Sir Keir Starmer (Labour) has announced that Labour will scrap the current target for 50% of young people to go to university. The Prime Minister told the Labour party conference that this will be replaced with a new ambition for two-thirds of young people to pursue higher education or apprenticeships.
The new target aims for two-thirds of people to either attend university, enter further education or complete a "gold standard apprenticeship" by the age of 25. This represents a significant shift in how the government measures educational success.
Sir Keir said: "Conference, while you will never hear me denigrate the aspiration to go to university, I don't think the way we currently measure success in education - that ambition to get 50% of kids to uni - I don't think that's right for our times, because if you're a kid or a parent of a kid who chooses an apprenticeship, what does it say to you? Do we genuinely as a country afford them the same respect?"
New funding and targets
The government will invest nearly £800 million in extra funding to help 16 to 19-year-olds next year. The funding will come from the existing Spending Review settlement and will support 20,000 more students, according to Labour.
The new target also includes an ambition for 10% of young people to be pursuing higher technical education or apprenticeships that the economy needs by 2040. Sir Keir also announced 14 new Technical Excellence Colleges, which will focus on sectors like advanced manufacturing, clean energy and digital.
Further education focus
The Prime Minister emphasised that further education would become "a defining cause for this Labour Government". He said: "I can also announce that further education - so long a Cinderella service; ignored, because politicians' kids don't go there - we will make it a defining cause for this Labour Government, with higher standards in every college."
Sir Keir described his announcements as backing young people, saying: "The class ceiling? Smashed. The grafters? Finally included in our country's highest aspirations." Further detail will be provided in the upcoming post-16 skills white paper.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
