The Post-16 Skills Plan has received mixed reviews since its publication in the summer. This latest bid to overhaul our technical education system is undoubtedly ambitious. It has already sparked concerns about our capacity to deliver, particularly when one of the bodies responsible (the Institute for Apprenticeships) has yet to be established.

If we really are to transform the state of the post-16 sector and help young people to make clear choices between routes to future careers, then this ambition is exactly what’s required.

I welcome the plans to achieve parity, as well as clarity, for technical and academic routes. Anyone who has worked in FE will recognise its reputation as a second option or even a last-chance saloon. By raising the quality of the offering and matching learning programmes with future career pathways, we have a real opportunity to demonstrate its value to learners, employers, parents and schools.

At Activate Learning, we have already laid the groundwork for this new approach. In September, we launched a structure that maps the learning programmes offered by our three group colleges to seven faculties, aligned to industry sectors. The leaders of these faculties have a clear focus on building relationships with employers in their sector; gleaning insights into the technical and soft skills required to meet their future recruitment needs and developing project-based learning approaches. It is a model we have seen work in our university technical colleges, in which employers “row, steer or cheer” the curriculum by shaping its design, getting involved in delivering projects and masterclasses, and endorsing what we do.

Having forged these new employer relationships within the FE environment, we have also been able to map out career pathways within each faculty. This shows learners the programmes that will form the building blocks to their future careers, as well as the skills and behaviours they will develop along the way.

We recognise that learners’ success will also be dependent on what the Sainsbury review refers to as a “common core” of English, maths and digital skills. The big question remains how best to foster these core skills within the study programme.

Emotional roadblocks

If we want to develop curious young people with an appetite for learning, then the requirement to repeatedly take GCSE English and maths in pursuit of the prized C grade is damaging our attempts.

This summer, just 26.9 per cent of 128,201 learners aged 17 and over achieved a grade C in English. Marginally more (29.5 per cent) achieved a pass in maths. These figures clearly show that the government’s strategy to improve the attainment of literacy and numeracy skills is not working. What’s more, repeated “failure” is reinforcing the emotional roadblocks too commonly associated with learning these vital skills.

I echo the calls made by so many to rethink the policy and instead embed English and maths skills within the vocational pathway chosen by the learner. In December, the Smith report into the feasibility of mandatory GCSE resits will be published. I am campaigning for a change that ensures our young people will be able to make swift progress, developing the core, technical and soft skills they need for successful future careers.

If we can crack this, then we stand to have a vocational education system that is as well regarded as our academic system across the world.

Sally Dicketts is chief executive of Activate Learning @SallyDicketts