Prime Minister to launch post-18 education review

A government-led review into post-18 education will identify ways to help people make more effective choices between the different options available for young people.

Theresa May will launch the review in Derbyshire on Monday 19 February, and is expected to call for people to change their “outdated attitudes” that university is the only desirable route for young people.

May will urge for parity of esteem between academic and technical options, which “means equality of access to an academic university education which is not dependent on your background, and it means a much greater focus on the technical alternatives too.”

The review will identify ways to help people make more effective choices between the different options available after 18. This could include giving young people better guidance about the earning potential of different jobs and what different qualifications are needed to get them, so they can make more informed decisions about their futures.

The Prime Minister will say: “For those young people who do not go on to academic study, the routes into further technical and vocational training today are hard to navigate, the standards across the sector are too varied and the funding available to support them is patchy.

“So now is the time to take action to create a system that is flexible enough to ensure that everyone gets the education that suits them.

“There are now record numbers of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university, and the government is determined to build on this progress.

On the question of student finance, the Prime Minister will acknowledge that many young people, their parents and grandparents, have serious concerns – which she shares – about aspects of the current system.

She will confirm that the review will examine the whole system of student funding – including how it provides value for money, both for students and taxpayers, and how students and graduates contribute to the cost of their studies.

She will say: “The competitive market between universities which the system of variable tuition fees envisaged has simply not emerged. All but a handful of universities charge the maximum possible fees for undergraduate courses. Three-year courses remain the norm. And the level of fees charged do not relate to the cost or quality of the course. We now have one of the most expensive systems of university tuition in the world.”

The panel’s report will be published at an interim stage and the review will conclude in early 2019.