Previous attempts at vocational education reform have failed because governments haven’t secured an “approach which motivates businesses enough”, a former education secretary has warned. Ahead of the publication of the landmark Milburn review of children not in education, employment or training (NEET), exam board Cambridge OCR has released its own report on vocational qualifications for 14 to 16-year-olds. Charles Clarke, education secretary under Tony Blair between 2002 and 2004, chaired OCR’s review, named “untapped potential”. Charles Clarke He said it was “essential” to build networks between schools and employers to help support vocational qualifications. The report warned that qualifications alone are not enough, and that there needs to be “vocational ecosystem” where qualifications are supported by links to local employers, careers guidance and work experience opportunities. Andy Burnham’s government has announced new technical pathways will be created for 14 to 16-year-olds in schools from 2028, along with new vocational GCSEs. But ministers have been warned against a repeat of previous reforms, which resulted in qualifications of low quality that were not respected or recognised by employers. Speaking to Schools Week, Clarke said: “One of the reasons for the difficulty with vocational qualifications in the past is that governments have not been able to get a sufficient approach which motivates businesses enough to want to do it. “There have been all kinds of incentives, including financial incentives, for those kinds of relationships, that haven’t really worked. “The thing which really will work, in my opinion, is the feeling that businesses can develop the kinds of relationship with schools, which will enable them to meet their own employment needs.” Large numbers of pupils took General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) in the early 2000s. But the Wolf Review in 2011 found that pupils were being funnelled into “low-level” qualifications with little value to employers, because they bolstered schools’ league table performance. Clarke acknowledged that building these networks between schools and employers was a “really tough problem”, and that it cannot be done “with a magic wand”. “We see that as a very long-term thing to achieve, but is essential to achieve.” Myles McGinley, managing director of Cambridge OCR, added that vocational qualifications had “not benefitted from the ecosystem around them, that can really help build that bridge between education and work”. Academic core Clarke said previous versions of vocational qualifications had not “been given the status which is attached to academic qualifications”, and that there was still a tendency to view them as being for lower-attaining students. The report recommended giving every 14 to 16-year-old access to a high-quality vocational education, rather than it being a specialised pathway for a minority of pupils. McGinley said their report did not call for the academic curriculum to be replaced, but that vocational qualifications “will need to be complementary to that academic core”. “Young people of all abilities and backgrounds are looking ahead to the most unpredictable jobs market in living memory. “If we continue to treat vocational and academic education as an either/or binary choice we will be holding back a generation by sending them into an unforgiving economy without all the tools they need to succeed.” The report called for greater incentives to deliver vocational education, with accountability measures changed to reflect its value. Schools must also receive appropriate funding, teacher development and employer networks. This would require a “coordinated approach led by regional leadership and involving local employers, colleges and universities”. Keep ‘distinctiveness’ The government recently announced plans to replace technical awards with vocational GCSEs. They would sit alongside existing GCSEs, while accountability measures would be adapted to recognise them. McGinley said it was important to retain the “distinctiveness” of technical awards in future vocational qualifications, despite them getting the GCSE name. The report also stressed the new qualifications should be kept up to date, and create opportunities for “more intensive technical and vocational experiences”. McGinley said: “We have seen examples within technical awards where just because of the rules associated with submitting new qualifications or submitting changes to those qualifications, award organisations [are prevented] from updating them. “I think from an award organisation perspective we need to design qualifications that avoid those risks being built into an exam, that is difficult to change a short notice. “But I think also there does need to be a suitable allowance for ensuring that the qualifications remain up to date and reflect developments in the sector.”