“Achieving the qualification is and will remain important. But it is not the end of the story…. The real value of vocational education lies in whether learners make progress into or within employment or further learning.” This is how Nick Boles, the Minister for Skills, introduces the next stage in the government’s plans to develop outcome based success measures for publicly funded post-19 education and skills (including apprenticeships but excluding higher education).  

The success measures (learner destination, progression within learning, earnings) would be used alongside existing measures of achievement and aim to give a more rounded picture of provider performance, to inform learner and employer choice, and ultimately are part of the Government’s management of the post-19 education and skills sector.

A new consultation outlines detailed proposals for using and publishing the measures for adult FE. These include: 

• Using the measures for accountability and intervention as part of the minimum standards framework
• How local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and local authorities can use the new measures as part of local outcome agreements with providers
• How we might best present and publish the measures to help learners, employers, LEPs and providers.