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Just one week after becoming Prime Minister in July, Andy Burnham declared that “For too long in this country, students have been told that you must take the academic path to do well and to be respected. The whole school system has been built around it and that has let down young people seeking technical qualifications.”
And what was his solution? “I want an education system based on parity between academic and technical which gives all young people a clear path in life.”
To achieve this, the Government wants more 14 to 16-year-olds to combine the core academic subjects of English, maths and science with technical education. On top of that, the Government has announced a new suite of qualifications called Vocational GCSEs that will be offered alongside academic GCSEs.
So, can this government boost the prestige of vocational and technical qualifications in schools when so many previous attempts have failed? What trade offs will ministers face if they allow 14-year-olds to pursue more work-focused qualifications? And will last year’s Curriculum and Assessment Review need to be reopened, or even rejected, to deliver the Prime Minister’s vision?
My guests are Charles Clarke, a former Education Secretary in the last Labour government, and Myles McGinley, the Managing Director of Cambridge OCR.
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