Recommendation 11

We challenged the Department on the underrepresentation of women in engineering and manufacturing T Levels, which mirrored the current workforce, and what it could learn from others internationally. This included the Supporting Adolescent Girls’ Education programme in Zimbabwe, which supports out-of-school adolescent girls into education and vocational training through revising the school curriculum.23 Written evidence we received also highlighted the gender disparity; lower proportion of disadvantaged students in engineering and technology T Levels; and the restrictions on remote working creating a barrier for students with special educational needs (SEND) accessing T Levels.24 Students with SEND are less likely to enrol on a T Level than other vocational courses – in 2022/23 students who had been assessed as having SEND by age 15 made up 11% of T Level students, compared with 15% of level 3 vocational qualifications students.25 The Department told us it will continue to monitor disparities by socioeconomic status, race, gender and SEND breakdowns and consider what more it can do to address these within T Levels and other vocational technical qualifications.26 19 C&AG’s Report, para 14 20 Q 54 21 C&AG’s Report, paras 1.9 and 3.25 22 Qq 35-36 23 Qq 58-60 24 ITL0001, ITL0014 25 C&AG’s Report, para 2.6 26 Qq 56-60 10 Raising awareness amongst employers