Education and Skills Bill

moved Amendment No. 26: 26: Clause 4, page 2, line 32, after ““sector”” insert ““, at home”” The noble Baroness said: I shall speak also to Amendment No. 27. These amendments are designed to provoke and explore thoughts on what form appropriate full-time education and training might take. It must not be forgotten that non-formal learning can be supportive of and complementary to formal education. We should make sure that provisions in the Bill have regard to those programmes which do not necessarily lead to an accredited qualification but which can help young people to overcome issues related to their wider family and personal life that may have had a negative effect on their ability to engage in formal education. Non-formal education provides opportunities for volunteering and participation in youth work which can develop necessary and basic skills which had hitherto been lacking. For some young people who are currently failing in, and being failed by, the formal system, non-formal education may be more suitable. If they have already disengaged from the education system, this could be a way of re-engaging them and preventing them from disappearing from the system altogether. The important thing is not to ensure that everyone by the time they turn 18 has a piece of paper with a qualification written on it, but that they have picked up the skills they need to take control of their own lives. I beg to move.