More people undertake FE and work-based learning

Citation

(2004), "More people undertake FE and work-based learning", Education + Training, Vol. 46 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2004.00446cab.006

More people undertake FE and work-based learning

The number of people in further education and undertaking work-based learning has risen, according to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). Figures show 11,000 more people following modern apprenticeships, a 20,000 rise in the number of further-education students under 19 and a 10,000 rise in over-19 FE numbers to 3.23 million.

Ken Pascoe, LSC director of operations, said:

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  Clearly, the efforts of the LSC and our partners are paying dividends. These figures represent progress on our key targets – for keeping young people in learning and helping them to achieve more, and for attracting adults back to improve their basic skills. The Skills Strategy white paper puts a strong emphasis on universal attainment of NVQ level 2 by the population. The rising numbers of people in FE show the sector is in a strong position to respond. The move to plan-led funding will increase the sector’s ability to meet the demands we all face.

There were 3.91 million learners in council-funded FE in 2002-2003. This is a 1 per cent increase on the 2001-2002 figure of 3.87 million. The number of under-19s in council-funded FE increased by almost 4 per cent between 2001-2002 and 2002-2003, from 0.65 million to 0.67 million. The number of adults (aged 19 plus) increased by just less than half a per cent, from 3.22 to 3.23 million. The number of people studying for level 1 rose between 2001-2002 and 2002-2003. The increase for under-19s at level 1 was 26 per cent and for adults was 20 per cent. The main reasons for this are a combination of an increase in learners following basic-skills qualifications and a reclassification of basic-skills qualifications from college certificates to externally-accredited qualifications. The most popular areas of learning, based on all the aims followed by the learners in 2002-2003, were health and social care (14.7 per cent) and information and communication technology (18.4 per cent).

A total of 512,000 trainees participated in work-based learning during 2002-2003. The average number in learning was 273,000 – a small increase over the previous year’s figure of 271,000. The average number in learning on modern apprenticeships in 2002-2003 was 224,300. This is 5 per cent more than 2001-2002 (213,500). There was a shift from NVQ learning to modern apprenticeships.

The most popular area of work-based learning was engineering, technology and manufacturing (18.1 per cent of learners), with retail, customer service and transportation and business administration, management and professional being the next two most popular areas of learning (14.5 per cent and 12.4 per cent respectively).