3rd Nov 11
Parents urged to view apprenticeships like university places
by Sally Davies
The Apprentice: shadow education secretary hails non-uni education
The Apprentice: shadow education secretary hails non-uni education
Parents should view their children securing a top apprenticeship with the same pride as being awarded a place at university, said Stephen Twigg, the new shadow education secretary of the Labour party.
In his first speech since taking up the position, Twigg called for a huge cultural shift which would view entry to high-standard practical courses with equal prestige to degrees. The ex-education minister, who was handed the shadow role in October, acknowledged that the Labour government could have done more for teenagers who did not want to take the university route.
In 1999, then-prime minister Tony Blair set the target of ensuring 50 per cent of young people went to university by 2010. Ministers did not meet that target but, by 2010, 43 per cent of 18 to 30-year-olds either were studying for, or had already, completed their degree in England, a rise from 14 per cent in 1985.
The shadow education secretary defended Labour for setting this target, but acknowledged that the party failed to focus enough on the 50 per cent who decided university was not their desired path. He said that university isn’t the sole high-status way for young people to progress in education and life.
Twigg said that they should have worked harder on vocational education. He explained that he now wanted apprenticeships to be viewed as “the gold standard of post-16 vocational education”, adding that parents should look on their children gaining a top apprenticeship with the same pride as going to university.
One of the flagship education reforms by Labour was introducing diplomas in 2008. This qualification was for 14 to 19-year-olds and combined academic and practical courses. Twigg said that the take-up rate was lower than had been hoped. Only 1,116 students finished a foundation diploma last summer.
Twigg also warned that the fact university tuition fees had almost trebled and that grants for the less well-off teenagers to remain in education had been abolished could reverse some of the success which Labour achieved. He said that they will carefully monitor the new fees system’s impact on participation levels, particularly for widening participation.
He went on to say that the amount of young people currently in no form of education, employment or training – referred to as neets – was still “stubbornly high”. He said that the vast majority of young people move between employment, education and short-term periods of unemployment, but pointed out that a “critical” 10 per cent remain as neets for more than a year. He stated that this was a particularly difficult and important challenge concerning public policy.
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