What happens after GCSEs, and how well does England’s education system support young people as they move into adulthood?
The government’s Opportunity Mission sets out to “build skills for opportunity and growth,” aiming to give every young person a pathway that’s right for them. In practice, that means navigating a system divided between academic routes, like A levels and university, and technical or vocational routes, often delivered through further education colleges.
In this episode of IFS Zooms In, Helen Miller is joined by Christine Farquharson (Associate Director, IFS) and Sir Philip Augar (Chair of the government’s 2019 review of post-18 education and funding) to explore the strengths and challenges of post-16 education in England. They discuss GCSE attainment, the divide between higher and further education, funding pressures, and what a skills system fit for the future might look like.
📩 We want your questions for our final Q&A episode! Send them – voice notes welcome – to podcasts@ifs.org.uk.
🎧 Subscribe for the full Are the kids ok? mini-series: just search IFS Zooms In in your podcast app.
Become a member: https://ifs.org.uk/individual-membership
Find out more: https://ifs.org.uk/podcasts-explainers-and-calculators/podcasts
","author_name":"Institute for Fiscal Studies"}