Much of the debate spurred by the publication of Andrew Adonis’ excellent Education, Education, Education has, unsurprisingly, been around academies, the middle tier and bridging the chasm between the state and independent sectors. But what Adonis has to say on the current state and future direction of vocational education and training should, equally, be part of an emerging Labour manifesto for skills and economic growth.
Adonis’ reform agenda for VET has two main prongs.
The first is to embrace university technical colleges – a relatively small number of new higher education/private sector-sponsored high-level 14-19 VET institutions built under the free schools aegis each specialising in a particular industrial sector. The first UTC – the JCB Academy in Staffordshire – was established by Labour and opened in 2010. Since then the coalition government has opened or is developing another 33, with a further bidding round closing in November. In the main these UTCs have an engineering focus.
The impact of UTCs will be significant, partly in their own right, but perhaps more so as aspirational pace setters in VET. Labour should look at expanding the number of UTCs so that they are truly transformational. A goal for the next Labour government could be to open another 150-250 UTCs with existing schools converting into UTCs with closer links to business than the schools they replaced. The ability to transfer to VET at 14 should begin to be the norm for the 50 per cent and more of young people not intending to go to university.
A minority of open or planned UTCs do specialise in sectors other than engineering. In Liverpool a UTC will open next year specialising in life sciences and Salford’s MediaCityUK UTC will have a creative and digital focus. Labour should further expand the focus of future UTCs into these and other growth sectors where there are identified skills gaps. The 14 industry sectors covered by 14-19 diplomas would be a good basis to start.
The second reform Adonis proposes is the need to recognise the centrality of maths and English skills in VET, as well as academic pathways. The post-16 Technical Baccalaureate (TechBacc) proposed by Adonis in Education, Education, Education has maths and English alongside a technical qualification and work-based learning – something highlighted in the 2011 Wolf review. It is right that the next Labour government recognises the significance of poor numeracy and literacy skills as a barrier to labour market entry and progress.
But Labour should be bolder and revive notions of a 14-16 TechBacc with 60 per cent of students’ time taken up with GCSEs in English, maths, science and one other subject and 40 per cent with a technical qualification. This would put the 14-16 TechBacc on a par with the academic route EBacc.
Labour needs to be bold on VET. Anything less will hamper future economic growth prospects. To do that we’ll absolutely need to improve the quality of vocational pathways so that they’re no longer viewed as second-chance qualifications. There are too many ‘low-level vocational qualifications, most of which have little to no labour market value’, as Wolf put it. This is economic madness and bad social justice. We need to root VET policy in our Labour values – parity of esteem between vocational and academic pathways and no disenfranchisement through pathway chosen.
—————————————————————————————
Nick Small is a member of Liverpool Riverside CLP and Liverpool city council’s cabinet member for employment, enterprise and skills. Nick tweets @cllrnicksmall
—————————————————————————————