Vocational education

Blog

What works centre for local economic grwoth:

Estimating Graduate Supply: A Pathway Approach to Local Skills Data

In this guest blog, Aadya Bahl talks about the analysis done for the CEP report Hive of talent: what would it take to raise skills and productivity in Greater Manchester? published last week. For more information on avai...Read more...

Aadya Bahl

5 May 2026

Blog

LSE Business Review:

How the Great Recession affected millennial education and careers

In 2025 the proportion of young British people aged 16 to 24 who were not in education, employment or training was at its highest since 2014. How much impact do educational choices made at that age have on future careers...Read more...

Chiara Cavaglia and Sandra McNally

13 November 2025

Journal article

Journal of Human Resources:

Closing the gap between vocational and general education?

Vocational education delivery is widely debated, with ongoing efforts to improve its effectiveness. In 2010, England introduced University Technical Colleges (UTCs), hybrid institutions combining general and vocational e...Read more...

Stephen Machin, Sandra McNally, Camille Terrier and Guglielmo Ventura

8 July 2025

External report

A joined-up approach to UK skills policy

It is generally accepted that skills are a key driver of economic productivity and economic dynamism. They are a means by which individuals and communities can become resilient to social and economic change and are a key...Read more...

Julian Birkinshaw, Richard Blundell, Sarah Cowan, Alfie Denness and Sandra McNally

3 June 2025

Government consultation

Social mobility policy committee

To ensure inclusivity in the post-16 education system, the government must guarantee a clear progression route for the "other 50 per cent" of young people who are not on the academic track. The government should introduc...Read more...

Aadya Bahl, Richard Layard and Sandra McNally

23 May 2025

CEP election analysis

Further and higher education

There are not enough graduates for sectors in which the UK has a comparative advantage and there are too few people educated to sub-degree level compared to other countries....Read more...

Sandra McNally, Guglielmo Ventura and Gill Wyness

1 July 2024

CVER Research Paper

Immigration and vocational training: Evidence from England

Firms have two ways to ensure access to a skilled workforce: they can train their employees to the required level of skill or they can hire workers who are already skilled. Training is costly and an increase in the avail...Read more...

Alan Manning, Sandra McNally and Guglielmo Ventura

10 January 2024

Blog

LSE Business Review:

Train in vain? Skills, tasks, and training in the UK labour market

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt pledged that measures in the budget would help break down barriers that stop people working. One issue is how to ensure we have the skills the economy needs. Nye Cominetti, Rui Costa, Andrew Eyles,...Read more...

Nye Cominetti, Rui Costa, Andrew Eyles, Kathleen Henehan and Sandra McNally

16 March 2023

Blog

LSE British Politics and Policy:

The paradox of vocational education

Despite a UK labour market that is hungry for skills, academic education has triumphed over training, apprenticeships and preparation for specific occupations. Alison Wolf looks at why vocational education continues to l...Read more...

Alison Wolf

3 March 2023

CentrePiece article

The paradox of vocational education

Despite a UK labour market that is hungry for skills, academic education has triumphed over training, apprenticeships and preparation for specific occupations. Alison Wolf looks at why vocational education continues to l...Read more...

Alison Wolf

21 February 2023

CentrePiece article

The recent evolution of apprenticeships

The quality of apprenticeships in England has improved in recent years, but take-up has dropped. Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally and Guglielmo Ventura show how these changes mean that those from disadvantaged neighbourho...Read more...

Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally and Guglielmo Ventura

21 February 2023

Blog

CVER Blog:

The Recent Evolution of Apprenticeships

While the number of apprenticeship starts in England has reduced dramatically in recent years, policy changes have likely improved their average quality. Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally and Gu Ventura discuss the evoluti...Read more...

Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally and Guglielmo Ventura

8 December 2022

CVER Research Paper

The Recent Evolution of Apprenticeships: participation and pathways

The number of apprenticeship starts in England has reduced dramatically in recent years following government reforms and the COVID-19 pandemic. The composition has also shifted from almost complete domination by low and ...Read more...

Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally and Guglielmo Ventura

8 December 2022

Blog

CVER Blog:

On Track to Success? Returns to Vocational Education against different alternatives

In the wake of Brexit and the global pandemic, skills shortages across the UK economy risk hampering efforts to reverse a decade of languishing productivity and festering inequality. Reinvigorating the long-neglected Bri...Read more...

Sonke Hendrik Matthewes and Guglielmo Ventura

11 November 2022

Chapter

Returns to vocational education and training

in Handbook of labor, human resources and population economics

What are the consequences of choosing the vocational track over the general or academic track in upper secondary education? This review discusses the evidence for this. It first sets out the arguments for and against voc...Read more...

Sandra McNally, Guglielmo Ventura and Hanna Virtanen

29 July 2022

CVER Research Paper

Do Management Practices Matter in Further Education?

Further Education colleges are a key way in which 16-19 year olds acquire skills in the UK (much like US Community Colleges), especially those from low income backgrounds. Yet, little is known about what could improve pe...Read more...

Sandra McNally, Luis Schmidt and Anna Valero

8 March 2022

CVER Research Paper

The Effects of College Capital Projects on Student Outcome

The general debate on the relationship between school resources and student outcomes is an old and controversial one (for reviews see, for example, Hanushek, 1989, 1997 and Gibbons and McNally, 2013), although there is l...Read more...

Stephen Gibbons, Claudia Hupkau, Sandra McNally and Henry G. Overman

23 November 2021

CVER Research Paper

The impact of the Apprenticeship Levy on Apprenticeships and other training outcomes

Since April 2017, UK employers with an annual pay bill above #3 million have contributed to the Apprenticeship Levy. In this paper we use a matched firm-learner dataset to explore changes in apprenticeship and other trai...Read more...

Gavan Conlon, Andy Dickerson, Steven McIntosh and Pietro Patrignani

14 April 2021

CVER Research Paper

Trends in job-related training and policies for building future skills into the recovery

The trends outlined in this paper and the broader evidence suggest that new or enhanced policies to increase the quantity and quality of job-related training are required, particularly for younger workers or those with l...Read more...

Jiaqi Li, Anna Valero and Guglielmo Ventura

16 December 2020

CVER Research Paper

Gender, achievement, and subject choice in English education

In common with other OECD countries, there is a gender gap in educational achievement in England favouring girls. This carries through to tertiary education. On the other hand, boys are far more likely to engage in STEM ...Read more...

Chiara Cavaglia, Stephen Machin, Sandra McNally and Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela

20 October 2020

CVER Research Paper

Closing the Gap Between Vocational and General Education? Evidence from University Technical Colleges in England

Some countries, notably those which have long had a weak history of vocational education like the UK and the US, have recently seen a rapid expansion of hybrid schools which provide both general and vocational education....Read more...

Stephen Machin, Sandra McNally, Camille Terrier and Guglielmo Ventura

14 October 2020

CVER Briefing Note

Post-18 education ? who is taking the different routes and how much do they earn?

This paper describes the educational trajectories and labour market outcomes for people who completed their GCSEs between 2002 and 2006. Our long span of longitudinal data enables us to follow these individuals through t...Read more...

Jack Britton, Hector Espinoza, Sandra McNally, Stefan Speckesser, Imran Tahir and Anna Vignoles

11 September 2020

Journal article

Fiscal Studies:

Devolving skills: the case of the apprenticeship grant for employers

One rationale for devolution is that local decision makers may be well placed to adapt national policies to the local context. We test whether such adaptation helps meet programme objectives in the case of the Apprentice...Read more...

Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally and Henry G. Overman

1 August 2020

CVER Briefing Note

What future for apprenticeships after coronavirus?

The Covid-19 pandemic outbreak and the ensuing economic uncertainty caused interruptions to apprenticeship training. This is putting the future of apprenticeships at risk just at the time when they will be most needed ...Read more...

Guglielmo Ventura

14 July 2020

CVER Research Paper

Where versus What: College Value-Added and Returns to Field of Study in Further Education

Enrolling in vocational education and training programs constitutes a natural response to the current dynamics of the labour market, which is being reshaped by routinisation, automation, and outsourcing. We estimate the ...Read more...

Esteban M. Aucejo, Claudia Hupkau and Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela

23 June 2020