Across British politics, there is a recognition that technical
and vocational education has been badly neglected. The Government
has recently made this one of its core priorities, via the
introduction of T-levels for students aged 16 and over and new
Institutes of Technology. This is particularly urgent, given our
imminent departure from the European Union. According to the UK
Commission for Employment and Skills, 43% of vacancies in skilled
trades/occupations were due to skills shortages in 2015, and an
additional 3.6 million vacancies in mid-level skilled
occupations, such as advanced manufacturing, are predicted to
arise by 2022.
Yet the existing technical and vocational schools are close
to collapse. The University Technical Colleges (UTCs)
and studio schools that are meant to provide this type education
for 14-19 year-olds have become dumping grounds for children
struggling in mainstream schools. As a result, they are languishing
at the bottom of the league tables and struggling to fill their
places. Nearly a third of those opened since 2011 have already
closed.
In a major new report for the Centre for Policy Studies, and
endorsed by , ’s former Chief of Staff, Toby
Young identifies a key problem that has hobbled technical and
vocational education in Britain for more than 100 years and
proposes a radical solution.
In the report, ‘Technically Gifted’, he argues that we must break
the Gordian Knot linking technical education to academic failure by
allowing specialist schools to select their pupils according to
aptitude for their occupational specialisms, instead
of being forced to take those rejected by their mainstream
neighbours as not bright enough to cope with the ‘common core’ of
academic GCSEs. Rather than thinking of technical and vocational
schools as second best for children of below average ability, as it
has been since the beginning of the 20th Century, we should regard
them as schools of opportunity for children of all abilities who
have a particular flair for this type of education. And the pupils
at these schools should still be expected to do the ‘common core’,
thereby ensuring they don’t become an ‘alternative pathway’ for
those who cannot cope with a broad and balanced curriculum.
Young, the co-founder of the West London Free School and former
Director of New Schools Network, shows how the world’s most
successful technical and vocational schools – the Meister schools
of South Korea, the magnet career academies of New Jersey, and
Britain’s own BRIT School – are those that carefully select pupils
according to their aptitude for their specialisms at the age of 14
and still expect them to do traditional, academic subjects while
acquiring advanced occupational skills. They aren’t seen as dumping
grounds for children classified as ‘not academically bright’ by
mainstream schools.
It is commonly assumed that English state schools, such as UTCs and
studio schools, could not become selective without the Government
passing an act of Parliament. But Young argues this is not the
case. He shows that existing or new 14-19 specialist schools could
be made 100% selective by aptitude with the powers already at the
Education Secretary’s disposal. Creating more schools that select
by ability is prohibited by the 1998 School Standards and
Frameworks Act, but not schools that select by aptitude, so
overturning that ban by passing fresh legislation would not be
necessary.
This reform would complement the Prime Minister and ’s drive to boost the status of
technical education, creating a prestigious route for students with
a genuine passion and aptitude for this type of education from the
age of 14, followed by T-levels and a place at one of the new
Institutes of Technology.
Toby Young, author of ‘Technically Gifted’,
said:
“The growing skills gap in the UK means there are projected to
be an additional 3.6 million vacancies in skilled occupations by
2022.
“This is in large part because we still think of technical and
vocational education as a second best ‘alternative pathway’ for
students who cannot cope with academic subjects.
“If Britain is to prosper after we’ve left the European Union, we
must break the Gordian Knot linking technical education to academic
failure and allow UTCs and studio schools to select pupils
according to aptitude for their occupational specialisms at the age
of 14. Children should be selected for these schools because they
have a particular gift for this type of education, not herded into
them because they lack the ability to cope with academic
subjects.”
Robert Colvile, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies,
said:
“Technical education should never be seen as a second choice
for those who can’t keep up academically.
“As long as the Government persists in allowing technical schools
to be used as dumping grounds for those rejected by mainstream
schools we will continue to see them struggle and close.
“’Technically Gifted’ shows that by allowing specialist schools to
select their pupils according to aptitude we will ensure that those
pupils with a true passion for technical and vocational subjects
are able to pursue it in the best environment. We can finally move
to a system where as many children as possible get the education
that suits them.”
In his foreword, said:
“Young people should be encouraged to study technical subjects, and
not only when teachers judge that they are not equipped for a
purely academic education.
“This paper’s proposal – that the Government should create a new
generation of technical schools that select their pupils by
aptitude – is one that ministers ought to take seriously.”
An embargoed copy of ‘Technically
Gifted’ is available on the CPS website.