Columnist

Making education a lot better for a lot more

After waving goodbye to the long hot summer and saying hello to the new school year, is it out of place to wonder if the students who are attending now will be recognisable by the time they leave?  

In my school days, which ended much longer ago than I care to think about, I saw very little change. 

The chewing gum built up behind the radiators and the temporary portacabins were still there when I picked up my A Level results.

And I never once in seven years saw “the apparatus” on the wall of the assembly hall pulled out and used (which is probably why I can’t climb a rope to this day).   

While such stagnation was probably not the best for my education, our young people in school today may face quite the opposite: a period of significant change and upheaval.

This isn’t necessarily in terms of buildings, but what they are taught and the potential pathways open to them.  

Successive Westminster regimes have talked about the need to make vocational routes more accessible and attractive, and parity of esteem has long been an issue, often compounded by a system that only began to talk about vocational alternatives as a response to failed GCSEs. 

The current Government is the latest to recognise the issue, not purely in the context of curriculum, but by seeing there are other policy drivers which must facilitate change.  

A significant example is the high not in employment, education or training (NEET) rate among young people, while the very difficult job market is no respecter of educational attainment or class either.  

Secondly, it is imperative we recognise students have different learning styles and that everyone should have the chance to learn in a way which brings out the best in them. 

This means schools offering more vocational courses with a ‘hands-on’ approach and closer links with employers and industry to teach what is needed. 

It may also mean schools replace traditional classrooms with workshops to teach engineering or robotics alongside geography and English literature.

However, change must sit alongside education – for parents, employers and the wider world. 

If everyone is to get on board with the idea that vocational routes are an equally good option, they have to understand them and buy into them.

We are in a time of rapid change and real uncertainty for young people.

If we can get this right, it can make education a whole lot better for so many.

Rachel Anderson is assistant director of policy at the North East Chamber of Commerce

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