GSCE Results Day: New approach can provide a blueprint for post-16 education
Professor Andy Dainty and Julia Heap explain the benefits of a new partnership between FE and HE providers in Greater Manchester.
For many young people receiving their GCSE results today, navigating post-16 education can feel complex, with multiple qualification routes, progression options and career pathways to understand.
Our Pathways for Growth and Prosperity report, developed by FE and HE providers across Greater Manchester alongside Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, sets out how we can create a more joined-up skills system that gives learners clearer routes into skilled employment while meeting employer needs.
The report draws on the first combined analysis of further education, higher education and employer demand data across Greater Manchester, and provides a detailed, evidence-based picture of current and future skills needs across the city-region.
Our work identified four key priorities:
Better data to track learner journeys and align provision with demand
Stronger information, advice and guidance to help learners understand their options and progression routes
More coordinated employer engagement to ensure skills provision reflects workforce needs
Greater flexibility and progression pathways to support lifelong learning and seamless transitions between study and work
This work shows that while collaboration can be challenging, shared goals can create a more responsive skills system that improves outcomes for learners and supports economic growth.
At its heart, this work is about increasing options at Level 4 and 5 (advanced vocational qualifications that build specialist skills), strengthening pathways into skilled employment, and ensuring people can access learning that is right for them.
Grounded in evidence and developed alongside the Local Skills Improvement Plan, this collaboration brings post-16 providers together around a common goal: to deliver skills provision that is rooted in local need, responsive to employer demand, and focused on improving opportunities for learners and communities.
GCSE Results Day is often seen as a choice between sixth form and college, but young people need a clearer understanding of the full range of opportunities available to them and where those choices can lead.
For Greater Manchester, the foundations are in place. The challenge now is to build on these partnerships and create a system that is easier to navigate, better connected to employers, and gives every learner a clear route to future success.
· Read the Pathways for Growth and Prosperity report here.
