British companies will need to start relying more on local workers rather than labour from eastern Europe, according to the chief inspector of schools, Michael Wilshaw.
Wilshaw said he would be urging politicians to seize “the opportunity that now suddenly presents itself to reorder our technical and vocational education system in a truly radical way” after last month’s EU referendum result.
“As the shockwaves continue to reverberate, few would doubt that one of the critical questions we face will be how we equip our young people with the skills the UK needs to survive and prosper in a post-Brexit world,” the Ofsted chief told a conference on technical education.
“As much as anything can be certain, businesses here will surely have to learn to rely less on imported workers from eastern Europe and elsewhere to plug existing skills gaps and much more on the homegrown population.”
Forecasts published before the referendum suggested that the UK economy would shrink if it exited the EU, partly as a result of the lack of skilled labour.
Wilshaw, who is stepping down at the end of this year and has had a combative relationship with ministers during his five years at Ofsted, said the UK was ill-equipped to retrain its own skilled workers, arguing: “Vocational training in this country does not have the esteem and status that it should have.”
He concluded: “Our future success and prosperity depends on us turning out many more confident and properly educated young people, who are work ready and have the technical, literacy, numeracy and personal skills that our industries need.”
Wilshaw’s comments came in a speech offering wide-ranging criticism of the further education (FE) sector, underlining previous remarks that education for 16- to 19-year-olds was better done in schools rather than specialist institutions.
“Right across the country, we find colleges that simply aren’t delivering what’s needed. In too many cases, inspectors are coming across weak provision, characterised by poor outcomes for learners and apprentices, high drop-out rates and sub-standard work experience placements that fail to develop students’ industry-specific skills,” Wilshaw said.
Recent Ofsted inspections of FE colleges revealed “an alarming rate of underperformance and failure,” he said, although he did praise some outstanding FE colleges such as Truro and Penwith college in Cornwall.
Wilshaw also had critical words for university technical colleges (UTCs), which offer vocational education for those who are 14 years and older. He described their record as patchy, noting that only one of the 39 operating was rated as outstanding.
“If the UTC movement is to survive and prosper, then radical improvement is necessary. If this doesn’t happen, politicians will come to the conclusion that the model is flawed and not worthy of further political or financial support,” Wilshaw told the conference in London.
UTCs were among the education reforms introduced by Michael Gove as education secretary, having been championed by the Conservative peer Kenneth Baker.
