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One in four 16-18 year olds still not in education or training

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15 August 2006

A-levels should be phased out after a review in 2008 and the Government should introduce a ‘British Baccalaureate’ with a menu of academic and vocational elements, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr).

This week's publication of the A-level pass rate will focus attention on those who are doing well out of the UK's post-compulsory education system. But one in four 16-18 year olds in the UK are not doing any form of education or training - a figure that has remained almost constant since 1997. In Germany the figure is just one in ten.

ippr argues that curriculum reform is the best way to increase the post-16 staying-on rate - the last major boost in the staying on rate was in large part caused by the abolition of O-levels and the adoption of GCSEs in the mid 1990s. ippr recommends that A-levels should be phased out after a review in 2008 and the Government should introduce a ‘British Baccalaureate’ with a menu of academic and vocational elements. ippr argues that this would build on innovations in curriculum provision that have taken place at local level in recent years.

ippr was the first to recommend a unified diploma which combines academic and vocational skills, in a report co-written by David Miliband – now a Cabinet Minister – in 1990. The Government rejected the recommendation of former Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir Mike Tomlinson, of a diploma to replace A-levels and GCSEs but committed to a review in 2008 of the new ‘A-level diploma’.

Richard Brooks, ippr Associate Director, said:

"Practically all young people in the UK should now be in education or training until they are 18 or 19 years old. Yet not only are too many still missing out, but current policies don't seem to be increasing the numbers of those who stay on in learning until the end of their teenage years. The new 14-19 diplomas will not flourish alongside an un-reformed system of A-levels and it is time for a more radical approach."

ippr also recommends:

Closing the funding gap between schools and colleges for young people, following the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) guidelines.
Ending the presumption in favour of creating new school sixth forms unless they are able to offer a wide enough range of options for those in the lower half of the attainment range.

Notes to Editors:

Choosing to Learn: improving participation after compulsory education by Simone Delorenzi and Peter Robinson is available from www.ippr.org/publicationsandreports

Contacts:

Richard Darlington, ippr media manager, 020 7470 6177 / 07738 320 645 / r.darlington@ippr.org

Matt Jackson, ippr senior media officer, 020 7339 0007 / 07753 719 289 / m.jackson@ippr.org

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