Education Secretary has today (Thursday 6
July) set out her mission to spark the skills revolution needed
to help Britain make a success of leaving the European Union.
In a keynote speech to
business leaders at the British Chambers of Commerce Education
summit, told business leaders that
the country can only rise to the challenge of developing the
skills and talents of our young people if government and business
work together. This includes developing plans for new T levels,
backed by an extra £500 million of government investment per year
announced in the budget, which will help build the army of
skilled young people that business and the country need.
also outlined plans to
deliver the huge range of skills needed to make Britain a
success, everything from coding to engineering and construction
to design, at a time when migration remains high on the political
agenda.
Education Secretary told the business
audience:
I want to create an army of skilled young people for British
business. But I need your help. Government can’t do it alone.
Because that’s what we need, never more than now. A skills
revolution for Brexit Britain. That’s the real strategy on
migration.
Great companies need great people. And my Department has a
mission to give our young people the very best start – to
become those great people.
The introduction of T-Levels will be the next stage in this
journey - a gold standard for technical and professional
excellence. Offered alongside apprenticeships, they will form
the basis of our new technical education system.
Delivering these reforms will be a challenge. I am clear there
is only one way to get this right – through a genuine
partnership between business, government and education
professionals. This means we need a collective plan. One plan.
One team. for skills.
A skills revolution. A technical education revolution. That is
how we meet those challenges – head on. It’s how we build our
future.
T levels will build on the success of the government’s ambitious
reforms that have already contributed to the proportion of young
people not in education, employment or training being at a record
low.
But still too many young people are being left behind, which is
why the Education Secretary is responding to calls from business
and education experts - CBI, BCC, Ofqual, the Association of
Colleges and - to get technical
education right for a new generation.
also announced:
*£50 million investment from April 2018 to fund high quality work
placements -a key component of every T Level – to help prepare
young people for skilled work *£15m to contribute to improvements
in further education so we have the colleges and teachers we need
to deliver the new T levels *Plans to bolster the role of the
current Further Education Commissioner - Richard Atkins - who
will take on responsibility for Further Education Colleges and
Sixth Form Colleges *Plans for a Department for Education summit
with businesses in the autumn to start developing the T level
curriculum
The full speech is available here.
