This blog has been contributed by Professor David Phoenix OBE, Vice Chancellor of London South Bank University and CEO of LSBU Group. David is also a member of the London Higher board of trustees.
Since the Sainsbury Review of technical education back in 2016, the Government has sought ways to create a parity of esteem between technical and academic education. Notwithstanding the Prime Minister’s recently announced plan to create a new technical-academic ‘Advanced British Standard’, one of the main solutions they have come up with is the creation of T Levels as a technical alternative to A Levels.
T Levels are based around specific occupational standards – such as Craft & Design or Engineering, Manufacturing, Processing & Control – and are designed to help young people progress into HTQs, advanced apprenticeships or directly into work within those sectors.
Although this is typically presented as providing young people with a ‘choice’ between academic and technical pathways at age 16, it is no such thing, since most young people will never have had the opportunity to sample technical education prior to this. Without the ability for young people to make an informed choice about the learning style and content that best suits them, any attempt to raise the esteem of technical education will be doomed to failure as it will remain a second choice for many.
It is for this reason that I recently set up England’s first technically focused sixth form: South Bank University Sixth Form. In addition to offering technical qualifications to 16–19-year-olds, outreach work is central to the Sixth Form’s delivery. By working with local secondary schools, it offers advice and guidance to pupils who are considering following a technical education pathway as well as providing technical education taster sessions. For partner schools it will also deliver a technical qualification that can sit alongside the host schools’ curricula. This includes a Level 2 BTEC in Health and Social Care taught in collaboration with Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Trust, which pupils from other schools and colleges are able to participate in one day a week whilst remaining on the roll for their own school. In this way, individuals can start to sample more applied ways of study, alongside their normal lessons at their own school. While this approach has a range of operational challenges, not least of which is timetabling, it is being well received and has really brought to focus the need for us to look more holistically at the offer for 14-18 year olds.
Our approach raises the question of whether there is potential for a wider ‘Technical Baccalaureate Diploma’ (TBacc) to promote technical routes and to provide a framework for thinking across the 14-18 age range given the extension of compulsory education. Such a framework qualification would build on existing qualifications and could therefore be quickly adopted.
I suggest it could include:
- The requirement to meet a minimum standard at Level 2 in areas of numeracy and literacy;
- A minimum of number of credits with respect to technical or applied learning (i.e. learning that includes competency assessment) at Level 2 with greater amounts expected at Level 3;
- An element associated with extracurricular activity to build wider skills – for example based on the national citizenship award scheme;
- An element linked to employability such as CV writing and an ability to show, through a reflective portfolio, how competency has been developed with respect to a given employment sector; and
- A work-experience element, such as the placement already embedded in the T-level but with more flexibility. (At SBU Sixth, for example, our Level 3 health students are able to apply for work-based experience at a local NHS Trust during the summer between years 12 and 13).
The advantage of this approach is that it could provide a framework which also aligns with local skills needs. Almost a third of 19-year-olds in inner London lack Level 3 qualifications while around 15% lack Level 2 qualifications. As a direct consequence of our failure to provide a suitable learning pathway for this sizeable minority of young people, 87% of construction employers in London believe their workforce lacks technical skills while half of London’s manufacturing companies reported having open job vacancies due to skills shortages last year. Additionally, analysis for London’s Local Skills Improvement Plan found that 43% of London businesses cited technical and skilled support roles as the most difficult to recruit.
Local approaches to increasing focus on technical education are beginning to develop. For example, since being granted greater local control over education and skills in the Trailblazer Deeper Devolution deal, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has announced ambitious plans to create an integrated technical education offer with the introduction of the “MBacc” (Greater Manchester Baccalaureate).
The MBacc would sit alongside the existing academic EBacc (English baccalaureate) as a technically focused alternative for 14-16 year olds. In addition to the core subjects of English, Maths and Technology, students would study Engineering and Science courses to support progression to T Levels, BTECs and apprenticeships. Crucially however, the course would maintain enough commonality with the EBacc to allow students to switch tracks later down the line if they find that technical education is not for them.
These initiatives should be applauded but I would suggest that nationally we would benefit from a TBacc framework that:
- Covers the 14-18 age range given the extension of compulsory education to the age of 18.
- Ensures that during 14-16 core knowledge (eg level 2 maths and English) plus technical skills taster sessions are available to allow real choice at 16.
- That there is a link to regional skills funding to support development of technical qualifications that meet local need and could form part of the 16-18 aspect of the framework.
Local London’s recent Mind the Skills Gap report identified a clear need to shift to a more responsive and flexible approach to post-16 technical education and skills provision if we are to meet local labour market skills needs and employer skills demands. A TBacc – or indeed a London Baccalaureate – could provide a framework that helps promote and provide positive pathways into Level 3 technical study. This would offer an aspirational route to advanced and higher technical qualifications that promotes both career development and educational progression whilst addressing London’s skills needs.
