Firstly, a Happy New Year to you all.
It’s quite interesting to note as we start 2014, we’re only 15 months or so away from the next General Election.
It’s certainly not escaped the attention of our political leaders. The Conservative and Labour parties have already started to draw the battle lines for their election strategies, and in the education and skills sector it’s no different.
With the polls looking close between the 2 parties (see below), each is keen to ‘take ownership’ of the vocational education and skills agenda, and put their own stamp on the sector.
Latest voting preferences of British general public - based on ‘all those absolutely certain to vote'
(source: Ipsos Mori, 08/01/2014)
Building on the range of current reforms, over the past few months the coalition has published its plans for Apprenticeship in England, Adult Vocational Qualifications reform, Level 2 and 3 Vocational Qualifications that carry performance points and its plans for a Technical Baccalaureate. All of these initiatives support a vision of rigour, high standards and quality provision in the sector.
(A slight aside - It will be interesting to see how effective the coalition remains as we move nearer the general election and the coalition partners have to campaign against each other for votes, but maintain a ‘marriage of convenience’ and continue working together in running the government).
In response, Labour has their own ‘Skills Taskforce’ looking at how to build an economy based on high skill levels for the ‘forgotten 50%’ of students who don’t go on to study in Higher Education.
Through a series of papers, they’ve conducted their own Apprenticeship review calling for higher quality Apprenticeships at Level 3 and above; articulated a need for ‘licensed’ Colleges (‘Institutes of Technical Education’) to deliver high quality vocational training, and set out their intention for a Technical Baccalaureate qualification.
In my opinion, for all the detail and implementation these approaches may differ, I feel there’s no significant ideological difference between the 2 approaches.
Both parties are focusing on vocational education as a tool to rebalance the economy and secure economic growth. Both are focusing on the quality of vocational education and how to incentivise employers to get involved. Both are focusing on employer input through funding and the writing of standards, and are keen on colleges and training providers to work with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and create stronger relationships with employers in their local economies.
We’ll get more clarity once the election manifestos of the parties are published, and throughout 2014 we’ll start to see some serious electioneering take place. It all points towards an interesting year ahead…
