One of the great strengths of devolution in England is proving to be its ability to fix issues long ignored by Westminster. Having won Greater Manchester’s right to bring buses back under public control, our attention now turns to the equally neglected but more contested territory of technical education. It will be a big test of whether Westminster is truly prepared to let go.
Schools policy used to be more localised but, in an era of an all-powerful Ofsted and academisation, it is now highly centralised; despite greater curriculum autonomy, academy reporting lines and oversight are to the Department for Education rather than being rooted in the place they serve.
At the same time, under both parties, the university route has become increasingly dominant. The English baccalaureate (Ebacc) is a performance measure against which schools are judged, based on how many of their students achieve a specified collection of GCSEs that are considered “essential to many degrees”. Granted, that is not the sole consideration, but where is the comparable measure for the extent to which schools prepare their young people for pathways into good technical jobs in the local labour market? While English, maths, science and languages – even ancient languages – are in; engineering, business studies and the creative subjects are out.
This is a problem for modern, digital economies, like Greater Manchester’s, which thrive on creativity and innovation. Our city-region’s economy is growing faster than the UK’s and is predicted to do so for at least the next two years. A risk to that growth is an education system not flexible enough to rise to the fast-changing skills requirements of potential investors.
At present, 36% of students in Greater Manchester achieve the Ebacc, and the same percentage go on to higher education. Don’t get me wrong, that is a good thing and we are very proud of our six universities, but what is the offer for those who don’t take that route? The well-trodden path into university, without an equally clear, easily accessed technical route, risks creating the kind of class divide that Keir Starmer warned about in his speech on Thursday.
From our own surveys of young people, we know that 45% of Year 10 pupils in Greater Manchester are considering pursuing a technical education pathway after Year 11, yet only one in three have received information about technical education options. We believe the failure of the education system to give all students equal treatment is unjust and, ultimately, to everybody’s cost.
A modern economy and a fair society requires an education system built on the German principle of parity between academic and technical routes. From 14, young people should have two clear, equal paths – one academic, one technical – and there should be enough commonality between them to allow students to switch later down the line.
To achieve this, we have proposed a Greater Manchester baccalaureate (Mbacc) to sit alongside the Ebacc at the heart of an integrated technical education system. The Mbacc will take the core of the Ebacc but supplement it with subjects valued by local employers, such as engineering and the creative subjects.
It will help them find their place in our exciting city-region by leading them to a series of gateways at 16 to the parts of our economy offering the most plentiful sources of good, well-paid jobs. It could take young people to the same destination – a degree – but without all the debt. Our approach will be industry-led and we want some of the big names that have come to our city-region in recent times – such as GCHQ, the BBC and the Bank of New York (BNY Mellon) – to be part of our system.
Since we published our plans, we have been taken aback by the high levels of public support from students and parents and huge buy-in from schools, colleges and businesses. At long last, everyone is talking about technical education. Given this, it was a little deflating last week to hear the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, throw cold water over our plans. “We don’t want schools in Manchester having one thing, schools in Liverpool another,” she said.
Is that actually right? The needs of Liverpool’s economy are different from those of Manchester’s economy. It follows that we will only make technical education work if we adopt a more devolved approach. Indeed, the secretary of state’s words sound more than a little contradictory, coming from a government that is requiring all areas to produce an employer-led, place-based local skills improvement plan.
I struggle to see how a government that has no clear message for young people can stand in the way of a united, local drive to provide one. On Friday, I spoke at the Festival of Education and posed two questions. Do we want an education system based on parity between academic and technical routes? If the answer is yes, do we accept that it can only be achieved by a return to a more localised approach, rather than one-size-fits-all? In Greater Manchester, schools, colleges and businesses are giving a resounding yes to both questions and crying out for change.
We would prefer to work in partnership with the government on our journey towards the Mbacc and an integrated system behind it. But make no mistake – our journey is clear and there will be no turning back.
Andy Burnham is the mayor of Greater Manchester. He served as the Labour MP for Leigh from 2001 until 2017
