College 16-18 English and maths surveys

AoC English and Maths Survey Report 2025

Improving post-16 English and maths outcomes for learners continues to be a major public policy priority, creating significant challenges for the college sector. This AoC English and maths survey aims to establish the major concerns colleges have and how they are responding. Our last survey of this type was conducted in 2022.

Among the most significant findings:

• The greatest challenges faced by colleges are low student attendance in English and maths and recruiting and/or retaining English and maths teachers.
• Almost every college reported that student attendance in English and maths is lower than for students’ other programmes, but is above 70% in over 80% of colleges.
• 78% of colleges report difficulty in recruiting maths teachers (up from 36% in 2022), and 65% of colleges reported difficulty in recruiting English teachers (up from 24% in 2022).
• The most common approach is to enrol either all retake students or all grade 2 and 3 students on a one-year GCSE programme. One key factor for this is the greater currency of GCSE.
• Most colleges do not offer Level 2 Functional Skills because of the low pass rate and the greater currency of GCSE.

AoC English and Maths Survey Report 2025