A
new focus on the “forgotten fifty per cent” of the population who don’t go into
university will be launched by the Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, today
as he lays out an ambition to beat Germany in delivering opportunities across
non-academic routes within a decade.
To
support this ambition a huge expansion of Institutes of Technology will be
launched today to make sure young people across the country have access to
quality technical education. Up to £120m will be invested to take the total
number from twelve currently planned to up to twenty in cities across England.
This huge expansion of the programme will particularly benefit the North-West
of England, Teesside, the East Midlands, and cities along the South Coast.
Institutes
of Technology bring together business, universities and FE colleges, to deliver
post-16 FE and technical and vocational courses suited to the needs of the
business in the regions they serve. This move will make sure that key sectors
and every region in England will benefit from at least one IoT, meaning that
wherever you live or work, there’ll be an IoT to enable you to take your
technical skills to the next level.
The
Education Secretary will also form a new Skills & Productivity Board of
leading labour market economists to advise him policies to drive forward the
provision of world leading skills and qualifications, particularly for the FE
sector. This will be geared towards ensuring the courses undertaken by students
will fit with to the demands of the workforce of tomorrow, helping drive
productivity and ensure taxpayers money is focused on delivering the skills we
need.
Building
on the success of the free schools programme to date, Mr Williamson will also
expand the number of specialist maths free schools open from two to eleven, to
ensure elite maths teaching is available for all 16-19-year-olds, wherever they
live in England. These schools will ensure all young people gifted in maths
have the best opportunity of achieving academic excellence, working with
likeminded young people and going on to academic success, whatever their background
and wherever they live.
These
announcements follow the recent spending review which saw school funding across
the country increase, with an additional £14 billion being spent on schools
over the next three years and every school to receive more funding.
Secretary
of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, said:
“There
is one part of our education system that’s often overlooked, Further Education.
While past Labour Governments obsessed over targets to get half the population
to university, they forgot about the other 50%. We’re going to put that right.
“Apprenticeships,
technical and vocational education are just as valuable as University education
and they are at least as important to our economy. We want to ensure that in
the next decade, we beat Germany on the opportunities we give to those taking
technical and vocational routes.
“We’re
going to super-charge Further Education and set our sights high. We will ensure
equal focus is given to all young people, whether they choose the technical,
vocational or academic routes.”
ENDS
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