Smoke and Mirrors. Dave Gardner Labour is trumpeting its vocational education policy: “More skilled brickies, carpenters and healthcare support workers will soon be trained up as we continue our drive to get Britain working, with landmark reforms announced today (27 May 2025) that refocus the skills landscape towards young, domestic talent. The measures, backed by … Continue reading Labour’s Policy on Apprenticeships.
The WPB recognises that a new young party of the Left needs to mobilise voters and activists from the new generation. The Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn seemed to recognise this and published a Youth Manifesto in 2019. There does not seem to have been any significant policy thinking in this area since the fall of … Continue reading Workers’ Party of Britain Education & Youth Manifesto
John Clayden Government Training Centres were I think set up during the war or just after and were nationwide and were set up with trade union cooperation but were later destroyed by Thatcher. The one in Perivale West London I attended covered the various building trades and engineering trades, sheet metal work as well … Continue reading Apprenticeships—by a Former Apprentice
Dave Gardner Half the young people in Britain do not intend to go to university. Many of those who do, feel that they have no choice, even if they don’t particularly wish to. But what other choices do they have? This is where choices for young people become problematic. The main educational destination is a … Continue reading The Apprenticeship Fiasco
Children’s school meals Debate in the House of Lords 27/03/23 https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2023-03-27/debates/EAB74562-AB3E-4799-95CE-49E7A40FAD65/Children’s SchoolMeals Question Asked by Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review and revise the children’s school meal regulations to reduce the levels of processed sugar and to provide incentives to encourage the use of alternatives such as stevia. … Continue reading School Meals in the Lords
A New Beginning? Dave Gardner This journal has for some time bemoaned the Labour Party’s lack of interest in a matter of the first concern to working people, vocational education and training (VET). In Robert Halfon MP on the other hand, the Tories have a Minister of State responsible for VET who is exceptionally knowledgeable … Continue reading Labour’s Vocational Education Policy
Why making good policy requires careful thinking and plenty of time. Britain has just begun to face what will prove to be a long drawn-out cost of living crisis. In part this is caused by labour and supply chain shortages resulting from the Covid pandemic, but a more fundamental issue is the cost of energy, … Continue reading Insulation Rebellion — Editorial
Skills v Knowledge, or the balance between university education and vocational education. The Tory head of the Education Committee has the right ideas, as seen in his exchanges with Nadhim Zahawi, the Secretary of State for education, during the debate on the Schools White Paper, Monday 28th March 2022 — Commons Chamber Robert Halfon: The White Paper … Continue reading Skills v Knowledge
What Am I Going to do Next? Part 12 Where will the money come from? Dave Gardner Funding for universities through student loans: why this is a nonsense In a previous article I noted the inequality in funding between universities and vocational education. Universities get roughly five times as much money per student as do … Continue reading What Shall I Do Next?
What am I going to do next? Part 11 Dave Gardner In part 8 of this series I looked at mass university education in Britain and concluded that it had some significant harmful side effects. This was not a whinge along the lines of ‘more means worse’, a snobbish slogan attributed to the novelist Kingsley … Continue reading University or bust Part 2
Irresistible Things —This Month in Parliament This article joins together two others in this issue, on the one hand the editorial and the question ‘how will you pay for it’, and on the other hand the series on ‘What shall I do next?’ on youth employment. It refers to the 2021 Lords Youth Unemployment Committee … Continue reading Irresistible Things
Thoughts on a High Wage High Skill Economy Dave Gardner Last month I wrote about the government’s desire to force most young people not doing A levels to do a new type of demanding qualification called the T level. They intend to do this by defunding vocational alternatives such as the BTEC level 3. I … Continue reading What Am I Going to do Next? Part 10.
Skills and Post 16 Education Bill Debate 21 October 2021 For an analysis of T-levels see What am I going to do next (Part 10) in this issue of the magazine. 50% of young people do not go to university. Of those, only 20% have access to education and training. That is because there is not the same … Continue reading The launch of T Levels — Parliament Notes 1
T levels: Reform and Disaster. The Bourbons of Vocational Education strike again. Dave Gardner. This month I was going to continue my discussion of the pros and cons of university education as a possible route to work for young people. That will have to wait until November because it is becoming apparent that a new … Continue reading What Shall I do next? – Part 9
Part 8 What shall I do next? University or Bust? Problems with mass university education. Dave Gardner Why attending a university is not necessarily a good thing for every young person and why society needs to limit it. Roughly 50% of all 18 to 25 year olds go to university. There is a clear path, encouraged … Continue reading What shall I do next?
Dave Gardner Part 7 One way of getting a job is to work for someone who will employ you on the basis that you look as if you can do the job. This could come from a demonstration (eg repairing a bike for a bike repairer) or from a personal recommendation. These are also ways … Continue reading What am I going to do next? Young People and Unemployment.
"The forgotten: How White working class pupils have been let down and how to change it" Parliament Notes The Lords Committee on Education published its report on White British educational underachievement on 22 June 2021. The Committee, led by Robert Halfon, is composed of both Labour and Tory peers, and has heard statements from witnesses from … Continue reading White privilege?
How to start Dave Gardner Providing jobs now is necessary to avoid a long-lasting blight on young people’s lives. But what should happen next? What people want is not difficult to describe: Reasonably well-paid, secure and interesting jobs Good training and further education opportunities A safe, secure and attractive environment Good leisure amenities Quality housing … Continue reading What am I going to do next? Young People and Unemployment Part 6:
Labour Affairs 