Sir Peter Lampl, chair of the Education Endowment Foundation, today responded to the new OECD Education At A Glance report highlighting the high levels of young people not in education, employment and training (NEET) in the UK:

“Our one million NEETs are a shaming testimony to our collective failure to get vocational education right, and the OECD is right to highlight how poorly we compare with many other countries in this regard.

“We can’t afford the economic and social cost of such shocking dropout levels. If young people don’t develop their skills in work or education, they lose what they have already learnt and rapidly become unemployable.

“We’re working with schools to ensure young people get good exam grades. But it is equally important that young people have access to strong vocational education and apprenticeships, linking them directly to the needs of employers.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

  1. The Education Endowment Foundation is a charity set up in 2011 by the Sutton Trust as lead foundation in partnership with Impetus Trust, with a Department for Education grant of £125m. It is dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement. Since its launch the EEF has awarded £28.7 million to 56 projects working with over 300,000 pupils in over 1,800 schools across England.
  2.  The EEF has awarded £254,624 to Think Forward, an initiative providing long-term coaching for pupils at risk of becoming NEETs. It provides highly trained coaches to work with 14 year olds as they progress through to their GCSEs and post-16 choices, supporting them to make a successful transition into adulthood. Read more information athttp://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects/think-forward-coaching-in-schools