A recent report by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has highlighted the positive impact Further Education (FE) has on helping the unemployed find work.
The report, entitled “Impact of Skills and Training Intervention on the Unemployed”, comes shortly after BIS suffered a 17% cut in the wake of the Autumn Statement. Although this was less severe than many in the sector were expecting and therefore has been viewed positively, it’s still a substantial cut and one that could damage the Further Education sector.
“This study show that FE learning provides good labour market returns for unemployed individuals” the report states, continuing: “Those who engage in FE experience a greater improvement in the likelihood of being in employment than those who don’t engage in FE.” Impactful qualifications were not limited to those at a higher level, with recommendations for expanding Further Education learning to the unemployed also including qualifications at Level 2 and below – correlating with evidence earlier this year that Level 2 qualifications significantly improved a learners’ earning potential.
A government spokesperson said: “Analysis of over 2 million unemployed found that FE can make a substantial impact on the chances of unemployed people finding work.” Further, an Association of Colleges (AoC) representative commented: ““Colleges have always been successful in helping unemployed people gain the skills and qualifications to find a job. It is therefore pleasing that this is confirmed by the BIS research.”
The study adds to the mounting evidence of the positive impact Further Education and vocational qualifications have on learners, and that traditionally academic routes aren’t the only ones to offer real results in the form of job prospects. Indeed, it could be argued that learners taking vocational qualifications have better employment prospects, as over half of university graduates aren’t in roles related to their degree, and evidence that 3.6 million new jobs, particularly in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), that accept or require vocational qualifications could come about by 2020.
We’re living in an era where people aren’t staying on one career path over their lifetime, and switch careers an average of 5 times before retiring. Vocational qualifications have long been used by learners looking to upskill or retrain in a new area completely, and it’s great to see evidence that this works.
We hope this report helps more people understand that vocational education shouldn’t be seen as a lesser option, and that it provides tangible results for learners in the form of employment – arguably the end goal of education. We hope the results of this report give the government the incentive they need to allocate the funding necessary for the Further Education sector to flourish. Improved employment prospects for those undertaking vocational qualifications can only benefit the government as they seek to cut down unemployment. As Chris Henwood of FE Week commented, “there can surely not be many more clear-cut arguments for the good that FE can do and more clear-cut reasons for the government to finally give the sector the backing it deserves.”
