King Charles is well known for his support of Britain’s youth. Arguably, he has done more to train the under-30s in practical skills over the last decade than the government – and financed it without lumbering them with huge debts.
The Prince’s Trust passed its one millionth trainee milestone in 2020 and has carried on without much fanfare while the government’s skills programme has floundered – undermined by Theresa May’s complicated and misused apprenticeship levy.
Employers left confused by the levy’s byzantine rules turn to further education (FE) colleges for training support. Yet these are the Cinderellas of the education world, forced to rely on staff who sign on each year to teach a course, apparently out of the goodness of their hearts. They certainly don’t do it for the money.
About 6.7 million working-age adults in the UK have no or low qualifications, according to the Local Government Association, which means they have no more than an F or G at GSCE, or only got to the first rung on the NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) ladder.
Someone with only a few low-grade GCSEs or a level 1 NVQ has not just been let down by the education system: they are also likely to find themselves in a cycle of deprivation that prevents them from investing in their own future.
Then there is the added pressure from artificial intelligence, with hundreds of books, academic papers and newspaper articles arguing that a significant proportion of people’s work can be automated even more than it is now. These warnings should be heeded because, as we know from bitter experience, most employers are desperate for easy solutions as a substitute for strategic discussions about how to work better. Demands for staff to embrace AI, however, sit uneasily with estimates that 20% of the UK’s working population lack basic computer skills.
Ministers say they want to improve skills training. From August this year, a new functional skills qualification will be available that “will provide a benchmark of digital skills for employers”.
Only time will tell how good this will be. It might give some people confidence to take on roles in which they need to cope with digital tech. What, though, does skills minister Robert Halfon know about the subject when he says he is “passionate about creating a ladder of opportunity”?
You might think he knew quite a bit given that he chaired parliament’s education committee for several years and was a minister for apprenticeships in May’s government. Except that, in this role, he helped steward the apprenticeship levy on to the statute books.
It’s true that after six wasted years, employers are now exploiting the £2.5bn of matched funding attached to the levy. The budget might even be busted this year, leaving the minister with a financial hole to fill.
Will this turnaround close the skills gap? Not when employers using the scheme channel most of the funds into training graduate-level staff, not those with low-level qualifications who need it most.
The skills training budget, which is a separate pot of money, was increased in the 2022 three-year spending round and FE college courses benefited. Yet, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the extra £900m to 2025 will only limit the funding shortfall since 2010 to 25% in real terms, after a 38% drop between 2010 and 2021.
FE teacher salaries have similarly suffered. In 2010–11, the median salary (in today’s prices) was about £48,000 for a school teacher and £42,500 for a college teacher. Median pay is now about £41,500 for a school teacher and £34,500 for a college teacher, says the IFS. So between 2010–11 and 2022–23, the median salary for a school teacher fell by 14%, while college teachers’ pay fell 19%.
The Conservative party will say things are getting better, but they own this mess, just as they do the university tuition fee debacle. It’s clear that university candidates don’t know whether they are taking out a loan to fund their education or paying a tax. That’s because the bizarre system is both. No wonder so many have been put off higher education as a result.
Recent increases in monthly payments for the post-2012 cohort of graduates are eye-watering and may focus the minds of the next generation. Those preparing for A-levels might think twice about higher education, depressing the UK’s skills and education levels even more.
The new king can probably do less for young people than he did as Prince of Wales. His son might take up the mantle, yet doesn’t appear to share the same burning desire to help this group. That leaves them at the mercy of Halfon and a government that puts austerity before education.
