Snobbery in the trades slows down the economy | Politics | News

Snobbery is holding back the economy by pushing young people to go to university rather than learn the skills Britain really needs, says the Education Secretary.

Bridget Phillipson believes thousands of children are missing out on the chance to have successful careers, which is why the country is experiencing a shortage of workers in jobs such as construction.

This week she will unveil plans to redesign the careers service to offer students a wider range of career options.

Oxford-educated Ms Phillipson, who grew up in a poor area of ​​Sunderland, is determined to give students from all backgrounds the chance to attend a top university.

But she said: “Snobbery towards skilled trades is holding back the growth we need. It has held back our country for far too long and we need to change that.”

Careers advice in schools will be improved and every child will be given work experience. These plans will be unveiled at the Labour conference this week. The aim is to encourage young people to consider careers such as construction or engineering.

At the same time, teachers, who are benefiting from a whopping 5.5 percent pay rise, are being told they must “work harder” for their students, including encouraging children from poorer families to apply to the country's best educational institutions.

And the Education Secretary hinted that university funding would be reviewed “to look at all options” and ensure that young people are not put off from studying by the prospect of huge debts.

In an exclusive interview ahead of the Labour Party’s annual meeting in Liverpool, 40-year-old Ms Phillipson said she was “lucky”
like the child who grew up in a council house and attended a school that encouraged him to achieve his best – but others are not so lucky.

She said: 'They organised a visit to Oxford and I hadn't signed up for it, but the deputy head sent me a message in one of my classes telling me to go and see him straight away.

“He told me he expected my name to be on the visiting list by the end of the day. That was the attitude they took.

“An excellent education at a public school changed my life, but I know that I was lucky in some ways and I don't believe that life should depend on luck.

“It's not enough for me to defy the odds. I want working-class children across the country to defy the odds.”

This means breaking the link between where a child grows up or the wealth of their parents and their chances of going to university, she said. But it also means creating more apprenticeships.

“I studied at Oxford, but I think the snobbery towards skilled trades there is still a big challenge.” Britain needs construction workers to build houses, engineers for robotics, and carpenters and electricians, she said.

“I want young people to have real choices. But for many careers, young people don't see that as an option, partly because they lack work experience and career advice.”

The government also wants to provide more training for working professionals to help them learn new skills, she said. One example would be teaching car mechanics how to repair new electric vehicles.

The focus on skills does not mean that the role of universities offering traditional degree courses is being downgraded, said the Education Minister, who announced that she is considering radical changes to student funding.

Most students currently pay tuition fees of £9,250 per year and leave university with an average debt of £43,700.

“We need to make sure it's fair for the taxpayer as well, but at the moment the system is not working – neither for the students, nor for the taxpayers, nor for the universities,” Ms Phillipson said.

However, she hinted there would be no bailout for financially strapped universities after vice-chancellors warned they were heading for a financial crisis in the autumn. “Universities are independent institutions. They have to manage their own budgets and that means vice-chancellors make decisions about what the numbers look like,” she said.

One of the first changes introduced by Mrs Phillipson was the way schools will be rated by the Ofsted inspection service. Schools will no longer receive short and brutal ratings such as “outstanding”, “good”, “requires improvement” or “inadequate”.

But she vowed: “Teachers will not have an easy time with the Ofsted reforms. This is about high standards for our children.”

Poor behaviour is particularly worrying, and the Education Secretary said teachers sometimes have problems with parents who do not support schools, a problem she believes is being exacerbated by closures during the Covid pandemic.

“Some parents have never had the opportunity to visit their child's school in person and meet their teachers. This has caused some problems.”

Problems outside of school also led to problems inside the classroom, she said. “Too many children go to school hungry.”

The theme of the Labour Party conference will be “Change is beginning” – an optimistic message after what critics say is a gloomy focus on spending cuts and “difficult choices”.

Ms Phillipson argues that the focus on education offers Labour the opportunity to create an optimistic vision for the future.

She said: “I know that we can bring about the change that people voted for by ensuring that where we come from does not determine what we achieve in life.”

“It should be about your hard work and talent, not the city you come from or the family you were born into. That's the challenge we face and that's why I have this job.”