Published 20th October 2025
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We are delighted that today’s Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper includes the introduction of new level 1 stepping stone qualifications in GCSE English and maths. These will support young people entering Further Education with low prior attainment in English and maths to undertake a year of foundational study before progressing to a full level 2 GCSE resit programme the following year.
Through our engagement with the Curriculum and Assessment Review Panel, we proposed new stepping stone qualifications as an essential mechanism to ensure that every learner – regardless of their starting point – has a fair opportunity to make meaningful progress towards securing vital qualifications. English and maths GCSEs are widely recognised and valued gateways to further study, training and employment, and, through this, key enablers of social mobility and lifelong success.
At Get Further, we have long championed the importance of the condition of funding policy for ensuring that young people who leave school without the expected standard in English and maths continue to receive the support they need to strengthen their literacy and numeracy and gain crucial qualifications as part of their post-16 education. This policy is particularly significant for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, half of whom currently leave school without a standard pass (grade 4) in GCSE English and maths.
However, we recognise that there is significant potential for GCSE English and maths pass rates in the 16-19 education phase to be improved. These new level 1 stepping stone qualifications will ensure those who start post-16 education with attainment below grade 3 receive sufficient time and support to close gaps in their foundational knowledge and reinforce core skills before resitting the full level 2 GCSE. They therefore represent an important move away from a one-size-fits-all model and towards a more equitable, responsive, and evidence-based approach – one that meets learners where they are and helps them to move forward with confidence.
It is right that learners who achieve a grade 3 in English and maths at the age of 16 immediately continue to work towards a full GCSE. This approach, combined with a targeted pathway for students with the lowest prior attainment, will enable post-16 providers to further close the attainment gap between young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers, ensuring even more young people gain the essential literacy and numeracy skills they need to thrive in education, the workplace and in life.
We also welcome the commitment to enhanced continued professional development support for FE English and maths teachers and to continuing to build the evidence base about what works best to support post-16 learners to succeed in English and maths. We will continue to support these efforts through our Department for Education-funded continuous professional development support for post-16 English and maths teachers and through the evaluation of our small-group tuition being undertaken by the Education Endowment Foundation.
More broadly, we support the more developed guidance about which students would be suitable for entry into the November resit window, as premature entry into resit exams is something we have seen to be damaging to student confidence, motivation and progress. We are also encouraged by the planned revisions to the 16–18 English and maths Progress Measure and Qualification Achievement Rates, as they enable post-16 providers to focus on genuine learning rather than rushing students into exams.
Alongside the funding rate increase of over 11% for English and maths and 7% for disadvantage payments, these are important steps to ensuring the sector is equipped to deliver the support their English and maths learners need. We hope these positive steps are taken further in the near future by the introduction of a 16-19 Student Premium – an extension of the existing Pupil Premium, which currently supports students from disadvantaged backgrounds up to age 16, but ends two years before the end of their compulsory education.
We look forward to continuing to work closely with the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions as these new qualifications are developed, and to collaborating with our college partners on high-quality, equitable delivery of post-16 English and maths education in line with these important reforms.