It is traditional among Brits who have already left school to complain that GCSE exams get easier every year. This time they got harder. Sweeping reforms have made the curriculum more demanding, with increased rote learning and fewer opportunities to retake exams. Easy ways for some parents and schools to boost the grades of weaker students, such as coursework, have been cut back. And a more finely calibrated grading system for maths and English – where nine is the highest and one the lowest – will allow universities and employers to make a more nuanced choice between pupils, particularly the ablest.

The reforms are good ones, but the reformers have their priorities wrong. For too long ministers have focused on the country’s highest-achieving pupils. They should now pay attention to everyone else. Only about a third of 18-year-olds go to university; for the rest the road from education to work is uncertain and full of potholes.

There are plenty of places to start. One is changing a policy which dictates those who fail English and maths must resit them until they pass. Dismally low resit pass rates – currently at 23% – suggest room for a rethink. Another is addressing the country’s crumbling further education colleges, which aim to provide technical training for the vocationally minded. These were the only area of education openly targeted for cuts since 2010, and now face another drubbing. A third is the state of apprenticeships, which have been billed as an alternative to A-levels and a solution to Britain’s skills gap. In reality most are poorly paid – some below minimum wage – rated only as equivalent to a GCSE and of uncertain value in the job market.

Employers who offer the coveted level 3 traineeships, equivalent to A-levels, tend to use GCSE performance as a way of selecting candidates, leaving the un-academic out in the cold. And Britain is one of the only countries in the world that have more adults in apprenticeships than younger people (a new levy, encouraging businesses to hire older people, may make matters worse).

There are signs that ministers are thinking along the right tracks: more attention has been paid to apprenticeships in recent years, for example. But what is needed is reforming zeal. Britain is beset with low social mobility and a long tail of underachievement. This will continue until the country finds better options for the young and vocationally minded.