PISA 2025 gives England grounds for cautious confidence. It suggests that stability, curriculum coherence and academic expectations matter

Qualifications matter, but so do access to employment support, meaningful work experience and direct connections with employers. The objective should be broader than reducing welfare dependency: it should be to help every young person become an active and productive participant in the economy.

The principal challenge for ITPs is to move from being treated as downstream contractors to becoming strategic partners in local economic development, helping to create more coherent and flexible pathways into work and progression.