Enginuity calls on schools to provide more guidance on vocational education

The Vocational Attitudes Survey 2026 Report reveals how views on vocational education, apprenticeships, and technical pathways have changed over time from learners’ and parents’ perspectives.

This year’s responses show a promising increase in awareness of the potential opportunities offered by apprenticeships, both by prospective learners and their parents. But our study also shows that schools and colleges aren’t yet matching these levels of enthusiasm.

Consideration of other post-16 options continues to rise

Each year, Enginuity commissions a survey of 1,000 parents and young people from across England and Wales to gauge awareness and gather views on vocational training as an alternative to university. The survey asks questions around apprenticeships, T Levels, and guidance from schools on post-16 aspirations.

Now in its third wave of responses, our survey reveals that families no longer see apprenticeships and vocational routes as a marginal alternative.

• Almost nine in ten respondents aged 11-18 (89.6%) said they would consider an apprenticeship over a typical university degree (Up from 85.7% in 2024).
• 94.5% of parents said they were interested in finding out more about “earn while you learn” opportunities like apprenticeships for their young people (Up from 93.2% in 2024).
• 91.1% of young people say they’d be interested in knowing more about the “earn while you learn” opportunity an apprenticeship provides (Up from 88.3% in 2024).

Both groups of respondents see the opportunity in apprenticeships. When asked why young people might opt for a vocational route into their career, 15.1% of parents and 16.48% of young people pointed out the opportunity to learn while they earn – the top reason given from the seven offered within the survey.

’Earn while you learn’ was the leading answer for young people in each of the three surveys, climbing from 15.34% of responses in 2024 to 16.22% in 2025 and 16.48% this year.

It’s incredibly encouraging to see increased willingness to consider apprenticeships as a career option both among young people and their parents. But wider influences including schools and colleges aren’t necessarily there yet to provide some further context.

Some awareness of T Levels but little confidence within families

For example, when asked ‘are you aware of T Levels?’ only one in five (22.1%) parents and three out of ten young people (28.1%) felt they knew enough about T Levels to know whether they were an appropriate option.

A third of parents (33.4%) and almost that amount of young people (30.4%) had never heard of T Levels.

The rest of the answers from those surveyed (44.5% parents, 41.5% young people) indicated both an awareness of T Levels and a need for more information about them.

Other answers within this year’s survey indicate schools and colleges are now presenting a more balanced view of the choice between apprenticeships and university degrees. But there’s also been a slight decrease in the discussion of vocational routes post-exams since 2025: the share of students who have noticed their school talking about wider options fell from 65.6% in 2025 to 60.8% in 2026.

Our findings show there’s a clear gap between the families who want to know more about the options available to them other than university, and the institutions who are tasked with supporting these informed choices.

The Vocational Attitudes Survey illustrates the need for stronger awareness of vocational routes as the UK Government maps out its Industrial Strategy – and hopefully gives post-16 prospects more awareness and power to choose their own path.

Download a copy of our report and see more of the findings from this year's Vocational Attitudes Survey.

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