Why FE and Skills Matters to the Future of Young People and Work

The publication of the Milburn interim review on young people and work arrives at an important moment for England’s education, employment and skills system. With more than one million young people now estimated to be not in education, employment or training (NEET), the report rightly frames the issue not as an individual failing, but as evidence of deeper structural weaknesses across the systems designed to support transition, participation and opportunity. Milburn’s review arrives at a time when local areas are being asked to tackle rising economic inactivity, widening inequalities and growing numbers of young people becoming disconnected from education and work. Its significance lies not simply in highlighting these challenges, but in recognising that they cannot be solved through isolated programmes or interventions alone.

Earlier this month, I argued that rising numbers of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) should be understood as a signal of wider system strain rather than simply a youth transition problem. The publication of Alan Milburn’s interim review provides an opportunity to take that argument further. The challenge now is not simply to understand why disengagement occurs, but to consider what civic, professional and institutional infrastructure is required to create meaningful pathways back into learning, work and participation.

The central challenge identified by the review is therefore not simply one of participation, but of whether England currently has a coherent transition infrastructure capable of supporting young people into adulthood, work and belonging. The review is right to argue for a more joined-up, place-based and relational approach. Yet if the final recommendations are to achieve lasting impact, they must go further in recognising both the central role of the further education (FE) and skills sector and the importance of the workforce that enables these transitions every day.

Transition is not a moment; it is a system

One of the most important contributions of the ETF and FE News Bridging the SEND Transition Collective was the recognition that transition is too often treated as a single event rather than a sustained process of support, identity formation, confidence-building and navigation. Young people do not experience education, employment, health, transport, careers guidance and social support as separate policy domains. They experience them as a connected ecosystem, or, too often, as a disconnected one. Over time, responsibility for young people’s transitions has become increasingly dispersed across education, employment, welfare, health and local growth systems, often without clear accountability for the overall learner journey. The result is that young people experience systems in parts, while the barriers they face rarely exist in parts.

For young people with SEND, care experience, mental health challenges, unstable housing or disrupted educational histories, these fractures become even more pronounced. Progression pathways frequently rely on individual resilience rather than coherent systems of support. Eligibility thresholds, institutional boundaries and inconsistent local provision can leave young people repeatedly required to start again with different services, providers and expectations.

This is where the FE and skills sector has often become the system that catches those whom other parts of the system struggle to hold. Across colleges, independent training providers, adult community learning and specialist provision, practitioners routinely work beyond narrow institutional boundaries to support confidence, belonging, employability, wellbeing and aspiration alongside technical and academic development. This relational practice is rarely fully visible within national policy debates, despite being fundamental to successful transitions.

The most important question raised by the Milburn review is therefore not simply how to reduce NEET numbers, but what institutions, relationships and capabilities need to exist locally to prevent disengagement and support re-engagement. If the review is to lead to lasting change, its final recommendations should move beyond programme design and focus on building the civic, professional and institutional infrastructure that enables successful transitions. This is where FE and skills should be understood not merely as a provider of qualifications, but as a critical component of local civic infrastructure. 

The FE and Skills Sector as Civic Infrastructure

The Milburn review recognises many of the sector’s strengths: flexibility, local responsiveness, employer connectivity and its ability to provide non-linear pathways. FE and skills have a form of civic and economic infrastructure in their own right. This matters. Too often, FE and skills is framed primarily as a delivery mechanism for qualifications, labour market policy or employability interventions. In practice, the sector performs a much broader civic function. It acts as a stabilising institution within communities, particularly in areas experiencing economic transition, social disadvantage and declining public service capacity. For many young people, colleges and providers are among the few places where educational development, pastoral care, careers support, employability, SEND support and employer engagement intersect in a meaningful and accessible way. This becomes particularly important in the context of rising NEET levels. Re-engagement is rarely achieved through a single programme or intervention. It depends on trusted relationships, flexible progression routes and practitioners capable of supporting complex and often overlapping needs. That is workforce-intensive work.

Workforce Capability is a Strategic Issue

A central challenge emerging from both the Milburn review and wider sector evidence is that the demands placed on the FE and skills workforce continue to grow in complexity. Practitioners are increasingly expected to support learners experiencing anxiety, disengagement, poverty, neurodiversity, trauma, caring responsibilities and insecure employment futures, often while navigating funding pressures, recruitment shortages and widening expectations around inclusion and personal development. Yet workforce policy has not always kept pace with this reality. If government is serious about improving transitions for young people, then investment in the FE and skills workforce cannot remain peripheral to reform discussions. Professional development, workforce supply, dual professionalism, SEND capability, trauma-informed practice, careers expertise and cross-sector collaboration must all become central components of any long-term participation strategy. Supporting successful transitions increasingly depends on practitioners capable of combining pedagogical expertise with coaching, trauma-informed practice, SEND understanding, employer engagement and local systems navigation. This is a sophisticated form of professional practice that remains under-recognised within national workforce policy.

Importantly, this is not simply about capacity. It is about professional recognition. The relational and developmental work undertaken across the sector is highly skilled professional practice. It requires practitioners who can integrate pedagogy, coaching, employer engagement, pastoral support and local systems navigation in ways that are rarely captured by narrow performance metrics. The challenge for policymakers is therefore not only how to expand provision, but how to sustain and develop the workforce capabilities that underpin successful transitions.

A Different Model of Success

The Milburn review also presents an opportunity to rethink how success itself is defined. Too often, systems continue to privilege linear progression and short-term outcomes over sustained participation, wellbeing, confidence and belonging. Yet for many young people, particularly those facing multiple barriers, progress may initially look like re-engagement, stability, attendance, trust-building or incremental confidence rather than immediate labour market outcomes. These themes are explored further in the forthcoming ETF Beyond the label: workforce, transition and the future of SEND reform report, which highlights the importance of listening to lived experience and designing systems around continuity, dignity and aspiration rather than institutional convenience. A more inclusive transition system would therefore:

• prioritise continuity of support rather than fragmented interventions
• value relational practice alongside qualification achievement
• strengthen local partnerships across education, health, employment and community services
• embed employer inclusion and flexibility more systematically
• invest in workforce capability across the FE and skills ecosystem
• recognise progression as non-linear for many young people

These are not marginal adjustments. They require a shift from transactional policy design towards genuinely developmental systems thinking.

From Intervention to Inclusion

The risk in discussions about NEETs is that young people become framed primarily as a problem to be managed. The more important question is what kind of education, employment and social systems we are creating, and who those systems currently work well for. The FE and skills sector has long demonstrated that inclusive, flexible and locally responsive approaches can transform trajectories when young people are met with high expectations alongside meaningful support.

The challenge now is whether national policy is prepared to build around those strengths. The Milburn review is an important starting point. But if it is to lead to lasting change, the final phase must move beyond seeing transitions purely as labour market pipelines and instead recognise them as human, relational and systemic processes. The future question is therefore not whether young people are ready for work, but whether our systems are ready for young people. A country cannot reduce disengagement simply by demanding participation; it must build systems in which young people can realistically belong, progress and build secure futures.

By Dr Vikki Smith, Chief Professionalism Officer, Education Training Foundation