Downtown in Business has strongly welcomed Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s proposed overhaul of technical education, describing it as the most important and impressive announcement of his first week in Downing Street.
Under the government’s plans, pupils will be able to combine core subjects such as English and mathematics with technical education linked to employment opportunities in their local economies from Year 10.
The new pathways, due to be introduced from September 2028, will be developed through partnerships involving regional mayors, local government, schools, colleges and employers. Work experience will form an important part of the programme, while Ofsted will be asked to recognise schools that successfully prepare young people for employment.
DIB group chairman and chief executive Frank McKenna said the reforms reflected changes the organisation had advocated for many years, and demonstrated the value of having a prime minister with extensive experience of leading a major English city region.
McKenna said:
“Andy Burnham has hit the ground running in his first week as prime minister, with an impressive flurry of announcements on the issues that matter to people and businesses. For me, however, this is his most important and impressive intervention yet.
“It is no coincidence that a politician who has spent the best part of a decade as mayor of Greater Manchester has recognised the urgent need for this change.
“As mayor, Burnham has worked directly with businesses, colleges, universities and young people. He has seen at first hand the disconnect that too often exists between what our education system delivers and what local economies need.
“That experience has given him an understanding that is sometimes missing in Whitehall: economic policy does not begin in the Treasury. It begins by equipping people with the skills, confidence and opportunities they need to participate in the economy.”
McKenna said the announcement represented a welcome rejection of an education system that had too often treated university as the preferred route and technical education as a second-class alternative.
He added:
“Downtown in Business has been making this case for many years. Our education and skills system must be much more closely aligned with the needs of employers and the opportunities that exist within local economies.
“For too long, young people have been encouraged to believe that university is the only credible route to a successful career. That has undervalued technical education, weakened vocational pathways and contributed to the skills shortages experienced by businesses across the country.
“Giving young people access to technical learning, practical experience and meaningful contact with employers from the age of 14 could transform their prospects.
“This is precisely the sort of bold reform the country needs and an excellent example of how ideas developed through devolution can help shape better national policy.”
DIB is calling for every mayoral and strategic authority to establish a Local Skills Compact bringing together employers, schools, colleges, universities and local government.
Each compact would identify the sectors expected to generate employment and economic growth, map existing and future skills shortages, coordinate technical pathways and secure work experience, apprenticeship and employment opportunities for young people.
McKenna concluded:
“This is a genuinely exciting reform and one that DIB has advocated for over many years.
“It demonstrates the benefit of bringing the experience of devolved government into Downing Street. Andy Burnham understands that different places have different economies, and that local leaders, educators and employers are best placed to identify the skills their communities need.
“The prize is not simply a better education system. It is a generation of young people equipped to succeed and a British economy with the skills it needs to grow.
“The prime minister has made an excellent start. With this announcement, he has offered the clearest indication yet that his government intends to challenge old assumptions and deliver meaningful change.”
