These days it feels increasingly difficult to find anything on which the public agree. We can’t agree on how to say “scone,” or whether jam or cream goes on first (it’s jam, by the way). As Andy Burnham showed recently, we all disagree about whether it’s bun, roll, barm or cob. It only gets harder when it comes to politics. But new research from Public First has found a rare instance of consensus around Burnham’s education reforms, including a vocational offering akin to the new GCSEs announced on Wednesday. We spent the summer talking to voters from all parties, and a group who said they wouldn’t currently vote at all, about how they felt the British education system was doing, and who they might trust to lead any changes. In the eyes of voters, the education system is failing to serve its purpose. ‘Failing to prepare young people for life’ When we asked what education was for, they told us it should prepare young people for adult life. Judged against this, they told us it wasn’t achieving that. They described a system that was overstretched, and that didn’t appreciate the hard-working people who make it all happen. As a Conservative voter in his 40s put it, “teachers feel devalued, underpaid and overworked, so the standards aren’t there as they used to be”. They also felt university was overemphasised, and that schools were pushing pupils down routes that weren’t right for them, with no chance to explore alternatives. Even doing everything “right” wasn’t a guarantee of a good life at the end of it. One Conservative voter in his 20s told us, “when I was in school, we were told that the correct formula is get good grades, go to a good uni, and you’re basically guaranteed a job at the end of it. “But that’s just not the case now. You’re promised you’ll be rewarded for your hard work… then just to receive nothing in return.” Education tied to the future of the economy Despite, or perhaps because of this, education mattered to almost everyone we spoke to. They tied it to the future of the economy, to raising capable, independent adults, and to the rising numbers of young people not in education, employment or training, which they saw as a societal issue in need of urgent redress. But it was never anyone’s top priority for government, nor the thing that would decide their vote. As one Labour voter in his 60s put it, “[education] is important but it’s probably not at the forefront of what everybody wants from a government at the moment”. So what, in their view, needed to change? They wanted parity of esteem for technical and vocational routes, better funding for apprenticeships, and greater devolution of skills and education powers to local regions. Sound familiar? It’s almost exactly what his government announced this week. Lucy Powell’s promise to improve the “esteem, respect and recognition” of vocational qualifications, and to let schools specialise in subjects that match the jobs available locally, could have come straight from our focus groups. And in our polling, Burnham’s policies weren’t just the most popular. They were the only ones to secure net positive approval ratings across all voter groups. Education is where PM most trusted to deliver Education was also the area where Burnham was most trusted to deliver, with 55 per cent of those polled saying they trusted him there, compared to 51 per cent on the economy, or just 42 per cent on immigration. A fragmented society coalescing around parity of esteem for technical and vocational routes is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Right now, Burnham has public backing for his plans. That’s both a risk and an opportunity. If he can succeed, he has a cross-party coalition of voters who support his proposals and see education as one of the most important issues in politics, if not quite the most important. But faith in politicians is low. A Green voter in her 50s told us, “I don’t know. I’ve just lost a lot of faith in politicians that any of this will happen.” If Burnham can’t deliver these reforms, he’ll be seen as yet another politician who promised change and failed to make it happen. The stakes are high, and so is the support Burnham needs to succeed. Headteachers and unions have already warned that vocational GCSEs will need specialist staff, converted classrooms and sustained investment, and Powell has promised to “work with the sector” to make them deliverable. Burnham’s done the hardest part, finding something the British public agrees on, but the challenge now is to make it possible and work with the sector to achieve that.