DfE ‘should fund GCSEs and A levels for adults’

The government should fund colleges to offer GCSE and A levels for all learners, regardless of age, to help plug the country’s skills gap, a new report suggests. In its Filling in the biggest skills gap report, the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) identifies that there are major skills shortages at levels 4 and 5 and suggests that a reason for this is a shortfall of learners progressing from levels 2 and 3. A government review of provision at level 4 and 5 is currently ongoing. The report says that the number of young learners who do not proceed from level 2 to level 3 is 36.4 per cent and a further 20.9 per cent of all learners do not progress from level 3. This means that almost one in six working-age adults has not successfully progressed to level 4 or beyond. Read More.