TV’s Steph McGovern is calling for a change in education in the face of a jobs crisis.
It comes as a report from the Independent Commission on the College of the Future calls for all people to have a right to adult education, with grants and loans.
It also recommends a new service to tackle skills gaps.
If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that the most valuable people in the country are not the ones we have valued the most.
People who have done on-the-job training, or vocational qualifications are not seen as being as clever as those who have done a purely academic route. This is wrong.
Technical education has been woefully neglected for far too long. Those in power too often see it as being for other people’s kids.
College funding has fallen in England by 30% over the past 10 years. With so many facing redundancy, we need to focus on adult education and training.
Technical education is not second best. Governments in each of the four nations need to develop a 10-year education and skills strategy.
This must break down false divides between academic and vocational, and universities and colleges – so that all routes are equally valued and properly funded, and that all parts of the system work together.
