Drawing superficial comparisons with other countries has become all the rage. The latest perpetrator is Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, who announced plans to build a world-class “German-style further education system” in Britain. If only.  Passing over the fact that his remit is confined to England and not Britain, the chances of his plan being fulfilled are close to zero. Why? His speech, although it promises a “massive” and welcome boost for the sector after 10 years of remorseless cuts by Tory governments, is based on the same flawed thinking that every government since the Second World War has applied to FE. We outline four criticisms.

First, Williamson argues that “qualifications are only half of the picture. Equally important is where they are taught”. Of course, the standard of teaching in colleges is vital, but the second half of the picture should be the ready availability of high-quality, high-paid jobs. Labour and Conservative governments have for decades put all their eggs into the basket of “ramping up” the supply of skills, while ignoring the need to increase the demand for them.

Germany has a powerful manufacturing sector that absorbs apprentices who’ve been well trained over three years. In contrast, the British economy is heavily skewed towards services and low-level production, which requires only low-level skills, and where 33 per cent of apprenticeships are rated “inadequate” or “requires improvement” by Ofsted. If these were schools, they would have been closed long ago. And we are now facing the biggest jobs crisis for a generation. If Mr Williamson’s plans are enacted, we’ll have the most highly qualified dole queues in the world.

Williamson: England to get ‘German-style’ FE system

Background: What does ‘a German-style FE system’ even mean?

Opinion: Post-16 education needs reform. Now is the time

Reluctant employers

The historical problem in the UK has been the reluctance of employers to pay to train their workers, and this is still true. When in 2017 the government required them to spend 0.5 per cent of their payroll on apprenticeships, the number of apprentices fell by 193,000. Earlier this year, a private firm closed its apprenticeship programme immediately after a damning Ofsted report, leaving 2,500 learners in the lurch. The name of the firm? Progress to Excellence Ltd. You couldn’t make it up. More public money wasted and learners’ hopes dashed.

Second, Williamson favours “courses…which are tailored to the needs of employers and their local economies”. Training people to meet the existing needs of local firms is to sell them seriously short. German apprentices have compulsory courses in general education, citizenship, and German language and literature, which enables their apprentices to cope with constant changes in the skills demanded of them. The virtue of their famous dual system is not just that it turns unemployed people into skilled, well-paid members of respected trades and professions, but that it incorporates them as citizens into their democracy.

Third, Williamson revealingly admits that “since becoming education secretary, I was shocked to discover that…the total number of adults in education has actually fallen”. He goes on to enumerate the fall of 1 million adult learners in FE, 51,000 fewer foundation degrees and 150,000 fewer part-time undergraduates in higher education. Why was he shocked? Where has he been? These are the direct result of the cuts his government has been imposing for a decade.

Fourth, what faith can we have in an education secretary - I repeat, a secretary of state for education - who sees nothing wrong in saying: “We must never forget that the purpose of education is to give people the skills they need to get a good and meaningful job”? The triumph of neoliberalism over humanity.  What we must never forget is that this remark reveals the culpable poverty of his understanding of the richness of the concept of education. FE doesn’t stand for further employability - it stands for further education.

Frank Coffield is emeritus professor of education at UCL Institute of Education, and Reiner Siebert is lecturer in education at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany