Institution responds to Budget 2017

Peter Finegold says more needs to be done to attract young people to the value of technical training

Peter Finegold, Head of Education and Skills at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said in response to the 2017 Budget:

“The proposed Industrial Strategy needs a clear, properly thought through national skills strategy to underpin it. Our economic success will heavily rely on both structural and cultural change to how we frame technical education, not simply to be on par with academic study but to be seen as seamless with it.

“The Chancellor's £500 million per year commitment to support game-changing reforms including T-levels are welcome, but the challenge remains how to attract young people and their parents to the value of technical training, in areas such as engineering, in the first place. Our schools focus on a narrow set of academic success indicators and are largely staffed by teachers who have little experience of industry. Parents remain fearful that a technical education is a second-class option.   

“To ensure the T-levels, Institutes of Technology and the renewed 16-19 sector all succeed, we must change fundamentally the relationship between schools, Further Education (FE) colleges and industry. Teachers should spend time in the modern workplace to understand the value of technical skills. Schools must open their doors to their educational competitors in the FE sector. Arguably the biggest threat to T-levels (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) are the option limiting A-levels. It may be time to think again about whether reform of technical education can happen without changes to the academic ones.”