‘Snob’ parents to be told degrees are not the only route to success
BRITAIN has become a nation of “snobs” who think university is the only way to get a good job, the Education Secretary will say today.
Parents must understand that a degree is “not the only path to a great job” and school leavers who embark on apprenticeships deserve “as much praise” as their classmates who go on to university, according to Damian Hinds.
Addressing around 100 business and education leaders at Battersea Power Station in London, he will say: “As a nation I’m afraid we’ve been technical education snobs. We’ve revered the academic but treated vocational as second class. When we do it well – law, engineering, medicine – then we don’t even call it vocational.”
He will say that this snobbery has long gone unchallenged because politicians and others in public life have viewed vocational courses as suitable only for “other people’s children”.
Mr Hinds will use his speech to urge young people to consider alternatives to university when they leave school, rather than assuming that a degree is the only way to get a good job.
“We want young people to acquire the higher qualifications that lead to high skilled, more rewarding jobs – whether through a degree, a higher apprenticeship or higher technical qualifications,” he will say. “I want us to break down some of the false barriers we’ve erected between academic and technical routes. I don’t see any reason why higher technical training shouldn’t be open to certain A-level students as long as they have the prerequisite knowledge and practical skill.
“Equally, I want T-level [a technical version of A-level] students, that want to, to be able to go to university to do relevant technical degrees.”
He will explain that unless Britain drops the mindset that academia is the only path to success, it will never close the productivity gap with its European neighbours. “Germany, France, and the US all produce over 25 per cent more per hour than the UK. In terms of public services – matching German productivity would allow government to spend tens of billions of pounds a year more,” Mr Hinds will say.
Mr Hinds was educated at St Ambrose College, a Roman Catholic grammar school in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, and went on to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University.
Last year the Government announced the biggest overhaul of post16 education in 70 years, as part of a multi-billion pound drive to improve technical training. The current system, where students have to pick from 13,000 different qualifications, will be replaced with just 15 stand-alone courses.
Teenagers who undertake technical training, such as courses to become an
‘We’ve been technical education snobs. We revered the academic but treated vocational as second class’
engineer or builder, will spend 50per cent longer learning than they do now, equalling 900 hours of teaching a year.
The new qualifications are due to be piloted from 2020.
Mr Hinds will say: “Young people not on the A-level route have two years of government-funded education when they turn 16 ... precious time, precious investment … And all too often it’s time and money used to train them to a low level in a skill the economy doesn’t need.”
His comments echo Amanda Spielman, the head of Ofsted, who said that further education colleges were giving students “false hope” with courses in fields where they have no prospect of employment. She suggested that colleges, which provide largely vocational courses for 16 to 18-year-olds, are putting the “financial imperative of headcount” ahead of what is best for young people.