Treat further education with respect to level up the country - Nikki Davis

Since then, we have had a succession of Prime Ministers, Chancellors, and Education Secretaries, with one commonality – to grow an economy battered by global events, inflation, and self-inflicted damage.

To then not hear one single word in the Autumn Statement about post-16 education is beyond disappointing.

Yet, it follows a familiar theme of warm words from various government officials, with no funding to support a sector which trains 1.6 million people. This figure includes 913,000 adults who study or train in colleges and 611,000 16-18-year-olds. An additional 46,000 16-18-year-olds undertake an apprenticeship through colleges.All of this training provides a significant return on investment and is a fundamental requirement of a highly skilled, highly productive economy. This goes hand-in-hand with the levelling-up social and economic programme to spread opportunity more equally across the UK, alongside the green agenda and pushing equality, diversity, and inclusion.Recently, five Leeds College of Building students were selected to compete in the WorldSkills UK competition – dubbed the ‘skills Olympics’ for some of the most in-demand construction trades. These students excelled in Roofing: Slating and Tiling, Plastering and Drywall Systems, and Wall and Floor Tiling.

Further Education institutions like Leeds College of Building are busy cultivating the next generation of highly skilled employees. Our aim is to counter some of the enormous skills gaps faced by industries like construction. We prepare students so they can hit the ground running when they complete training and make a meaningful contribution in specialist fields.Yet, by the time we hit 2025, Further Education funding will be lucky even to reach 2010 levels. Post-16 education has been underfunded for over a decade, and the current cost-of-living crisis is simply exacerbating a longstanding issue.

The impact of this chronic funding shortfall is a reduced ability to meet skills needs and help our students effectively. Equally, we should be supporting our amazing colleagues who delivered through the entire pandemic without missing a beat, and yet they didn’t even get a “thank you for your brilliant work” from the Chancellor, unlike school staff.

I probably speak for others in the sector when I say we don’t begrudge schools their rise in funding. Far from it. The increase will only take spending-per-pupil to at least 2010 levels in real terms. This is nowhere near sufficient to meet the challenges of post-Covid education or the defunding of wider services - the pieces of which schools and colleges are now trying to pick up.All we ask is for Further Education to be treated with the respect it deserves and recognised for its immense value to the UK and its economy. The government should deliver on its words and address a growing skills crisis at a time when technical and vocational experience is needed now more than ever.​​​​​​​

Nikki Davis is principal and CEO of Leeds College of Building.