Education secretary Gillian Keegan must suspend the new conditions of funding on English and maths in further education colleges, the Association of Colleges has said.
In October 2023, Rishi Sunak announced £150m in funding for colleges as a ‘downpayment’ for the ABS and to support on English and maths teaching. On Wednesday, four months later, the Department for Education (DfE) said the funding came with the condition that colleges must deliver 100 hours of English and 140 hours of maths per student from 2025/26.
In a letter to Ms Keegan, AoC chief executive David Hughes says the new policy came “without prior public consultation, engagement or clear evidence, is unfair to a large group of young people and, in the opinion of every college leader I have spoken to, is simply unworkable.”
AoC estimates that the announcement will require 800 extra maths teachers, and 400 extra English teachers, at a time when colleges already have lots of vacancies in English and maths. Currently, on the AoC jobs site, there are over 1000 vacancies listed in these two subjects.
