ATL comment on the post-16 skills plan and independent report on technical education
Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Commenting on the report on the post-16 skills plan and the independent report on technical education, Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said:
“Forcing young people to choose the route to their future career at the age of 16 would institutionalise the divide between vocational and academic learning. The recent House of Lords report 'Overlooked and left behind' clearly articulated how young people who do not choose an academic route to university are disadvantaged, but the skills plan does not address the fundamental issues raised in that report.
“The skills plan relies heavily on significant input from employers through work placements and apprenticeships, yet we know that there are serious concerns about the quality of such provision. The Government needs to ensure both work placements and apprenticeships are of high quality.
“We agree with the Sainsbury report that the Government needs to provide sufficient funding if it is really serious about improving post-16 education. In particular it needs to properly fund further education colleges to enable them to provide good quality courses for young people.
“We have long argued that Government cuts to careers education and guidance has led to inadequate provision. We agree with Sainsbury’s recommendation that there needs to be national careers education and guidance, and that the Government needs to give support to schools and colleges so they can provide better careers education and guidance.”
