One of the great strengths of devolution in England is proving to be its ability to fix issues long ignored by Westminster. Having won Greater Manchester’s right to bring buses back under public control, our attention now turns to the equally neglected but more contested territory of technical education. It will be a big test of whether Westminster is truly prepared to let go.
Schools policy used to be more localised but, in an era of an all-powerful Ofsted and academisation, it is now highly centralised; despite greater curriculum autonomy, academy reporting lines and oversight are to the Department for Education rather than being rooted in the place they serve.
At the same time, under both parties, the university route has become increasingly dominant. The English baccalaureate (Ebacc) is a performance measure against which schools are judged, based on how many of their students achieve a specified collection of GCSEs that are considered “essential to many degrees”. Granted, that is not the sole consideration, but where is the comparable measure for the extent to which schools prepare their young people for pathways into good technical jobs in the local labour market? While English, maths, science and languages – even ancient languages – are in; engineering, business studies and the creative subjects are out.
This is a problem for modern, digital economies, like Greater Manchester’s, which thrive on creativity and innovation. Our city-region’s economy is growing faster than the UK’s and is predicted to do so for at least the next two years. A risk to that growth is an education system not flexible enough to rise to the fast-changing skills requirements of potential investors.
At present, 36% of students in Greater Manchester achieve the Ebacc, and the same percentage go on to higher education. Don’t get me wrong, that is a good thing and we are very proud of our six universities, but what is the offer for those who don’t take that route? The well-trodden path into university, without an equally clear, easily accessed technical route, risks creating the kind of class divide that Keir Starmer warned about in his speech on Thursday.
From our own surveys of young people, we know that 45% of Year 10 pupils in Greater Manchester are considering pursuing a technical education pathway after Year 11, yet only one in three have received information about technical education options. We believe the failure of the education system to give all students equal treatment is unjust and, ultimately, to everybody’s cost.
