2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the condition of funding (CoF) which requires all 16 to 18-year-olds who are yet to achieve grade 4 or above passes in GCSE English and maths to continue studying those subjects. Government has opted to recognise this milestone, not with a fair and balanced review of the impact of the CoF, but with additional conditions attached to the English and maths funding first announced by the Prime Minister last October.
English and maths are vital skills for individuals and the country. Over the past ten years, colleges have supported the government’s ambition of ensuring more young people achieve a Level 2 in these important subjects with little support and no additional funding despite additional staffing costs.
Over 80%[1] of those students needing to resit English and maths study in colleges as the majority of schools require students to have grade 4s or above to continue into sixth form. Enrolments in Level 2 and below English and maths account for 33%[2] of 16 to 18 enrolments at General Further Education and Land based colleges. Colleges should be proud that their hard work has ensured an additional 36.7% of young people who hadn’t achieved at 16 were achieving these important skills by 19 in 2021/22[3], even if it does beg the question about the other 63%.
The college sector widely welcomed the Prime Minister’s party conference announcement on a down payment for the Advanced British Standard as it appeared to indicate that after many years supporting the English and maths agenda, the hard work of colleges was finally being recognised and funded. However, in an unprecedented move, the new condition of funding announced this week stipulates the number of hours colleges will be required to deliver: 3 hours of English and 4 hours of maths. This is simply not deliverable.
