Liberal Democrats: Higher education announcement lacks substance
Responding to the higher technical education measures announced by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Layla Moran said:
Ministers have extolled Further Education for years, yet chosen to make deep cuts. This announcement risk being no different – strong on rhetoric but low on substance.
Introducing new qualifications will be no use without the funding to back it up. We need to see unprecedented investment in skills for young people coming out of this crisis so that no-one is left behind.
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5 Comments
” We need to see unprecedented investment in skills for young people coming out of this crisis”
Formal education works well for some. But it doesn’t work so well for many. They’ll be better at learning skills when they are working with someone who has them and they can see the need to develop their own.
It is a mistake to think everything can be taught in a further education classroom. There are too many young people with degrees and the debts to show for them who are really struggling to make use of what they’ve learned on their formal courses.
This is not to say we close down the universities. But some shift of emphasis towards employment wouldn’t do any harm. That way young people will have a better choice of what they want to do and are less likely to sign up for unsuitable “educational” courses.
It’s all academic. The coronavirus Taliban have turned the country into a hellhole with no prospects for anyone. Until we sweep them away there is no point in even pretending there is a future.
Glenn, do you ever give up? I always say if you are breathing it’s okay, anything else is just a bonus!!
Unless I’ve missed something in the government release, it seems this is about re-establishing the worth of the traditional FE vocational qualifications (HNC/HND etc.) that were largely studied by apprentices and other young people in work. Which is consistent with the ditching of the target for 50% of young people to go to university;
what will be interesting is how many of those new ‘universities’ revert to their former FE college status.
Theakes
No, I don’t give up ever. I always say, if it looks like a police state, it is one.