Rarely has the FE sector been so united in its despair at something that, on the face of it, was good news. Although criticised for lacking detail, the announcement of £1 billion in funding to support young people who had missed out on teaching time because of the coronavirus pandemic seemed to be, nevertheless, a positive development. 

Particularly when, in the accompanying statement, education secretary Gavin Williamson said that the support package “will make sure that every young person, no matter their age or where they live, gets the education, opportunities and outcomes they deserve”.

More: Government ‘working with FE’ on post-Covid support

Labour: £1bn catch-up plan shows FE is an afterthought

Coronavirus: AoC calls on Treasury to invest £3.6 billion in skills

Supporting young people

It did not take long, however, for those teaching in post-16 institutions - including further education and sixth-form colleges - to work out that their learners were not the ones the education secretary meant in that statement. Those in school sixth forms, yes, but those attending a sixth-form college, no.

Yes to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in secondary schools, but no to 16- and 17-year-olds in colleges, where many of the country’s most disadvantaged young people become re-engaged in education or continue their path to employment.

Labour’s Toby Perkins was quick to voice his anger about the move to limit the funding to schools, saying missing out FE was “a disgrace”. He also echoed the fear of many working, and learning, in the FE sector: that colleges are no more than an afterthought to the government, particularly as the issue of bringing children back into schools continues to dominate the agenda.

Those working in colleges took to social media for their reaction: “16-18 college students need to be part of this funding, it’s not acceptable to exclude them from this,” said one. “I genuinely don’t understand the decision or rationale for not including 16- to 19-year-old students from colleges in the plans,” said another.

There was some hope that there might be a separate announcement for colleges, reflecting both the need in the sector for a financial boost - as well as a morale boost, I reckon - and the government’s recent comments on the importance of rebuilding the economy.

But as I write this, no such announcement has materialised. If anything, this evening’s comments by the education secretary, after being asked by a journalist in the Downing Street briefing why colleges were excluded from the catch-up fund, made any words on the matter seem some way off, even to the most optimistic. 

The government would, he said, “continue to work really closely with the FE sector to see how we can continue to add on the additional and extra support we know they are looking towards”. He added the government wanted “to help [colleges] in terms of being able to support their students in order to continue to succeed”. 

In a briefing that stressed numerous times how crucial it was to get “Britain working again” and that “every child of every year group” would benefit from the government’s support, the non-committal response with no timescale or substance will have jarred with many in FE. 

My personal feeling is that it is impossible to in any serious way rebuild the economy without ensuring that young people can find paths into the labour market and don’t end up NEET (not in education, employment or training). And you cannot do that without supporting the FE and skills system. Apprenticeships have to be part of this - with so many employers struggling, the risk of redundancy for many young people and a limit to vacancies on these schemes over the next year is more than just a likely risk.

It really isn’t rocket science. Where will those who lose their jobs as a result of the pandemic retrain? Where will young people looking to get work-ready turn as entry-level jobs become more and more limited? FE, surely, is the only feasible answer. Colleges, as ever, are making the best of the funding they have, but we should be concerned about the future of those young people transitioning into colleges from schools. After all, by the time they begin at college, these students will have spent months without face-to-face learning.

So, as we wait to see what the education secretary’s “working with the sector” looks like, I hope that real, tangible support is not too far away. And that maybe this time, the education secretary really does “help colleges”.