Business and education leaders are calling for urgent reform and investment for vocational education, amid reports of chronic skills shortages in the economy.

A Level, T Level and BTEC students will receive their final results this Thursday. However, there are serious concerns about whether further education is able to meet industry need without far-reaching change.  

T Levels were introduced in 2020 to provide a vocational qualification with the same prestige as an A Level but rollout has been far from straightforward.

The programme was recently given a red rating by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, meaning “there are major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be manageable or resolvable.”

Courses have suffered from high dropout rates according to a recent report from Ofsted, with many students feeling “misled and ill-informed about their content and structure.”

One problem has been with the work experience element. Although businesses have welcomed a greater focus on vocational education, there has been a lack of industrial placements for digital, construction, and health and science courses.

Some employers have even stopped the placement halfway through, leaving students unable to complete the course.

Skills Minister Rob Halfon told the Education and Skills Select Committee last December that he “would rather be straight with the Committee than try to say that everything is all wonderful.”

^{Skills Minister Robert Halfon}

There are also concerns over the future of BTEC courses.

Currently, students who do not meet the tough admission criteria to access T Levels are able to choose BTECs instead. However, BTEC courses which overlap with T Levels will lose their funding in 2025, leaving many young people without a further education pathway.

A recent cross-party group of Lords including former education secretary David Blunkett have called these plans “disastrous”, saying they would have a damaging impact on social mobility, economic growth and public services.

Henri Murison, Chief Executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, and Darren Hankey, Principal of Hartlepool College, explain why changes are needed…

It is worrying that vocational education is often seen as the poor relation of academic studies. Investment in people is just as important as physical infrastructure and whenever we speak to businesses about the problems they face, we often get the same response: skills, or a lack thereof.

Making sure a young person in Bradford can get to a good job in Leeds or Manchester is only half the battle – they need also to have the necessary training and experience to secure that work in the first place.

This is where T Levels come in.

Many business and education leaders agree that these new qualifications could be part of the solution to tackling widespread skills shortages, particularly here in the North of England.

Unfortunately, they are suffering from what the Ofsted chief inspector has described as “teething issues”: high dropout rates, huge pressures on colleges and problems with industrial placements.

Addressing these challenges will require a joint effort from government and business.

A good first step would be for the Department for Education to cede control to those better placed to deliver, like powerful policy and delivery boards.

Alongside this, devolving more of the skills system to local leaders who are better able to join the dots with local industry need could be a gamechanger. Government has made a good start with this in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands but we need to go further and faster in other parts of the country.

We also need to see funding maintained for BTECs past 2025 as these courses remain a vital skills pathway for young people who do not meet the strict entry criteria for T Levels.

Vocational education in all its forms needs serious reform and investment. It cannot be an afterthought.

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By Tristia Harrison, Chief Executive Officer at TalkTalk

Success demands luck as well as judgment.

We knew when we moved our HQ from London to Salford five years ago the North West region was already positioned for great things.

World famous Universities. Alumni who tended to stay. A cultural heritage bar none. Good ambitious local government. Favourable geography and infrastructure. And, of course, the famously resilient, funny, independent minded people.

However, we could never have quite predicted how high the North West star would climb, because, for sure, there is no better place in the UK to run a business right now. There has never been a better time to be in the region.

Greater Manchester is the fastest growing tech hub in Europe, and a place Lonely Planet recently said the city was not to be missed as a tourist in 2023.

The mixture of a vibrant city like Manchester, with great accessible places to live across the North West region, is a potent mix for a tech company like ours. And many others clearly think so too. Government departments, regulators, large tech companies, professional services firms and start-ups are all setting up HQs or big new offices here.

However, there is a danger. One that comes with every fast growth spurt. The risk is that we don’t build the fundamentals, and we fail to take everyone with us on the journey. We need to include everyone.

There are around 2,500 new tech jobs coming to our region in the next two years, but there’s a danger there aren’t enough people to fill them. How can this be? In the current economic climate, surely people will move mountains to come and find the work. It’s a simple answer.

Because although these are great attractive jobs, we can’t keep relying on the same recruitment pools. There simply aren’t enough of the usual suspects to keep the tech industry afloat in 2022, and nor should we – even if it’s the easiest thing to do.

Companies like ours will wither on the vine if we try to solve new problems with old mindsets and ideas. We are migrating our four million customers from copper wires to fibre optic cables. It’s hard, harder than any company in our industry thought it would be. It’s like exchanging a horse for a motorbike. Faster, and needing a whole new set of rules, language and skills.

^{TalkTalk HQ in Salford}

You can’t do that only recruiting people who’ve worked in the industry for 20 years. They won’t always ask the right questions – or think of a new way. We need to be recruiting from all backgrounds. Not just because it’s the fair thing to do – which of course it is – but also because it’s a business necessity. So how can we get new types of people in?

I wish it was always a really fast quick process – like turning on a light switch. Sometimes it is – take the Kickstart scheme-the Government’s initiative to get young people on universal credit into work after the pandemic. We took on over 100 Kickstarters during COVID – many of whom still work for us now. A great example of innovation out of necessity from government.

