Technical skills to be made higher educational priority
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced a new educational focus on technical skills.
He plans to reshape the education system to offer 14-year-olds early access to technical skills, work experience and connections with local employers.
This forms part of a wider ambition to put technical education on an equal footing with the traditional academic path.
To support this, the government will prioritise funding towards high-quality technical education and practical routes into work, and change the way schools are measured to recognise those that provide high quality technical education and support young people to develop the technical skills and experience.
Technical skills
The Prime Minister said: “For too long in this country, students have been told that you must take the academic path to do well and to be respected. The whole school system has been built around it and that has let down young people seeking technical qualifications.
“I want an education system based on parity between academic and technical which gives all young people a clear path in life. From today, Britain will value the hard hat every bit as much as the graduation cap.
“In a fundamental change to the education system, we will introduce new technical education pathways from 14 – prestigious routes that will give students the chance to combine the core academic subjects with the skills, technical knowledge and experience they need to get quality, well-paid jobs where they live.”
Automotive
The announcement has been welcomed by the IMI, which is now urging government to ensure automotive is central to the new policy.
CEO Nick Connor said: “For too long, career paths that didn’t involve university have been viewed as second best, which completely undermines the fundamental role of technical skills in our economic and social infrastructure. The automotive sector has suffered as a result.
“We really hope that this new policy can be effectively shaped to ensure young people can tap into the enormous range of opportunities across all technical roles, including automotive. The sector offers a huge range of exciting and diverse career opportunities and is being transformed by electrification, advanced diagnostics and AI-enabled vehicle systems.
“It needs technicians, engineers and technologists with exactly the kind of skills this announcement is talking about.”
