Pupils to learn a trade from age 14

The London Telegraph ^ | 2/21/04 | Harry Mount and George Jones

[T-Bird45]

Pupils as young as 14 will be allowed to leave the classroom for two days a week to learn a trade under plans to tackle skill shortages and motivate disillusioned children.

In an interview with the Telegraph today, Mike Tomlinson, a former chief inspector of schools, outlines proposals for a young apprenticeship scheme.

Ministers are preparing to announce next month that thousands of 14- to 16-year-olds will be able to spend two days a week in the workplace, one day at college and the remaining two days at school.

They will learn alongside skilled workers such as plumbers, joiners and information technology operators.

Mr Tomlinson, who chairs the Government working group on 14- to 19-year-olds, this week proposed the biggest shake-up to the secondary school examination system for 50 years.

In the interview he says there are great skill shortages in many industries.

"Junior apprenticeships could easily happen at 14. A lot of people become disengaged at 14, if not before. Their disengagement is a consequence of seeing no relevance in what they are studying."

Although the Government has rejected calls to lower the school leaving age to 14, Mr Tomlinson's ideas for motivating young people have been welcomed by Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary.

The Government believes that they would help to combat truancy and encourage pupils to view vocational education as a passport to rewarding and well-paid jobs.

One idea is that those who join the scheme will receive a certificate at 16 showing their achievements during the apprenticeship. After leaving school, they could go on to a full-time paid apprenticeship with the same firm or a different employer.

Last night teachers' leaders expressed reservations about the scheme.

John Bangs, the head of education for the National Union of Teachers, said teachers were in favour of well-structured work experience and the opportunity for pupils to see what life was like in the outside world.

But young people benefited greatly from being at school. The introduction of apprenticeships below the school leaving age could result in young people "being put in boxes too early" when the aim should be to break down the barriers between academic and vocational work.

Employers broadly welcomed the idea but emphasised that children should learn basic educational skills before being allowed out of school into the workplace.

Margaret Murray, the head of learning and skills at the Confederation of British Industry, said: "We are very open to new ways of motivating switched-off youngsters.

"But we would not want anything to detract from children achieving the basics in literacy and numeracy. There is a pretty long tail of low-achieving youngsters in these basics."

The Tomlinson working group's proposals for sweeping changes to the exam system recommended replacing GCSE and A-level with examinations offering a greater challenge to academically able pupils and a high quality vocational alternative.

All existing qualifications for pupils aged 14 to 19 would be replaced by a single framework of specialised and open diplomas. These would be awarded at four levels: entry, foundation, intermediate and advanced, graded to distinguish between degrees of achievements.

Pupils would face fewer exams and greater reliance would be placed on the judgment of teachers.

Mr Tomlinson said the present system failed to stretch and enthuse the most able.

He wanted to take the axe to coursework and constant testing.

A 16-year-old was expected to do five or 10 pieces of coursework and it was not surprising that some took short cuts, such as downloading essays from the internet.

[T-Bird45]

As one who works in US vocational education, I would say the Brits have an excellent idea. The constant drumbeat in the US for a college education is just not realistic for a vast majority of students. We set them up for utter failure if we pretend otherwise.

[College Repub]

The way the job market was this past summer for recent graduates would almost make one reconsider...

[GaConfed]

I agree that it is a good idea, and would say that something like this program should be set up in this country. However, there would be nothing for them because the elites have declared the jobs they would train for as "jobs Americans won't do" and therefore, are only open to illigal aliens.

[Skwidd]

I concur. Trade and vocational schools get a bad rap only because colleges look down their nose at them. Some people have forgotten that a livable wage, not intellectual snobbery, is the goal of an education.

[jwalsh07]

I'm with you. Good tradesmen are worth their weight in gold and the really good ones manage to graduate to become entrepeneurial.

There is more than one path to the upper classes.

.

[cyborg]

Heh...I believe you. There's a certain general contractor who tries to get me out a date with him by waving his stacks of hundred dollar bills from a day's work.

[T-Bird45]

I work in the Oklahoma Career-Tech system which is one of the best in the US but it does not reach down to this age for students. Our daytime secondary students are in their junior and senior years. There is some tech-prep in the middle schools and early high school but not to the extent proposed in the article.

[T-Bird45]

...and the really good ones manage to graduate to become entrepeneurial.

Those are the ones we really like because then we have an opportunity to work with them through Business & Industry Services. This is the area I work in, assisting businesses with training.

[jwalsh07]

LOL. Thats how I found my wife!

Just kiddin. She really fell for the uniform. :-}

[SShultz460]

Skilled Trades are becoming a lost art!

[cyborg]

*lol* Well on a contractor's salary, this 'gentleman' has many wimmin who live pretty good!

[Triple Word Score]

My university does not offer many of the courses science students could really use to help them get actual jobs. Computer courses are useless jokes--you can't learn to actually use and maintain a PC, let alone the software you'll be expected to use in the real world. If you want to learn these things you teach yourself (and give up being certified) or enroll in extra hours at a vo-tech campus.

[Prodigal Son]

Plumbers in the UK make oodles of money. They make more than doctors.

I don't see anything wrong with becoming a tradesman. If you're good at what you do in the building trades (plumbing, electrician, carpenter, general contractor) you won't ever lack for work nor will you have to advertise. People will come looking for you.

[autoresponder]

Germany had fantastic apprenticeship programs for machinists and tool and die workers.


American forestry began under the Vanderbilts in North Carolina under the Germans that were brought over to teach it to American forestry apprentices.

[Glenn]

I agree with training those who want trade skills. As a garden hose is heavy machinery to me, I rely on skilled people to do what needs to be done to my autos and home. But just try to find a good drywall or wall paper hanger. They are all devoted to new construction most of the time. And the price is dear when you can get them.

[taxed2death]

I don't know what part of the US you live in, but this is a waste of time. Every year, kids graduate from my States 4 year tech high schools and are dumped into a job market filled to the brim by illegals. So kids with 4 years of training in heating HVAC or Plumbing, wind up working for minimum wage at the local grocery stores.

You can thank GWB for this, by continuing a long held policy of open borders.

[Martin Wellbourne]

"Plumbers in the UK make oodles of money. They make more than doctors."

Indeed many do. Getting one at Xmas is a problem, they are spending the Winter in Spain at their Villas playing Golf!