02.02.15
Teenage dropouts cost £800m a year – LGA
More than £800m is being wasted each year on students who drop out of post-16 education because their schools and colleges are more interested in getting ‘bums on seats’ than on guiding them to the right courses, council leaders have claimed.
The latest figures show 178,100 16-18-year-olds failed to complete all or some of the post-16 qualifications they started in 2012-13, including apprenticeships, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).
Analysis by the Association, carried out by the Centre for Economic & Social Inclusion, revealed that the cost of this wasted education and skills provision is £814m – 12% of all government spending on post-16 education and skills.
Breaking the £814m figure down, the LGA’s report found that £316m had been ‘wasted’ on students not completing AS and A-Level qualifications, £302m on those pulling out from further education and £196m on those not completing apprenticeships.
Following the publication of the ‘Achievement and retention in post 16 education’ report, the LGA said councils could do “far more” if further education, apprenticeships and careers advice funding and powers were devolved to local areas.
But the government says it is reforming academic qualifications and vocational education to ensure young people get the knowledge and skills that they need to move into a job, apprenticeship or to continue their education.
Cllr David Simmonds, chairman of the LGA's Children and Young People Board, said: “Councils want every young person to achieve their full potential but too many are still dropping out of post-16 education and training or not achieving a passing grade.
“Our analysis lays bare the substantial financial cost of this but the human cost is even greater with youngsters left struggling with uncertainty, a sense of failure and facing tough decisions about what to do next.”
He argues that local councils, colleges, schools and employers know how to best help their young people and should have devolved funding and powers to work together to give young people the best chance of building careers and taking jobs that exist locally.
A Department for Education spokesman said: “We have invested £7.2bn to fund a place for every 16- and 17-year-old in England who wants one. We are reforming academic qualifications and vocational education to ensure young people get the knowledge and skills that they need to move into a job.”
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