Technical education has consistently been the Cinderella of our education system – an overlooked gem hidden behind the university carousel which prioritises filling our young people with facts and not wholly preparing them for the future world of work.
In 2021, just 17 per cent of university and sixth form college students surveyed by Prospects said that they had undertaken work experience in the past year. The mantra of “university, university, university” has meant that careers education and real-life work experience has been sidelined, leading to a skills deficit which is affecting the UK economy.
The Learning and Work Institute estimates that by 2030 there could be as many 17.4 million high-skilled jobs with only 14.8 million high skilled workers available. And businesses won’t wait around: a recent report found that 61 per cent of foreign businesses said that they would expand overseas if they couldn’t get the skills they need in the UK. But the Skills Act demonstrates a step change in the government’s ambition to take skills seriously.
The most crucial step this Act takes is to enhance the ties between work and education. Young people won’t be able to access the full range of career choices open to them if they’re not told what is available. In 2019, the Institute for Public Policy Research found that just two in five schools were complying with the technical information enabling the Baker Clause and that 70 per cent of technical education providers had difficulty accessing schools. The ambition was right, but we needed a more comprehensive, consequence driven regime to ensure that schools step up. I tabled an amendment to the legislation which would mean that every young person would be guaranteed at least two careers guidance encounters in each of the key school year groups [Years 8-9, Years 10-11 and Years 12-13]. I welcome the fact that the education secretary and ministers accepted my amendment, which has now been incorporated into the Bill and passed into law. This move will join the dots on the map of technical opportunities on offer for students and could be a huge boost for the skills revolution.
There are areas where legislation could go further to support key sectors. Technical industries around the UK stand to benefit from what I see as a renaissance of apprenticeships. My committee’s report into white working class pupils found that early Level 2 apprenticeships were a key stepping stone from poverty into employment. Bolstering support for these would swell the ranks of skilled employees for technical fields while simultaneously creating a ladder of opportunity - out of poverty and into well-paid and fulfilling jobs.
The government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee is an admirable goal; the Lifelong Loan Entitlement outlined in this Act will reverse the decline in adult participation in education. But, with 39 per cent of employers admitting to training none of their staff in 2019, more must be done to keep the UK’s skills levels competitive.
As the Education Select Committee’s report into adult skills recommended, we need a community learning centre in every town, and a skills tax credit to revitalise employer-led training.
The government must ensure that people are introduced to technical education early, seeing it as an opportunity and not subject to Cinderella’s two ugly sisters of traditional academia snobbery and underfunding. Only then can this Act ensure that the clock doesn’t strike midnight on our skills revolution.
Key Points:
• Technical education has been consistently overlooked by our education system. The new Skills and Post-16 Education Act, which became law in April, shows an ambition to take skills seriously.
• The most crucial component of this Act for the construction, engineering and manufacturing sectors is to mandate stronger technical careers advice.
• Increased apprenticeship funding, targeted at early stages, would benefit technical industries.
• The government should go further to support adult and in-work education.
This article originally appeared in The Leaders Council’s special report on ‘The Impact of the Skills & Post-16 Education Act on the Construction, Engineering & Manufacturing sectors’, published on July 4, 2022. Read the full special report here.
Image by Chris McAndrew on Wikimedia Commons
