Schools are not just 'feeders' for local job market

[mids2019]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/27/burnham-to-tell-schools-in-england-to-adapt-teaching-to-local-business-needs

Andy Burnham says schools should be looking to feed the local job market when he I is in charge of the most Oxbridge weighted cabinet in years whose children presumably are aiming for university and certainly not looking to enter any local job force.

Which proportion of the school should be dissuaded from university entrance to make this plan work.? Is there any counter message for the bright kids at state schools (presumably this message isn't aimed at grammar or private) to aspire to university including Oxbridge to look ultimately at non regional roles?

Maybe we could bring back the grammar school system while sale so we have a university capable cohort with new secondary moderns catering for local business .....would that suit Mr. Burnham.

it's frustrating as my children are fairly academically capable but it seems state schools are being pushed to hear career advice to local non graduate jobs to fulfil government agenda which is leaving them confused.

In Finland they willingly choose vocational subjects that have proper career prospects like machinist, electrician, carer, catering, carpenter, tourism sector, business (though that one has less of a connection to work). You have to start somewhere with vocational training but it'll have teething problems and take time to get right, but its better than continuing with a significant amount of teenagers leaving education with limited or no prospects.

Tourist sector or machinist ....which one will the average 14 year old choose? I still thikkntou need to address who does the frankly hard rubbish jobs and hiw you go about assigning courses at 14 for thse roles.

These economic realities seem not be addressed by politicians who seem to be looking at this superficially. As said earlier we have plenty of warehouse operative jobs locally but should schools dedicate 60% of their vocational training to this? You are definitely separating out society then.

We do have to be real about society and we have to stop talking about "low skill workers". What does that even mean?

In Switzerland they see vocational education as just as important as academic education. Even decades ago, if you wanted to go as far as you could in the hotel and catering world, you tried to be trained in Switzerland. In the UK, we see hospitality work as "low skill" and there is a tendency to see it as a last resort choice, or a filler job, or something not to aspire too.

A builder in the middle of winter should be applauded and suitably rewarded for being sufficiently skilled and dedicated to work outside in very challenging conditions - rather than wishing he was a corporate lawyer. Just look at the respect given to "Tradies" in Australia!

There is nothing "revolutionary" about the proper provision of vocational training! Other first world countries have been offering it for decades. There are so many countries where they see retail as a proper career, where it is a proper profession to sell products knowledgeably and with pleasure to customers. Again, not something we see enough here in the UK!

Of course these jobs are necessary but I don't think it is too controversial to suggest that your average sewage worker did not have his career as his first choice. I am not trying to denigrate necessary work but accepting the fact that historically and across much of the world the working class have done difficult often dangerous menial work. To overly glamourise this is disingenuous.

As I said the vocational model suggested can lead to good jobs but it is still likely many of the more hard unglamorous jobs will be done by students that have entered the vocational path at school.

@mids2019 but making the assumption that a sewerage worker didn't choose that career path is exactly what is wrong with this country. You are assuming that working in the sewerage industry is somehow inferior work.

You talk about "unglamorous jobs" - what exactly are those? I wouldn't think that gynaecology or gastroenterology is very glamourous, but perhaps you do?

@mids2019 ,

A vocational pathway is about access to good but not necessarily academic jobs; think plumber, electrician or gardener.

You don’t need any education to do low skill jobs (hence the name).

I think it is reasonable some jobs are taken not out of choice but economic necessity and maybe there is something slightly condescending in the government suggesting all the jobs done by non academic children are going to be comfortable and economically fulfilling. We have a cleaner at work who works as a cleaner because she is an immigrant with poor English. The job needs doing. She is good at it but she would be doing something else if her English was better.

I know someone who works in retail who now 50 has admitted he had tried more at school to get better academic qualifications.

I think it is perfectly reasonable to say there are low salary non glamorous jobs in society.
(I think a constant gynecologist is going to be much more fulfilled economically and intellectually than cleaning urine off the floor even though both jobs possibly entail contact)

I think 14 is too young for a clear separation, 16 is much better, but something that might be good at 14 is a general technical course that gives them a taster of various skills plus learning how to operate safely and professionally in a technical and/or industrial environment, then choosing a defined course for post-16 education. For the 14-16 age group in Finland all students have to choose at least two practical subjects for their electives (they get 3 electives, the 3rd can be something more academic or another practical subject) and up until then all students do half a year of wood/metalwork and half a year of textile work every single school year so they all have a good grounding in practical work and have a chance to find out if they have an interest in it. Practical subjects are considered important here which helps make the vocational track option not be viewed as second rate, like Gove seems to view it.

Yup, a vocational track can avoid the low skill jobs, which ironically is what many graduates end up having to do because they can't get jobs after graduating.

There are undoubtedly jobs that do not require academic training. However, I believe that if we respected people in vocational work better, provided better training and stopped talking about "unglamourous" jobs, "low-skilled" jobs then we would all be better for it.

Any job done well is worthy of respect. We all know from either cleaning our own homes or employing cleaners that there is the world of difference between a good cleaner and a shit one. In Japan, the staff who clean trains are not seen as lowly or unglamourous. They all wear smart uniforms and are beautifully presented. Judging by the immaculate cleanliness of Japanese trains, I imagine they are trained to exacting standards. I've watched them bow to the train manager, who in turn bows back to them - both acknowledging the worth of the job done well.

Here in the UK we would benefit greatly from seeing the merit of vocational work and respecting it.

I agree with some of this especially all jobs being worthy of respec t (and of course people). However I can think you can state that and simultaneously say that historically the working class have always done hard uncomfortable jobs that many would have preferred not to do.

I come from historically a mining family and mining though essential for the economy and peoples lives there was no doubt the work was hard and actually limited life spans by introducing a host of health problems. I am getting long in the tooth but in no way could you say a miner's life was easy (including relationships with family).

now we are centuries and decades away from the working class predominantly working in mines, shipyards and cotton mills etc. but even in 2026 despite wholesale changes in economy and society we do have relatively poorly paid hard uncomfortable jobs. In fact many of my family used education in the academic sense to escape jobs that weren't in reality desireable.....It was simple social aspiration.

therein lies the fear with vocational training. On the surface of look s great but with speed thought you can see how you could potentially again have inbuilt streams preparing different groups of children for the middle class of working class (who have always done the graft). I just think we should be cautious.

@mids2019 A bit late to this conversation but we have schools needing pupils to go to university and others do get advice on other careers but often these decisions need to be made at 16 or 18. Many students at university have no clue about a career and plenty, even doing vocational degrees, don’t get to do that career. The schools are never going to care much beyond the school leaving age and quite often dc receive poor advice on careers. Plus dc then don’t know how to put a cv together.

We have also grown degrees like topsy. Who had heard of media studies in the 1960s? How many studying psychology do we really need? Or environmental science and all the other spin off degrees? These young people are not the engineers finding solutions or the top media people who have been to top universities. They are sold a dream that’s unrealistic.

Also, just to clarify: the 1944 Education act envisaged 3 types of secondary education - grammar, technical and secondary modern. In my nearest town there was a boys grammar, a girls grammar and a technical high school as we as 3 secondary modern schools. Not all areas did this, but they should have done. I think we need to revisit these streams and stop pretending many degrees are academic. They are not. They are expensive qualifications that don’t mean very much. I think if you live in an area with limited grad opportunities (eg Lincolnshire) you would be a fool not to move away for study and work if you are bright. If people don’t move, they might stifle earnings and is that good for the economy which has, in the first instance, coughed up the student loans!