LSC launches new progress report

Report outlines the FE sector's achievements over the past year:

  • Success rates in FE have increased year on year
  • More young people are in learning than ever before
  •  Participation in Apprenticeships, and learning at Levels 2 and 3 have increased
  • Achievements are impacting on wider policy issues of economic productivity, competitiveness, and social inclusion and mobility.

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the organisation that exists to make England better skilled and more competitive, recently launched Delivering Learning and Skills - a progress report. Delivering Learning and Skills provides a full picture of what the Learning and Skills sector has achieved over the past 12 months, what the LSC has spent its money on and the successes that have resulted from this investment.

Taken together it paints an impressive picture of the performance of the sector. It reinforces the critical importance of skills, and demonstrates how the achievements of the LSC and its partners are having a significant impact across a broad range of political, economic and social policy agendas.

Delivering Learning and Skills shows more people are completing courses and achieving qualifications. Success rates have risen by 2.6 per cent to 73.8 per cent in further education and work based learning, a clear signal that the sectors efforts are impacting where they should most. The economic impact of the sector is reflected by a significant increase in the number of people taking Level 2, 3 and Apprenticeships. This includes a 9.4 per cent rise in the number of adults taking Level 2 qualifications and the number completing their Apprenticeship increasing by 31 per cent between 2003/04 and 2004/05.

Beyond this, Delivering Learning and Skills reveals how the sector is working hard to drive social mobility and inclusion and having a positive impact on communities. Adults taking part in basic literacy and numeracy training as part of the Skills for Life strategy increased by 22.3 per cent, and a total of 1.275 million adults have now received basic skills training. Similarly, the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which provides financial assistance for training young people, saw a take-up rate of 82 per cent in its first year.

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