Education Secretary Lucy Powell has vowed to answer the "clarion call" of the Neets crisis, as over 50,000 teenagers across England are not expected to receive any results this week due to dropping out of education or training.
Focus on technical and vocational pathways
The Education Secretary, who was appointed to the Cabinet role three weeks ago, said she is focused on a "revolution" in technical and vocational pathways to tackle the number of young people not in employment, education or training - known as Neets. However, she said she would not oversee a "two-tier system" in education, ensuring instead that youngsters can choose between those routes and going to university.
The Department for Education estimates that nearly 58,000 18-year-olds in England will get no results this week because they have dropped out of education and training. Some of this number, however, are already in employment.
Clarion call for action
Speaking ahead of A-level and T-level results day on Thursday, Ms Powell told the Press Association: "It's a big number. We know that they're more likely to be not in education and employment for the years to come, already being out of the system."
"This is a clarion call for all of us in Government, and business and employers and society more widely, to really address this issue because this has a huge impact not just on those individuals for the rest of their lives but on society and the economy for years to come."
The recently-appointed Education Secretary added "pretty much" her first meeting in the role was with former health secretary Alan Milburn, who is leading a review into the Neets issue.
Record numbers of young people out of work or education
It comes as the latest data, published in May, showed the number of young people aged 16 to 24 neither working nor learning surpassed one million for the first time since 2013, reaching 1.01 million in the three months from January to March.
Ms Powell however made clear there is no "silver bullet" to solve the crisis, but said she will be focusing on a "revolution in vocational and technical qualifications and education".
"So that we don't just have an education system that says: 'You're a failure, you're a failure, oh now you're out of it," she added.
New technical routes for younger students
It follows Prime Minister Andy Burnham announcing last month that the government will establish routes for year 10 students to 'combine core academic subjects' with technical education, work experience and apprenticeships in their area.
It is the latest announcement in a long line of attempts, by a series of governments, to get technical and academic routes on an equal footing, including General National Vocational Qualifications under Tony Blair's premiership, T-Levels under Theresa May and proposed V-levels under Sir Keir Starmer.
Universities UK chief weighs in
The chief executive of Universities UK, which represents more than 140 universities, said she agrees higher education is not the right route for all young people but the rhetoric should not be "going backwards in terms of encouraging people to participate in universities".
Vivienne Stern told PA: "I think what we need to keep a close eye on is whether the rhetoric around the value of a degree has a different effect on different types of students."
"Those people who can see people in their family who've got a degree and have done very well out of that probably have a greater degree of confidence to follow that route, but what if you are coming from a background where nobody in your family has ever been to university, not really sure what it involves, and all you can hear is people talking it down? Well maybe that's more likely to put you off."
No two-tier system
Asked if there was a danger of an anti-university rhetoric being spun and putting young people off pursuing higher education, Ms Powell told PA: "I'm absolutely clear I'm not going to be overseeing some kind of two-tier system in education. This is about having high standards across the piece, high aspirations, high expectations."
"The kids from my constituency in Manchester Central, which has got very high levels of child poverty, absolutely they must continue to have, and I will make sure that they've got, every opportunity to go to Oxford, Cambridge, or a Russell Group University from going to a school in my constituency."
"As much as there are options for young people in my constituency to also have a good career in construction, health and social care, and all the other jobs of the future for which we don't have enough young people to do."
Ms Powell added that employers should be "hunting out" young people who can be "at the forefront of this technological revolution".
