Andy to introduce new technical pathways for GCSEs in 2028(!)

[noblegiraffe]

Or perhaps not GCSEs but some other sort of qualification which will apparently tie into local industry, for students going into Y8 in September.

"The “prestigious” new technical pathways, which will pair skills training with work experience and connections with local employers, are set to be rolled out from September 2028."

Is Andy Burnham actually mad? 2028? Does he realise that it actually takes time to develop qualifications (or 'skills training'), resource them (particularly technical ones which require more equipment than a maths lesson) and then find the teachers to actually teach them? And the local employers to do the work experience? One of the major problems with setting up T-levels was problems with finding work placements, and that's for age 16+.

I know he has the MBacc in Manchester (although this seems to be merely a label for a set of already existing qualifications rather than new ones - does anyone have any experience of this?) but I expect it is easier to organise work experience for kids in a large city with good transport links than it would be in a more rural/coastal area - and the problem with a lot of those places is a lack of job opportunities for young people in the first place.

And he's announced this in the summer holidays, which one of his teacher relatives should really have warned him is what is considered a 'dick move' in education.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/schools-prime-minister-burnham-lucy-powell-ofsted-b1291512.html

https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/secondary/new-technical-pathways-for-students-announced-by-andy-burnham

Andy should also be aware that calling them 'prestigious technical pathways' is a noble effort, but there is, and always has been a massive issue with vocational subjects being seen as lesser than academic ones. If these prestigious pathways end up being for the kids who are not going to get decent GCSEs - which is always the kids who people think should do vocational qualifications - then they will not be prestigious and the middle classes will continue to steer their kids down the academic route.

I presume these will be locally targeted and rolled out progressively along with major employers eg aerospace in Bristol, auto industry in Sunderland and West Midlands, pharma in Cambridge, offshore wind in Hull etc. Basically, work experience leading to an apprenticeship along with technical qualifications. This is the model used in Germany and seems to work well.

Seems like a good idea if it can be done sensibly. I know a young lad who was not interested in academics but bright, managed to get an apprenticeship as an electrician at 16 and will soon be qualified having massively impressed the company involved. By the time he’s 20 he’ll be fully qualified and be able to earn a great income and not be saddled with any student debt or be at risk to AI. School didn’t suit him, it this has been the making of him, so if more kids can do this then it will benefit them and the nation as a whole.

There is rather an assumption there that the local area contains a 'major employer'.

The factory near my school that used to be the major employer closed down years ago.

That's fine at 16, this is about kids aged 14.

I think it's more the ' throw this together in one academic year' promise which will be teachers doing it. Unless they just revive the L2 Btecs and add work experience in. But the problem with that isn't the schools it's the employers who don't or can't provide the work experience placements. The T levels have hit the same problem as have general apprenticeships. The take-up among employers is too low.

Work experience for 14 year olds is a much bigger ask for employers than 16/17 year olds too.

It seems pretty depressing to me to imagine that it would take more than 2 years to make positive changes to our education system. 2028 doesn't seem crazy to me - one year to design the programme, one year to promote it to local employers and get teachers on board, pilot year starting Autumn 2028, national rollout the year after?

That’s why I said they will be targeted in areas with major industries, as they are in Germany. By definition won’t be rolled out in places where there are no major employers.

What exactly do you mean by 'get teachers on board'? Like, train them up to teach AI? While they're doing a full time job? Who will be doing that training? Who will teach what they're currently teaching when they move to teach AI? Which current courses will be cut to make way for the new ones?

Ah, but Ofsted will be judging schools on this. Not just ones near major employers.

If he can pull it off then I think it's a great idea, I've seen too many kids with no choice but to have two years of lessons and then sit their GCSE's knowing they are going to fail them all. I agree though that a change like this is huge and not going to be easy to pull off.

I'm impressed with him so far though after being extremely sceptical, he seems to have done more positive things in 2 weeks than Starmer did in 2 years.

"Ofsted will be expected to change the way it inspects schools and measures performance to recognise schools that provide high-quality technical education and support young people to develop the skills, experience and confidence employers are seeking.
Regional mayors, local leaders, schools, colleges and employers will work together to create the technical pathways, which can be tailored around local industries and growth sectors."

from the TES article in the OP.

If Ofsted are measuring it, it's not opt-in.

Do OFSTED usually judge schools on subjects they don’t offer? How odd.

If it's aimed at kids who are going to fail their GCSEs then
a) it's not prestigious
b) why would local employers want them to work for them?

Well, yes, if they are supposed to be offering them.

Just because someone fails their GCSEs doesn’t mean they’ll be bad at a specific job.

I know a few people who are very successfully employed in more hands-on jobs who didn’t do at all well at school.

OP, you seem determined to do this down before details have been released. Why not instead take a look at the Bavarian Berufsfachschule system and think positive thoughts.

This is a great idea in theory ... but by 2028? I really don't see how that can work.

They'll have to write it, get it approved by ofqual, resource it (both in term of staffing and materials, work out how to assess it....

We have a lot of companies locally that this would look appropriate for - but they couldn't get the T levels off the ground, and I can't see how this would be different.

We could discuss how UTCs (a similar idea) in the UK were a failure instead?

The German education system was condemned by the UN for perpetuating social inequity btw. It's never the middle class parents who send their kids to the vocational schools. There's a wealth of international evidence that shows the younger an age you select kids into academic/not academic streams the worse it is for social selection.

Yes, and it's not going to be national, it's going to be regional, so a load of hodge-podge skills-based courses?

Or just a new name for kids who take food tech and DT and a quiet dropping of any expectation of relevant work experience?

All of these are important questions, but I don't think it should need to take 2 years to resolve them! Obviously if this scheme is implemented badly, it would be a bad thing. But maybe it will be implemented well. For example, maybe there will be resources to train teachers in AI or other technical topics for these qualifications. If we assume that every change will be implemented badly, we'll never change anything.

We know from Gove's rushed through GCSE reforms what happens when you try to rush through new qualifications. This isn't teachers' first rodeo...

Oh, and the massive problems with trying to implement T-levels with work experience too, of course.

All the more reason to start pre 16 then, before they have a chance to fail their GCSEs and be judged by some numbers on a piece of paper.

I think this sounds like a great way of preventing future NEETs. This thread feels like an example of the government can’t do right for doing wrong.

A friend's son started a T level locally - there are some significant heavy manufacturing businesses which should have been able to provide the work experience. But that element turned out to be impossible to acquire and so that was that.

As I said, if the vocational pathway is seen as the dumping ground for kids who can't do maths and English, it won't ever be prestigious.