In the run up to National Apprenticeship Week, which ran earlier this month, the Federation of Master Builders released an interesting survey claiming that more parents would prefer it if their children undertook an apprenticeship than studied for a degree.
The cynic in me thought this was a perfect example of the survey driven press release industry that now feels nearly ubiquitous to anyone working in communications. It had everything – a survey commissioned by a vested interest, a ‘national week’ to hang the results on, and just the right statistical breakdown for an eye catching headline: 25% of us would rather our children undertook an apprenticeship compared to 24% of us who would rather our children studied for a university degree.
Despite all of that, and not just because I’m an optimist at heart, the survey struck a very real cord with me as it highlights how important attitudes are when it comes to improving social mobility.
Until people give non-university education and training the same respect they give getting a degree we will be stuck in the rut of thinking that social mobility is solely improved by channelling more and more people into that one particular type of higher education. And frankly, until the mainly university educated middle classes, who make up our political, media and business leaders, are as delighted with their children getting an apprenticeship as they are a degree, policy focus is unlikely to really shift.
I’ve previously written here about this narrow obsession and how the current government is laying the groundwork to change these perceptions with the introduction of T-levels and a commitment to apprenticeship quality. But I believe the Party needs to be bolder in its commitment to non-university education.
Many people have argued that Brexit was a result of people feeling left behind by globalisation and left out of the political debate. And Jeremy Corbyn’s subsequent electoral success was at least in part due to the popularity of his unprogressive and expensive tuition fees pledge. So what better way to tackle the nonsense that Labour is the party of the many over the few, as well as reach out to voters fed up with politicians focusing on issues that don’t matter to them, than by focusing education and industrial policy on the 51% of young people who don’t go to university?
A truly one nation Conservative Party would ensure that all educational opportunities are of sufficient quality to ensure that all of our young people get a first rate job. If that happens then the prestige will follow, and so our attitudes will change. An emphasis on vocational education could not only provide the skilled workforce a post-Brexit Britain will require but also the platform to re-engage the Party with voters who felt ignored in the run up to the referendum, and are in danger of being ignored once again.