The value of technical education and apprenticeships has long been under-appreciated. Is this about to change?
It was hugely encouraging to hear the prime minister setting out a target for higher education and apprenticeship take-up during his speech at the Labour Party conference.
This feels to be a very significant step in levelling perceptions of the relative worth of academic and work-focused education pathways and hopefully it will become a clarion call that genuinely rebalances Tony Blair’s announcement of his ambition for 50 per cent of young people to enter higher education during a Labour Party conference speech in September 1999.
This became the flagship education policy of his government and was framed as part of a broader effort to modernise Britain’s economy and expand opportunity – and failing to recognise the critical importance of vocational and technical qualifications as a driver for prosperity and growth.
If followed through, the prime minister’s announcement has the potential to impact as deeply and have the same longevity – and it needs to.
Words into action
For now, it needs to be backed up with early and strong commitments to invest and make improvements; making immediate adjustments to the reporting and regulatory regimes for schools and colleges would be a good start. Whilst there are significant levels of ‘change fatigue’ in the skills system, there could be plenty of opportunities within the substantive and far-reaching announcements expected in the coming weeks.
There is often cynicism about the benefits of adjustments to departmental responsibilities. Whilst clearly a hastily made decision, the recent movement of adult education and apprenticeships to DWP has much potential as it strengthens the skills-to-work dynamic.
The changes have been welcomed by the awarding sector, and it is a genuine opportunity to create an agile, responsive and future-facing technical and vocational education system that powers more growth and opportunity. But we must guard against the temptation for ‘quick fixes’ and short-term outcomes focused that simply move young people into work. We must also hold onto the positive progress of recent years in raising standards and improving quality.
It will be important that we are not seduced into thinking that we can meet the needs of the economy by focusing exclusively on a single area or level of achievement.
Means and ends
Skills is a system, and we must address the industrial strategy priority sectors, as well as the more populous entry routes into work, if we are to ensure that the NEET totals do not spiral higher and for our system to be progressive and incentivising – a concept to which the attainment of qualifications is a significant contributor.
It seems inevitable that the curriculum and assessment review will result in more focus on level 3 qualifications and assessment. But we will not get at the NEET challenge if we do not similarly focus on all aspects of the offers at levels 1 and 2. We must support the movement through work as well as doing more to support younger learners into work.
This is where the post-16 strategy ought to help and bring bolder thinking about how we approach the needs of those who are in work and those coming into work. And for the latter, we must not lose sight of how important behaviours and essential cross-cutting skills are to competence. If we make the assessment of behaviours in apprenticeships effectively a bye, this will be a retrograde step and amount to lost learning from the frameworks era.
A cogent plan for the assessment of behaviours must not be lost amongst the reforms to apprenticeship assessment.
Collaboration calling
It is unrealistic to expect the post-16 education and skills strategy white paper and the curriculum and assessment review to get to this level of detail.
Moreover, an overarching and longer-term vision and clearly laid-out ambitions, supported by appropriate levels of funding, are overdue and should bring sought after certainty, transparency as well as, eventually, stability.
It will be good to see the detail, even where there are differences of opinion. But if we are to fashion the best-fit solutions that work for all components of the skills and FE system, we do need to have more opportunity for the expertise of all those involved in delivery to contribute their ideas.
Getting there will also require a genuine and positive commitment to discussion from all, as well as time. The skills eco-system is delicate, but we shouldn’t undervalue the contribution of those organisations who support the delivery.
The learning from recent policy developments is that, where this is underestimated, key stakeholders get left behind and important details get overlooked, causing problems and rolling-delays.
It is important that implementation is sensibly paced so that key stakeholders can balance their resources, to ensure that the benefits of change and improvement can be delivered by all those who have a stake in creating a truly world-class, technical and vocational education system.
The independence brought by awarding organisation members is trusted and valued both in the UK and internationally, and notably by employers. Awarding organisations play a key role in ensuring the quality of delivery and assurance that standards are valid and reliable.
When informed and empowered, awarding organisations move with precision and skill to translate policy into delivery in an environment that is established, regulated and understood by all.
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