Higher Technical Education: Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Martin Doel CBE Centre for Global Higher Education FETL Professor of Leadership in FE and Skills Seminar UCL Institute of Education Thursday 23rd February 2017

Higher Technical Education The History The Current Proposition Resisting the gravitational pull 2

The History Skills Beyond Schools OECD (2013) Productivity Plan (2015) Industrial Strategy (2017) 3

The History Skills Beyond Schools OECD (2013) “England has too little vocational provision at post-secondary level in comparison to other countries and relative to potential demand” “Well under 10% of the cohort – compared to other OECD countries where upto 1/3rd has post secondary VET qualifications” “10x as many students enrolled in bachelor programmes than in foundation degrees and foundation degrees often no more than stepping stone to bachelors degrees” 4

The History OECD Skills Beyond Schools 2013 Productivity Plan 2015: Fixing the Foundations “Professional and technical education needs to be refocused to deliver higher level skills that employers need” (P25) 5

The History OECD Skills Beyond Schools 2013 Productivity Plan 2015 Industrial Strategy 2017 “Our poor performance in basic and technical skills is key to the UK’s persistently lower levels of productivity” (P37) “Too many of our further education colleges only offer a broad generalist curriculum at lower qualification levels, the sector has too little provision of higher technical qualifications” (p 39) 6

The History “England compared not unfavourably with other countries in the provision made for ….lower and intermediate grades of technical education ...[But] the principle deficiency … appears to lie in the sphere of the highest technical education (Departmental Committee 1906) National Association for the Promotion of Technical Education 1887 7

The History Post WWII – Colleges of Advanced Technology 1960s 'White Heat of Technology' Robbins Polytechnics Late 70s as many students on Higher technical courses in colleges as in polytechnics Late 80s and 90s university expansion with a proportionate decrease in HE provision in colleges Early 10s HE number controls lead to withdrawal of franchised provision and 40% reduction in foundation degrees 8

The History 1992 Conversion of Polytechnics to universities “With their transformation into universities in 1992 ex-polytechnics gained awarding powers and….many preferred to develop full bachelors degrees and gave less emphasis to their shorter vocational programmes and their franchising arrangements with FE colleges” (Parry et al 2012) “too many of our FE colleges only offer a broad, generalist curriculum at lower qualification levels, the sector has too little provision of higher tehnical qualifications (Industrial Strategy 2017 P 39) large further education colleges providing higher education should be given the ability to award degrees and such colleges should be granted the renewed use of the title ‘polytechnic’.” (Securing the Future of Higher Education in England IPPR 2013) “ 9

The History – does it matter? “A forecast of employment change in 27 EU countries between 2010 and 2020 implied that nearly 2/3rd of overall employment growth would be contained within the 'technicians and associate professionals category.” (CEDEFOP 2012) “we have shortages of high-skilled technicians….particular specialisms such as those faced by the nuclear industry” (Industrial Strategy Jan 17 P 42) 10

The decline of the traditional middle Routine tasks Non-routine tasks Secretarial and clerical’ and skilled trades -800k 5% net decrease in jobs 2012-2022 Managers; professionals; and technicians +2,400k 17% net increase in jobs 2012-2022 Analytical & interactive Elementary; process and plant operatives -300k 5% net decrease in jobs 2012-2022 Care and leisure; sales and other service +600k 11% net increase in jobs 2012-2022 Manual tasks Source: UKCES, Working Futures 2012-2022. Top left box sums SOC Major Groups 4 and 5; top right Major Groups 1 to 3; bottom left Major Groups 8 and 9; bottom right Major Groups 6 and 7.

The Current Proposition Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education (Sainsbury) (2016) Skills Plan (2016) 12

How the academic and technical options would work * Where a student does both, the traineeship will follow the transition year. Students doing both the transition year and a traineeship may progress directly to employment. ** Some students will move directly from A levels and/or applied general qualifications to degree and higher apprenticeships. 13

