Technical schools could provide a suitable route to educational success for many “very different young people” who do not attend grammar schools, Justine Greening has suggested.

The education secretary was discussing with TES how a modern system that included grammar schools might work. She said that while she would not herself have suited a University Technical College (UTC) education, she believed the schools were a “good option” for students who were more suited to a “technical education-based route”.

The education secretary’s views were reinforced following a recent visit to Didcot UTC in Oxfordshire, where she witnessed students learning at a “phenomenal rate”, she said.

But, in the interview, Ms Greening sidestepped the opportunity to express her full personal support for the grammar schools policy (subscribers can read the interview here).

“I wouldn’t have fitted in at a UTC; I loved my economics and I loved my geography, but these are kids who just loved science and practical stuff,” Ms Greening said.

“All that time in the laboratory that, for me, I was ready to [get out of there]. It’s about having that breadth of offer for very, very different young people.”

Tripartite system ‘doesn’t work’

Ms Greening denied that she was advocating a return to an academic education for grammar students and a vocational one for the rest. But she did say that UTCs - currently 14-19 schools - were part of the solution in offering parents more choice at a time when the government was considering introducing more grammars.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL teaching union, said that Ms Greening’s vision was reminiscent of the tripartite system proposed in the 1940s.

“The problem with the tripartite system is it didn’t work,” said Dr Bousted. “The reason is that a high-quality technical education is very expensive.”

She pointed to Germany, a country that is viewed as having a high-quality vocational education system, which she said was now looking to move away from a tripartite system after it performed badly in international rankings.

“There is nowhere Justine Greening can go to that can give her any evidence that will justify the unjustifiable,” Dr Bousted said.

This is an edited article from the 28 October edition of TES. Subscribers can read the full article here. This week’s TES magazine is available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here

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