Lucy Powell vows vocational 'revolution' as 58k teenagers receive no results after dropping out of education

By ELEANOR HARDING, EDUCATION EDITOR Published: 00:01, 10 August 2026 | Updated: 00:14, 10 August 2026 The new Education Secretary has vowed to launch a vocational 'revolution' as new figures revealed more than 50,000 teenagers will not receive any exam results this week. Speaking ahead of A-level and T-level Results Day on Thursday, Lucy Powell said she will focus on technical and vocational pathways to tackle the number of young people not in employment, education or training (Neet). The Department for Education (DfE) estimates that nearly 58,000 18-year-olds in England will get no results this week because they have dropped out of education and training, although some are in employment. Mrs Powell said: 'It's a big number. We know that they're more likely to be not in education and employment for the years to come, already being out of the system. 'This is a clarion call for all of us in Government, and more widely, to really address this issue because this has a huge impact not just on those individuals for the rest of their lives but on society and the economy for years business and employers and society to come.' She said 'pretty much' her first meeting as Education Secretary was with former health secretary Alan Milburn, who is leading a review into the Neets issue. The latest data, published in May, showed the number of young people aged 16 to 24 neither working nor learning surpassed one million for the first time since 2013, reaching 1.01 million in the three months from January to March. Mrs Powell said there is no 'silver bullet' to solve the crisis, but said she will be focusing on a 'revolution in vocational and technical qualifications and education'. The new Education Secretary Lucy Powell (pictured) has vowed to launch a vocational 'revolution' as new figures revealed more than 50,000 teenagers will not receive any exam results this week. She added she did not want an education system that gives the message: 'You're a failure, you're a failure, oh now you're out of it.' Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced last month that technical subjects will be available to 14-year-old pupils from September 2028. However, Mrs Powell said she wanted 'high standards' across both vocational courses and university routes, and would not be encouraging a 'two tier system'. It came after revelations yesterday that elite universities have accepted more A-level pupils achieving the equivalent of BBB than A*AA in an attempt to fill the gap left by an exodus of high-paying international students. Universities are accepting lower-achieving British undergraduates after a 10 per cent drop in international students, who can pay up to seven times as much for a degree.