education, education, education…
Before upending himself on that cleverly disguised exam-graded banana skin, permanently-hard-done-by Education Secretary, Gaff Williamson, surreptitiously announced that Tony Blair’s well-intentioned social-mobility inspired target of 50% university attendance, would be unceremoniously dropped. And not a moment too soon.
Notwithstanding the obvious good intent, our headlong rush into mass academic higher education, at the cost of all other alternatives, was undertaken with remarkably little consideration for the impact on the economy, the workforce and the students themselves. At the risk of sounding like Disgruntled from Tunbridge Wells, far too many young people attend university and not nearly enough progress into vocational apprenticeships or technical further education. In 1960, four school leavers in a hundred went on to tread the boards in our gilded halls and corridors, today it’s fifty. Consequently, more than a third of graduates end-up in non-graduate jobs, whilst those with the necessary manual skills remain in precipitously short supply. Furthermore, it’s now thought that upwards of four-fifths of students will never fully repay the accrued debt.
Five years after completing their two-year courses, the work-based Technical Higher Apprentice earns more than the average graduate, who will have spent a minimum of three years and acquired, with the ubiquitous £9000/year tuition fees, a not-inconsiderable amount of debt into the bargain. Mind, whilst I concede that virtually all ‘professional jobs’ are likely to require a degree as a pre-requisite (whether actually necessary or not) and the ‘graduate premium’ over a lifetime can represent a massive hike in earnings, it is either pure snobbery or misplaced idealism to believe traditional university courses automatically provide greater opportunities or more relevance to today’s workplace and society. In spite of the ‘learning not earning’ argument (which I completely buy into btw) it’s a case of horses-for-courses: we need tangible, specialist hands-on skills more than unemployed, or underemployed, sociology graduates.
Realistically, this is going to mean a greater government involvement, not less. Coined by BJ’s predecessor Mother Theresa, ‘parity of esteem’ referred to the levelling-up of academic and vocational education and it can only be forcibly brought into effect. The most direct way would be to introduce a cap on university student numbers, along with strict quotas to ensure those from disadvantaged backgrounds are fairly, and equally represented. Actively limiting the number the number of upper-and-middle-class students would eventually help reduce the cultural elitism and, again eventually, redirect funding into the vocational streams. The other alternative is via a simple and equitable graduate tax a la income tax.
However, if Williamson, previously sacked by Ms May for leaking government secrets to the press, does miraculously manage to stay in post (modern parlance for clinging onto his job with more determination than an SS Titanic passenger holding onto the passing lifeboat) he would be even better advised to first start with more pressing structural problems present within the workforce. One in five British adults is functionally innumerate, and, in England, one in six, functionally illiterate. Britain needs to ditch its obsession with university education and tackling this would have an even greater impact on our industrial effectiveness and capability.
Yes, this country needs to spend more on education but not more on universities. Breaking this link, whilst improving the overall quality of learning provision, is the key to improving both our productivity, societal wellbeing and prospects for true social mobility.
