Common Sense, Compassion and the Courage to Act: What 26 Years in FE Has Taught Me

Recently, I visited PET-Xi in Coventry, and I left with a feeling I know all too well: admiration, frustration and a deep sense of déjà vu.

I’ve worked in the FE and skills sector for 26 years, and that visit transported me straight back to the very beginning of my career. Back then, I was teaching long‑term unemployed learners in some of the most deprived communities in Teesside, including Grangetown, which at the time had been named the worst place to live in the UK.

The learners I taught then were not so different from the young people PET-Xi supports today. Every single one of the learners at PET-Xi arrives as NEET. The learners I worked with years ago were on Jobcentre Plus programmes such as New Deal 18–24, trying to learn how to read, write, do maths and develop basic employability skills.

Skills they should have learned at school.

Skills they could have learned at school.

But didn’t.

Not because they didn’t want to.
Not because they weren’t capable.
But because the system failed to support them when life made learning far harder than sitting in a classroom.

The Reality Behind the NEET Label

Too often, we talk about NEET young people in statistics and policies. But behind that label are real human beings with extremely complex lives.

Many of the young people I taught – just like those at PET-Xi today – had been excluded from school. Not supported. Not understood. Excluded. After that, there was often nowhere for them to go and no one to advocate for them.

Many had no stable family or parental influence growing up.
Some had experienced physical or sexual abuse.
Many struggled with drug and alcohol dependency.
Some had learning difficulties or disabilities that were never properly assessed or supported.
Many were trying to raise children of their own while still children themselves.

What they all had in common was this: they needed someone to give them a chance.

That is exactly what I saw at PET-Xi.

This Is Not Rocket Science

At PET-Xi, I witnessed a team of passionate, skilled people with bags of common sense. People who understand that working with NEET young people is not about rigid rules, ticking boxes or enforcing compliance.

It’s about relationships, trust and respect.

These young people have often been rejected and humiliated time after time after time. When they finally arrive somewhere that treats them with dignity – where they are listened to and understood – something changes.

Of course, they might not turn up on time every day for their Functional Skills lesson. Sometimes they might not turn up at all. Sometimes they might arrive overwhelmed, angry or shut down. Sometimes they might have a meltdown because something in their day has triggered past trauma. Sometimes they might not leave the house because they are frightened a gang is looking for them.

This is real life.

These young people are battling things that most of us would not wish on anyone. And yet, the system too often responds with sanctions, funding rules and narrow definitions of success.

It really isn’t rocket science – yet a lack of common sense in the system continues to push too many young people out and keep them there.

There Is Still So Much More to Do

Despite nearly three decades in this sector, I see no sign of systemic improvement at the scale we need. The same issues repeat themselves, generation after generation, with different programme names and different funding rules – but the same young people falling through the cracks.

That’s why we will continue the conversation with PET-Xi and others doing great things for young people like SCL Education, Harlow College and Milton Keynes College Group, to name but a few. We need to keep building pathways that reflect real lives, not neat boxes in funding policy.

Because these young people don’t fit neatly. And neither should the support they receive.

As Fleur Sexton CEO and Co-Founder, Pet XI  put it to me,

“It is an honour to work with these amazing young people who have so much potential and so much to offer their communities. We are deeply grateful to Gateway Qualifications for their targeted qualifications, to SCL for their commitment to this work, choosing us as a partner to make social impact which generates significant individual and economic benefit to communities and to the fabulous young people who we are deeply committed to”

A Call to the Sector

After 26 years, I am as convinced as ever that we can do better – but only if we choose to.

So my message to policymakers, funders, educators and leaders across FE and skills is this:

Fight for these young people.
Challenge systems that prioritise compliance over compassion.
Design funding and qualifications that recognise complexity, not punish it.
And above all, give them the chance they deserve.

When we do that, the results speak for themselves.

By Fabienne Bailey, CEO of Gateway Qualifications