T LEVELS: THE REFORM TO WAKE A SLEEPING GIANT?


The latest reforms can really unleash the potential of technical education and innovation, but as practitioners we need to get prepared and be at the top of our game. By Paul Kessell-Holland


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o, here come T Levels. The ‘current reform’? Or are they something much more exciting and far more important than yet another change in an education sector which has seen so many in the past 20 years? It’s an interesting question, and for me possibly the most important in all the noise and preparation for these once in a generation changes to post-16 education. I believe the over-arching aim of T Levels represents a new horizon for technical education, and one that is long overdue. You could claim that T Levels have their genesis in the Commission for Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) chaired by Sir Frank McLoughlin (see Sir Frank’s article on page 3). The groundbreaking CAVTL report, It’s About Work, led to the commissioning of the Sainsbury review, and the subsequent publication of the government’s own Skills Plan. There is broad agreement among policymakers, educators and employers that only by improving the capacity, skills and knowledge of the next generation of our workforce can we hope to outperform and be more productive than our neighbours and compete on a global stage. Frankly, to hear the Prime Minister


advocating, as she has done a number of times, that technical education is a desirable alternative to the university route, is a marvel of our time – a moment to be treasured by anyone involved in vocational and technical teaching. Both CAVTL and the Theresa May’s


current position are attempts to treat a much older malaise: which is the view that technical learning is ‘second class’, something that other people’s children


do while yours go to university. Why this view persists is as much a conversation about society as a whole, and how we view success for ourselves and our children, as it is about education in isolation. It has given rise to all manner of economic and educational challenges over at least the past 50 years. For instance, we need at least 100,000 new engineers, but they don’t all need to be trained to graduate level in universities. There is significant demand for highly


A new qualification designed to meet the needs of technical education may be what’s needed to rebalance the system.


skilled and qualified people with practical, pre-degree engineering qualifications. A large number of other professions


are also crying out for people with technical qualifications and skills – and the best education and training providers are already supplying them. But despite their efforts, the university


route remains attractive to very many young people – despite the cost of degree-level education and mounting evidence that it may not always be the best option.


A new qualification, explicitly designed


to meet the needs of technical education and training to the highest standard, may be exactly what’s needed to rebalance the system. If T Levels can attract the brightest and best young people to technical education, who might otherwise


default to the school-university route, then they are a game-changer. We have some of the best technical staff in the world in our industries, and a proud history of innovators, creators and makers. We have (although sometimes it’s hard to notice through the negative perceptions) a world-class technical and vocational education and training system of colleges and independent training providers with expert, industry-informed staff. T Levels could easily be the reform that finally wakes this sleeping giant, and prods us into showing the world just how good technical teaching in this country can be. To do this we will all need to be at the


top of our game – our classroom skills, subject knowledge and industrial engagement need to be exemplary. Every teacher should be excited about the chance to help make this change. It’s a genuinely rare opportunity to get


parents, young people and wider society to see that technical and vocational qualifications are as important and rewarding as gaining a more theoretically-orientated degree. But to do this properly we must


remember that if we aren’t ready, personally and organisationally, to embrace real change and give ourselves the skills we need, then we could wake the sleeping giant and trip her up before she really gets going.


Paul Kessell-Holland is head of partnerships at the Education and Training Foundation.


inTUITIONTECHNICAL TEACHING • AUTUMN 2018 5


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