By David Williams
03 September 2009
Cross-party proposals for a new generation of university-backed technical schools have been dismissed as unnecessary and potentially unpopular by academics and teaching unions.
Lord Baker, who was the Conservative education secretary from 1986 to 1989, is working with the Department for Children, Schools and Families to establish a new kind of academy school specialising in vocational qualifications.
Although the DCSF is anxious to stress that the plans are only at their earliest stages, Baker told the BBC he wanted to set up ‘hundreds’ of the academies, predicting they would become more oversubscribed than grammar schools.
A pilot under consideration in Birmingham could be sponsored by Aston University, which specialises in engineering. Baker is now approaching vice-chancellors at other universities, hoping that university backing will raise the prestige of vocational qualifications.
He said the schools, for 14 to 19-year-olds, would offer practical training in skills such as bricklaying, welding and electronics, while still providing the core literacy and numeracy curriculum.
The plans are being drawn up with the tacit approval of the Conservative Party.
In July, shadow education secretary Michael Gove told Public Finance he had a ‘strong prejudice in favour of a knowledge-based curriculum’.
PF understands the Tories believe vocational training should be strongly practical.
But Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers said technical schools were not needed. ‘By 2013, all post-14 learners, no matter what school they attend, should have full access to all their educational requirements,’ she said.
‘There will be provision for those interested in pursuing academic courses or more vocational training.
‘This renders dedicated technical schools redundant as they are looking to solve a problem that won’t exist.’
Ann Hodgson, a professor at the University of London’s Institute of Education, told PF there was a danger that the schools could become dumping grounds for less academically successful pupils. ‘I’m pretty sceptical,’ she said. ‘You can’t make the vocational route high-status by wishing it so.’
She added: ‘You’d have to be a really bold government to decide this is the way to go.
‘Our research is telling us that young people say diplomas are limiting their choice too early, and they don’t want to have their options narrowed.’
03 September 2009
Cross-party proposals for a new generation of university-backed technical schools have been dismissed as unnecessary and potentially unpopular by academics and teaching unions.
Lord Baker, who was the Conservative education secretary from 1986 to 1989, is working with the Department for Children, Schools and Families to establish a new kind of academy school specialising in vocational qualifications.
Although the DCSF is anxious to stress that the plans are only at their earliest stages, Baker told the BBC he wanted to set up ‘hundreds’ of the academies, predicting they would become more oversubscribed than grammar schools.
A pilot under consideration in Birmingham could be sponsored by Aston University, which specialises in engineering. Baker is now approaching vice-chancellors at other universities, hoping that university backing will raise the prestige of vocational qualifications.
He said the schools, for 14 to 19-year-olds, would offer practical training in skills such as bricklaying, welding and electronics, while still providing the core literacy and numeracy curriculum.
The plans are being drawn up with the tacit approval of the Conservative Party.
In July, shadow education secretary Michael Gove told Public Finance he had a ‘strong prejudice in favour of a knowledge-based curriculum’.
PF understands the Tories believe vocational training should be strongly practical.
But Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers said technical schools were not needed. ‘By 2013, all post-14 learners, no matter what school they attend, should have full access to all their educational requirements,’ she said.
‘There will be provision for those interested in pursuing academic courses or more vocational training.
‘This renders dedicated technical schools redundant as they are looking to solve a problem that won’t exist.’
Ann Hodgson, a professor at the University of London’s Institute of Education, told PF there was a danger that the schools could become dumping grounds for less academically successful pupils. ‘I’m pretty sceptical,’ she said. ‘You can’t make the vocational route high-status by wishing it so.’
She added: ‘You’d have to be a really bold government to decide this is the way to go.
‘Our research is telling us that young people say diplomas are limiting their choice too early, and they don’t want to have their options narrowed.’
