16–19: The vital age group in FE

1976 will be remembered as the year when the needs of the 16 – 19 age group were recognised as demanding priority in future policy decisions; but apart from the Government's recognition in its statement on Unified Vocational Preparation1 of the need to develop a working relationship between the Department of Education & Science and the Department of Employment, the approach adopted has been predominantly partisan and the outcome fragmentary. There is now a need to “create the badly needed framework within which the needs of the 16 – 19 age group can be considered as a whole” (Times Educational Supplement, 31 Dec. 1976).