The curriculum and assessment review is a unique opportunity to put a rocket booster under growth and to dismantle barriers to opportunity by linking education to employment.
We believe that reintroducing technical subjects before 16, linking education to workplace practice and designing the curriculum with employers will make schooling more equitable, engaging, and better at preparing young people for life.
Bring back KS3 D&T
First, there needs to be an improvement in how design and technology is treated at Key Stage 3.
The House of Lords committee on education for 11- to-16-year-olds heard last year how the time set aside for design and technology in secondary schools had been narrowed to 40 minutes a week. The effect of this can be seen down the line, in the past decade’s 68-per cent plummet in GCSE design and technology entries.
Progress 8 bears much of the blame, as schools have to concentrate resources on the eight subjects it includes to the detriment of others.
So now is the time for a reformed measure – Progress 5, perhaps – so schools have the time and impetus to better prioritise design and technology, and also data skills.
The University Technical Colleges that Baker Dearing supports can demonstrate that starting students on a subject at an early age means they will stick with it: 59 per cent of our KS4 technical award entries are for engineering; 52 per cent of students take a Level 3 engineering course; and one-third of UTC leavers who go to university study engineering, compared to just five per cent nationally.
Project-based learning
To raise the standard for KS4, the government ought to consider how project-based learning, delivered with employers to bring real-life workplace challenges into the classroom, would develop students’ skills and knowledge.
This approach presents an opportunity to develop more than technical skills: Having students work off briefs and present findings from their work can develop wider life skills, such as reading and oracy.
A real-life context also helps students envisage themselves in work, which is vital for engaging those from disadvantaged backgrounds and students who have become disengaged from learning.
Last year’s UTC student survey, completed by more than 10,000 learners, found that over 90 per cent want employer experiences, including projects, to gain employability skills such as communication, teamwork, confidence and problem solving.
Such an approach is already in widespread use across a number of other Western countries, including the Netherlands, the USA and Denmark.
Employers directing curriculum
Project-based learning will also require employer involvement and business should have a much greater role in the delivery of education, including the design of the curriculum.
Young people are increasingly choosing technical A Levels in the hopes of improved career opportunities and the government’s industrial strategy is clear that the skills system must be more responsive to business needs.
Employers must guide provision so students are taught the skills and knowledge that will help them progress to apprenticeships and work where they are needed, namely the high-growth sectors named in the industrial strategy.
Locally-led learning
Schools can make a start on engaging employers, by using local skills improvement plans to map out their local industries and skills shortages. Metro mayors, who have long desired a greater role in education, could then facilitate links between industry and schools.
The government should encourage employer-school links, by promoting employer-led activities such as mentoring and project-based learning, by training more specialist teachers, and through capital funding for schools to purchase industry-standard equipment.
However, teaching staff also need the means to deliver T Levels. At a rough estimate, 300 employers are now involved with T Levels through UTCs and 1,000 UTC students are studying a T Level course, including the Foundation Year.
A broad and balanced curriculum and employer-led project-based learning will involve hard choices. It is not a simple change. But we believe a more tactile learning experience, informed by real life, will drive growth and give students every opportunity possible.
This article is the seventh in a series of sector-led, experience-informed recommendations for the Francis review of curriculum and assessment. Read them all here
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