An interesting footnote to the Autumn Statement was the appointment of Sir Michael Barber to advise on skills reform.
Sir Michael was head of Tony Blair’s delivery unit in the early 2000s and is a hugely respected figure in education circles. His appointment signals a focus on skills which is welcome both in terms of creating opportunities for young people and boosting the economy.
It is a direction also indicated by the appointment as education secretary of Gillian Keegan, a former minister for apprenticeships and skills, and herself a former apprentice.
All very encouraging. The question mark, however, is what the government has in mind when it talks of skills reform. The Autumn Statement suggests that it is quite limited. Here’s what it says:
“The government recognises that skills are crucial in driving long-term economic growth and is taking forward major reforms set out in the Skills for Jobs White Paper: delivering T levels, approving Higher Technical Qualifications, rolling out skills bootcamps, and introducing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement from 2025.”
The appointment of Sir Michael is “to help maximise the impact of these commitments”. This suggests the government believes the reforms are a case of job done, and the challenge is to make them work.
But do they go far enough? They appear focused largely on post-16 education as the proper place for skills. Presumably, this means the pre-16 education curriculum remains firmly academic. The reappointment as schools minister of Nick Gibb – champion of the English Baccalaureate – reinforces that impression.
However, the idea that young people suddenly switch on to skills after 12 years of academic studies is surely flawed. It makes skills an after-thought rather than a strand which is woven through the entire education system. It’s less a revolution, and more some tinkering at the edges.
And it preserves the sense that it is better for a school pupil to do poorly in an academic subject that disinterests them, than well in a skills-based subject which enthuses them.
To be fair, there are only 18 months or so until a General Election, so precious little time in which to plan and deliver any big reform programme.
But where is the sense of vision and ambition? Of a truly transformative agenda tailored around the needs of the individual? Which inspires all young people to achieve their goals and ambitions? Which provides the skills engine room of a thriving economy?
Why would it be so terrible for pupils interested in say, construction or catering, to study these as subjects rather than flogging them through GCSE English literature?
In some circles such a thought is close to heresy. The view is that academic subjects, such as literature, are an inheritance that should be an entitlement to all young people.
Many of us would agree, but that doesn’t mean that this entitlement can only be delivered by all pupils sitting a set of government-prescribed GCSEs, especially when its reforms have turned these exams into a grinding exercise in memorisation.
It is a recipe which ensures that a proportion of young people are bound to leave school feeling disengaged from education.
But even if we set all this aside and accept that the government cannot begin to set out a radical agenda at this stage in the political cycle, there is a more immediate problem.
It is, as ever, funding.
The big education spending commitment in the Autumn Statement was, of course, more money for schools. To be precise: “The core schools budget in England will receive an additional £2.3bn of funding in 2023/24 and £2.3bn in 2024/25.”
Even if you accept that this is enough to avoid the likelihood of widespread cuts – and that is questionable – it doesn’t do anything for colleges whatsoever.
This is despite colleges not only facing spiralling cost pressures but also having been hammered by real-terms cuts over the past decade. And it is these self-same colleges that the government now expects to deliver its skills revolution.
Sir Michael Barber has a tough job in implementing any sort of reform programme at all in such a poorly funded environment. He is an adept operator, with a proven track record, but he will also need the government to back further education with what it most needs – money.
- Geoff Barton is general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders. Read his previous articles for SecEd, via http://bit.ly/seced-barton