Which Labour policy would, according to Michael Gove’s Hyperbole Machine, leave ‘millions of state school pupils unemployable’?
That would be the Technical Baccalaureate policy which Gove has this week picked up, having realised that he should probably contribute to ending youth unemployment. The Tech Bacc, which provides practical courses for young people for whom university is not an option, was first proposed in Ed Miliband’s conference speech.
Of course, being so rare under this government, you might be forgiven for missing this latest coalition U-turn. But in typical Gove fashion, he’s picked up an idea and then stumbled over its implementation. That’s nothing new – his free schools policy, an attempt to increase accountability and school independence has not only wasted money but failed to tackle the serious shortage of primary places.
In introducing his own Tech Bacc, Gove is making the same mess of reform. Labour’s plan for practical subjects from the age of 14 means that a wider number of pupils will benefit from a rigorous curriculum. Under the Tories, children will have to wait until 16 before they can decide how they best learn. For a secretary of state so concerned with school and pupil freedom, Gove doesn’t much like granting it.
And with increasing calls from education leaders, businesses and employers for maths and English to be taught until 18, the Labour party is on the right side of reform. The CBI, in its report Ambition for All in Schools didn’t just back maths and English at 18 and a more ‘diverse assessment approach’; it also stated that ‘simply putting a tougher exam in place’ (something the Tories have spent two years doing) was not enough.
Labour’s efforts in government, led by reformers like Andrew Adonis, and the continuing pressure exerted by Stephen Twigg while in opposition, have meant that education is now one of – if not the – strongest of Labour’s policy areas. The recent news that England’s schools are the second best in Europe should be taken as proof of the scale and success of New Labour’s education policies.
Indeed, Adonis proposed a new Tech Bacc in his book Education, Education, Education. Adonis points to the technical diplomas introduced in Germany and Singapore, and how ‘investing more in young people not proceeding to higher education’ is the key to developing a more balanced education system which doesn’t forget those who don’t make it to university.
Labour’s policies on education not only represent what One Nation should look like, they also set out how we can get there. The Tech Bacc provides young people with the skills and knowledge which businesses and employers look for. It is a comprehensive plan to ensure that no pupil is left behind.
It is good that Gove feels confident enough to accept Labour’s policy, but his failures in going far enough – practical choices at 14, maths and English at 18 – means ultimately it will be Labour in 2015 who will start building the balanced education system our society and economy sorely need.
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Alex White is a member of Progress, writes for the Young Progressives column, and tweets @AlexWhiteUK
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