Both the government and the opposition are putting skills and innovation at the centre of their economic plan. It has to be a government priority, because bringing in new talent streams is a project that takes passion, time and effort – three things that are the hallmarks of education – and that’s where we have to look. Our education system will be the thing that brings the so called non-obvious talent from the back to the front of the queue.

Analysis by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership last summer found that the attainment gap between north and south was growing both at GCSE and A-Level.

And last week Guardian analysis of census data revealed a worrying north-south skills divide, with nearly half (46.7%) of people in London holding a degree or similar qualification (level 4 or above) compared with less than a third (28.6%) of those in the north-east. The figure is 35.8% for the south-east.

This is deeply worrying for businesses like TalkTalk, not to mention a serious problem for Northern productivity. We cannot unlock the North’s full economic potential without addressing fixing these divides – and locally-led initiatives are proving extremely effective in this area.

^{Kickstarters at TalkTalk}

We are one of the main corporate partners for UA92, just a mile or two away from our HQ in Salford. I would say it has started a quiet revolution in how we educate our children and young adults.

Schools are teaching basic coding – which is brilliant to see. But by and large the technical and “business” education we are giving our young isn’t keeping up with the pace of change and the development of the industry. That’s not the case at UA92. It’s taken a practical, results-orientated approach to solving this problem.

A question they have asked themselves mirrors many of the problems we see in business. How can we attract more than our fair share of students who had free school meals, at the same time as equipping them better for the world of work than other universities often do?

The answer they have found is by introducing several innovations to give people who aren’t the usual suspects the best chance for success.

Studying at the same time of day – morning or afternoon – to allow you to work. Having six start dates a year. Working with modules not final exams – which mirrors far more the way businesses work. Having a business mentor for every student. Trialling new things like digital apprenticeships. Taking affordability seriously.

We are proud to be a partner of UA92. We provide guest lectures, work experience placements, and mentoring to students – as well as sponsorship to students and subsidised broadband.

UA92 readies their students for the workplace not just in technical skills, but also in character, personal organisation and process management – combining the “soft” and “hard” aspects of everyday business life.

We are well aware that, on our doorstep in Salford, we have thousands of young people who could potentially come and work for us. Not enough do. Part of fixing that is the direct responsibility of business, not just of higher education institutions.

We work with schools in our area. Ten women in our company mentor ten girls at a local secondary school. A direct relationship is so important. We also work with the EY Foundation to provide employability workshops for local school children who are in receipt of free school meals.

We are part of the North West Tech Talent Consortium – a group of tech companies who work together to address the challenges we face around supply and demand in tech talent in the city region. Businesses, universities and other organisations are collaborating as never before in the North West.

Our corporate motto is “For everyone”. It was originally conceived to state how feel everyone should have access to good quality broadband. Our success of the business was built on challenging the status quo.

We shocked our industry back in 2003 by giving away broadband if you already had a landline with us. However, it allowed people to get online who previously couldn’t afford to do so.

If we take a similar innovative approach to skilling our young people for the workplace – it will be good for business, and good for society too.

The post How can we make a career in the North’s tech industry open for everyone? appeared first on Northern Powerhouse Partnership.

Developing a skilled, productive workforce is fundamental to the Northern Powerhouse. According to recent Government data, apprenticeship numbers are now returning to pre-pandemic levels – which is good news for the economy and levelling up.

The biggest drop in apprenticeship levels during the pandemic had been in the North. Fortunately, Northern businesses have risen to the challenge of tackling that problem, delivering skills opportunities both for those just starting out in their career or those looking to retrain. 

There were 41,300 new apprentices in the North of England between 2021 and 2022, a 44% increase from the previous year. The biggest increase in the country was in the North East, which saw a rise of about 58%.

We spoke to Carys Marsh, Assistant Cost Consultant at Arcadis, about apprenticeships and what they mean for opportunities for young people in the north.

Why do you think more young people are choosing apprenticeships?

I think more young people are choosing apprenticeships as they are becoming more widely recognised by colleges and more companies are offering degree apprenticeships in a variety of disciplines. With graduate roles becoming increasingly competitive, the apprenticeship route also gives vital experience in industry as an advantage over the traditional full time university route.

Initially, I went through the process of applying for universities and it was the sandwich degrees with a year in industry that really appealed to me. While reading into the companies that sponsored some of these degrees, I came across degree apprenticeships and loved the idea of working and earning whilst learning.

I’d really recommend the apprenticeship route because, for me, the support with my degree was invaluable and it has given me a great start to my career.

What skills have you learnt?

I have learnt quantity surveying specific skills such as measurement and estimating, as well as soft skills like communication with clients, teamwork, and time management. The best thing I’ve gained through the apprenticeship is confidence, which has come from the support and encouragement of the team in my development. 

What projects are you working on?

Most of my work is on high-rise residential developments in central Manchester, as well as student accommodation schemes and office fit outs. I have also worked on some more unusual projects like the new training facility for Liverpool Football Club.

What are your plans for the future?

My short-term goal is to sit my APC to gain chartership. I love living and working in the North, and whilst I wouldn’t rule out job opportunities elsewhere in the UK or abroad, I am happy here and believe there are ample opportunities to fulfil my ambitions. It is rewarding to work on schemes which bring investment to the North and there will be lots more in the future which is really exciting for me.

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