The UK Government has unveiled an education “revolution” with the introduction of the Skills and Post-16 Education bill.
Amongst the bills mentioned in the Queen’s speech in Parliament on 11 May, legislation will be put in place for skills available to young people.
The aim of this is to make sure “every young adult has a range of opportunities open to them, removing the illusion that a degree is the only path to a good career.”
This Bill will optimise opportunities for young people, looking at sectors crucial to our economy. This includes clean energy, digital, engineering, and manufacturing.
Upon this drive for levelling up the skills of young people, Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, said: “Talent is everywhere in our country and the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill marks a significant milestone in our journey to transform the skills, training, and post-16 education landscape and level up opportunities across the country.”
The #skillsbill is introduced today in #Parliament which will be a vital pillar to revolutionise #technicaleducation across the country #lifetimeskillsguarantee #lifelonglearning #skillsforjobs https://t.co/AmwI1ePKOJ
— Gillian Keegan (@GillianKeegan) May 18, 2021
Key Features
Key features of the Bill include making it a legal requirement for employers and colleges to work together to provide appropriate training that identifies the needs of skills in local areas.
The Bill will also transform the student loan system by offering flexible loans in a bid to make higher education more accessible.
There is a real emphasis on local areas and communities so young people do not have this barrier of having to move away from home.
Post-16 Capacity Fund
Following this announcement, the government will also be creating a Post-16 Capacity fund.
With £83 million used for the future of post-16 education, this launch is in line with the Prime Minister’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee.
The Education Secretary commented on this stating: “We’re also investing £83 million to create more classrooms and high-quality teaching facilities to ensure that colleges can keep up with demand and offer a training place for all 16-19 year olds that want one.”
Meeting the skills desired by employers, the government recognises that there should be a greater push on technical qualifications. By removing some of the barriers young people are currently facing, the hope is to close the gap between further and higher education.
Neve Gordon-Farleigh
Featured image courtesy of Eva Dang on Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image license can be found here.
Neve Gordon-Farleigh
Neve is a 21 year old freelance journalist, and our Head Current Affairs and Instagram Editor for Empoword Journalism. She specialises in social media journalism and runs the Journo Resources Tik Tok page. You can find her on Twitter @Neve_GF.