The governmental and cross-party commitment to implementing the Sainsbury review is an important step to making the planned changes to technical and professional education a success. Many more challenges, though, will need to be overcome in the months and years ahead.
But so far, so good; the government is backing its commitment with new funding to support an increase in the number of hours being taught, to help us match the 900-plus hours per year that young people taking similar courses benefit from in many other countries. That’s one more challenge addressed.
Despite this clear commitment, I remain a hopeful pessimist. Hopeful because the changes are vital to help us become more self-sufficient in skills and to give more young people the transition into working lives that they deserve. Pessimistic because the change needed is not simple; it requires facing up to ingrained snobbery, unfairness and inequalities that probably go well beyond the education system.
Much has been written, and for far too long, about the perceived lack of parity of esteem between the so-called academic and vocational routes. I prefer to talk simply about the value that young people, parents, schools and employers place on qualifications.
If the new T levels are to be truly valued, then they will have to pass three simple tests. Test one is: will employers recognise the T levels, so that they lead straight into a good job? Test two: will T levels allow an easy and understood path straight onto higher learning? Test three: will some of the highest-achieving young people at 16 choose to do T levels?
Simple tests, but very difficult to pass them without a post-16 strategy that develops a whole new system. That strategy will need to tackle the ingrained beliefs and cultures that have beset our education system for so long. It will be a big ask.
Rare opportunity for change
So what are the steps to achieving it? We need to begin with a vision for the whole system that sets out clearly the range of options available to young people at 16, the purpose of all of those options, the outcomes expected from each of them and how all of the qualifications fit together.
We need to set the bar high on access to T levels, just as we do now for A levels and higher-level apprenticeships; but we also need to set out the climbing frame of opportunities for people to be ready to take them on. The efforts and investment made into widening participation into higher education over the past decade need to be matched as young people approach the tricky transition at age 16.
As well as addressing the 16-19 phase, we need the vision and strategy to be about adults as well, helping the government to achieve its stated ambition of having the best lifelong learning system in the developed world.
So, that means progression routes from all qualifications onto higher learning, weaning our culture away from viewing higher education as solely a three-year residential degree, and truly widening participation for all, rather than focusing on better access for 18- and 19-year-olds.
With that vision in place, we might then be able to develop the qualifications, the funding system, the regulations, the success measures, the incentives for people, colleges and employers, the workforce, the facilities, the curriculum and the pedagogy to deliver it. The optimist in me says we have the building blocks in place to do it like this - develop a consensual vision, build the support and co-create the detailed implementation plan. You can guess what the pessimist in me is saying.
With all of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, with the fragility of the government and the evident change in what the electorate wants for our society, now is the time to be optimistic, to be positive, to look longer term and grasp this opportunity. After all, it’s not often that the circumstances conspire to offer a chance of a cultural change like this one: the chance to build a post-16 system that provides all adults with better life chances, employers with people who can meet their skill needs and a society of empowered citizens staying healthy and fit for longer through learning.
What a prize that is. What more motivation could any of us need?
David Hughes is chief executive of the Association of Colleges. He tweets @AoCDavidH
