However, the current Government asked Lord Sainsbury in November 2015 to review ways of improving technical education in the UK and his report, published last week, shows a widespread state of confusion.
He found 160 organisations offering more than 20,000 technical courses to would be engineers and determined that an aspiring engineering student has 501 possible courses from which to choose. There are also 13,000 qualifications available, many of which he said have 'little value'.
Sainsbury has recommended the Government should develop a 'coherent technical education option', but says industry should take ownership of content and standards. Government, meanwhile, should 'make certain' that an infrastructure exists to provide a world-class system of technical education, including high-quality teaching and access to industry-standard facilities and equipment. "A reason why our system of technical education has not been of high quality or respected in the past," Sainsbury says, "is that it has not been properly funded."
Neither, he notes, will changes be successful if they are not supported for more than one parliament, suggesting that we shouldn't be playing politics with people's futures.
While the Government has accepted all of Sainsbury's recommendations, they need to be implemented. And that will not only require commitment, but also practical and financial support
