Since T-levels were introduced in 2020 as new technical qualifications for 16 to 19-year-olds, they have rarely been out of the spotlight.

In the last two years alone we have had major reports on T-levels from the Education Select Committee in Parliament, Ofsted and the National Audit Office – none of which painted a particularly rosy picture of how these qualifications have fared so far.

The latest in this long line of inquiries came on the 27th of June, when the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament, which monitors government spending, published its verdict on how T-levels have been designed and implemented.

So what concerns did the Public Accounts Committee raise about T-levels? Why has this new brand of qualifications struggled to deliver the ambitions set out for them when they were launched five years ago? And are things likely to get better or worse for T-levels over the rest of this Parliament?

My guests are Robert Halfon, the MP for Harlow from 2010 to 2024 who was twice Minister for Skills and Apprenticeships at the Department for Education, and Sorah Gluck, a Senior Policy Advisor at the Edge Foundation.

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On Thursday 4th July 2024, the Labour Party won a resounding victory in the UK General Election.

In their election-winning manifesto, Labour’s number one pledge within their mission to ‘break down barriers to opportunity’ was to recruit 6,500 new teachers.

This pledge for 6,500 teachers has been repeated many times by government ministers in the 12 months since the election, but we’ve hardly heard anything about how the pledge will be delivered, or what it means in practice for schools and colleges.

So, what exactly was the original pledge that Labour made in their election manifesto? Why is it proving so difficult for the government to even define their pledge, let alone deliver it? And what risks lie ahead as the Government tries to attract more people into the teaching profession?

My guests are James Zuccollo, the director for school workforce at the Education Policy Institute, and Jack Worth, an education economist and school workforce lead at the National Foundation for Educational Research.

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On June 11th, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the result of the Government’s Spending Review, which confirmed the budgets that each government department will have until 2028.

The Department for Education, or DfE’s budget will rise from £101 billion to £109 billion over this period – an increase of 0.8% after adjusting for inflation.

So, is the Spending Review outcome a good or bad result for the DfE? How did schools, colleges and universities fare in relation to each other within the DfE’s spending plans? And what question marks remain about how the DfE will prioritise its spending going forward?

My guests are Katie Carr, an Associate Director at the consultancy Public First, and Dani Payne, Senior Researcher at the Social Market Foundation think tank.

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