The 15 new technical routes to skilled employment Agriculture, Environmental and Animal Care Park Ranger Conservationist Agricultural Technician Horticulturalist Farmer (454,726) (2,204,478) Business and Administrative Office Manager Human Resources Officer Administrative Officer Housing Officer Catering and Hospitality Chef Events Manager Catering Manager Butcher Baker (568,998) (1,060,804) Childcare and Education Nursery Assistant Early Years Officer Teaching Assistant Youth Worker Construction Bricklayer/Mason Electrician Building/Civil Engineering Technician Construction Supervisor Carpenter/Joiner (1,625,448) Creative and Design Arts Producer Audiovisual Technician Journalist Upholsterer Graphic Designer (529,573) Digital Programmer Software Developer Network Administrator Web Designer IT Technician (351,649) Hair and Beauty (293,004) Hairdresser Beauty Therapist Barber Engineering and Manufacturing Vehicle Mechanic Engineering Technician Energy Plant Operative Electrical Engineer Aircraft Fitter (1,319,645) Legal, Finance and Accounting (1,325,482) Paralegal Accounting Technician Financial Account Manager Legal Secretary Payroll Manager Health and Science Dental Nurse Laboratory Technician Pharmaceutical Technician Sports Therapist Nursing Assistant (915,979) Route name Examples of occupations to which the route could lead (Number employed in occupations within route) Protective Services Police Officer Fire Service Officer NCO (398,400) Transport and Logistics Ship Officer Railway Signalman HGV Driver (589,509) Sales, Marketing and Procurement Buyer Procurement Officer Sales Account Manager Market Research Analyst Estate Agent (957,185) Social Care Care Worker Residential Warden Welfare Counsellor Probation Officer Home Carer (865,941) We expect these routes to be delivered primarily through apprenticeships. 14

The Current Proposition Sainsbury/Skills Plan Essentials: Technical not vocational Technical/Academic divide 2 modes of technical: Apprenticeships College-based 15 broad technical routes to level 4/5 Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA)to oversee qualifications IfA to be employer-led, ‘employer’ panels to specify content of qualifications IFA to work with Office for Students on Degree Apprenticeships: OFS: degree content IfA: apprenticeship standard 15

The Current Proposition Skills Plan “The technical option needs to be clearly delineated from the academic option, as they are designed for different purposes” “Technical education at higher levels must still follow national standards” “Every world class technical education takes a (different) approach; they start with world class excellence and the higher technical level and work backwards to define the programmes that should be offered at each stage.” 16

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Class Inconstancy Funding Power Definition 17

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Class “Let us now move away from our snobbish caste-ridden hierarchical obsession with university status.” (Anthony Crossland 1965) Ed Milliband: Vocational education for the forgotten 50% (Labour Party Manifesto 2015) Industrial Strategy: “half of all 17-year olds will participate in higher education by age 30.” (Page 37) 18

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Class 19

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Class Inconstancy of Policy City and Guilds: Three Decades of Going Around in Circles 61 Secretaries of State responsible for skills policy (18 for schools and 16 for HE) 13 major Acts of Parliament Flipped between or has been shared by Depts at least 10 times Collective amnesia and lack of organisational memory at political and official levels 20

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Class Inconstancy Funding “many believe that there is insufficient postsecondary provision because of funding arrangements” (Parry et al 2012) 21

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Class Inconstancy Funding Maintenance loans Non-prescribed HE ELQs HEFCE/Skills Funding Agency interface 22

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Class Inconstancy Funding “High level vocational training has fallen through the gap between our HE and FE systems” (Vince Cable Secretary of State for Business and Skills 2015) 23

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Class Inconstancy Funding Power Franchising Validation/QAA requirements The Foundation degree story 24

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Class Inconstancy Funding Power Definition (and differentiation) 25

A clear line of sight to work Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Defining Technical Education Commission for Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) (2013) Dual professional staff Industry Standard Facilities Close and continuous engagement with industry at all levels A clear line of sight to work 26

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Defining Technical Education Commission for Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) (2013) Rigour Cutting edge practice vs cutting edge knowledge Judgement skills and consequence of error 27

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Defining Technical Education Commission for Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) (2013) Rigour Right and wrong ways of doing things 28

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Defining Technical Education Commission for Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) (2013) Rigour Right and wrong ways of doing things Theory precedes practice 29

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic Defining Technical Education Commission for Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) (2013) Rigour Right and wrong ways of doing things Theory precedes practice Innovation and enterprise based on mastery (as well as imagination) 30

Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the Academic BUT: Skills utilisation and qualifications Wheelahan et al (2015) UKCES (2014-2016) Automation and the middle level Oxford Martin School: 47% of jobs to be automated in next 20 years (2016) Andrew McAfee: The Second Machine Age (2014) Education vs training 31

Double Standards, social mobility and the degree apprenticeships maze Catherine Boyd Vocational education should not be removed from vocational pathways Dr Tony Strike Sheffield University 32

Questions 33