Training Funding Package To Train 60,000 More Construction Workers By Treasury
• Sector Reaction to the Spring Statement 2025 By Treasury
• Record Jump in Apprenticeship Achievement Rates as Reaches 60.5% | Sector Reaction By the Department for Education (DfE)

Reports

• New NAO Report says DfE MUST Increase T Level Student Numbers By the National Audit Office (NAO)

Future skills – Livestream

• Future Skills – Ep1 – Engineering Solutions we kicked off the new live stream season with City & Guilds this week.

Teaching and Learning – Event

• Gavin Lumsden discusses Educator Workforce Development and Maintaining Dual Professionalism
• Yusuf Ibrahim Discusses Why Workforce Development is Key for Societal and Economic Growth
• Dr Sam Parrett from LSEC discusses Recruiting and Retaining Construction Tutors, to the Curriculum and Assessment Review and Level 2 Learners
• Vikki Arnettes Discusses Strategies to Equip Educators to Support Learners with Complex Needs and Barriers To Learning
• Jagjit Walia discusses Workforce Development and Recruitment in STEM.

Innovation in Assessment – Livestream

• Innovation in Assessment- Ep3 – Personalisation we wrapped up the Innovation in Assessment mini series with NCFE this week.

Voices

• What We’ve Learned From Investing £1 million In Assessment Innovation By Dean Blewitt, Senior Innovation and Investments Manager at NCFE
• Mastering Data: 10 questions to sharpen your skills By Rob Nitsch, Chief Executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies
• We are Bluebells – The ‘rhize’ of #JoyFE By Dr Lou Mycroft, Green Changemaker

In The Know

Join us live from 10 to 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the 26th, for City & Guilds’ second episode on Future skills, it’s all about AI!

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We hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week. Stay curious, keep innovating, and let’s shake up the world of FE together – catch you next week!

By Danny O’Meara, Digital Project Manager, FE News

By Gavin O’Meara, CEO and Founder, FE News and FE