Press Release
Alternative education routes hold key to encouraging young people to stay in education
6 November 2007
Educational reforms were at the centre of the Prime Minister Gordon Brown's first Queen's Speech, given today at the state opening of Parliament.
The Education and Skills Bill will require all 16 to 18 year-olds to stay in education or training, by 2015. It will also place a duty on employers to release young people for training.
Currently, around 25 per cent of young people in the UK leave full time education at the age of 16. Edexcel believes that by offering alternative education routes, such as BTECs, schools and colleges will help to increase participation rates in full time education and training post-sixteen and encourage more students to continue their education, ahead of this 2015 deadline.
In welcoming the Education and Skills Bill, Edexcel's Managing Director, Jerry Jarvis, today said:
"Ensuring that young people are able to receive quality education and training until the age of 18 will help secure the UK's economic future and help more young people get the best possible start to their working lives.
"Edexcel is committed to providing broad opportunities for students aged 14 - 19, outside of the traditional academic route, through qualifications that focus on employability and personal development or which can lead directly to degree programmes.
"We invest in accrediting quality work-related and vocational qualifications which are delivered in higher education institutions, FE colleges, schools, training providers and with employers. Alongside A and AS levels, we offer a wide range of BTEC qualifications, NVQs and we are involved with piloting functional skills."
BTEC qualifications range from Entry Level to Level 8 on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), offering the only seamless progression route across all levels.
More information on functional skills, Edexcel's new suite of BTEC National qualifications and the redevelopment of A levels from 2008, can be found at www.edexcel.org.uk.
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