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Policy paper

Pathways to priority occupations: supporting post-16 education and skills

A measure to monitor learners starting pathways - courses and subjects - that are more likely to lead to priority occupations in priority growth sectors.

From:
Department for Education and Department for Work and Pensions
Published
25 June 2026

Applies to England

Documents

Pathways to priority occupations: a measure to support post-16 education

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Methodology for establishing the pathways to priority occupations measure

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Apprenticeship standards list

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T Levels occupational specialisms list

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Details

In the post-16 education and skills white paper, we committed to developing a new measure that monitors ‘increasing starts in priority courses’ mapped to the skills needs of:

  • industrial strategy priority sectors
  • construction
  • health and social care

Our ambition is to increase the proportion of learners starting pathways - courses and subjects - that are more likely to:

  • lead to these priority occupations in priority growth sectors
  • reduce the number of vacancies attributed to skills shortages

Updates to this page

Published 25 June 2026

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