Thread by @pmdfoster

NEW: @BorisJohnson has said he wants to to end the “pointless, snooty, and frankly vacuous” distinction between technical/academic education... we've been here before...so will it be different this time? 1/thread

ft.com/content/d76510…

@BorisJohnson First the speech itself (worth quick read) but an important statement of intent; sends signal (as insider tells me) that Augar Review is "very much live" - or rather resuscitated after @theresa_may
era /2

gov.uk/government/spe…

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may BUT as Sir Chris Husbands @Hallam_VC says the revealed preference of last 50 years is that kids want to do three-year degrees...the question is whether the govt can change the 'terms of trade' in the HE/FE marketplace. /3

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC I guess at this point it's easy to be defeatist (we have been here before) but it's worth noting that there does seem to be political will inside govt to tackle this issue - whether it's possible in #COVID19 times; whether @hmtreasury thwarts ambitions, we'll see. /4

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury The solutions will be a mixture of "carrots and sticks"...so first some carrots.

The govt is fast-tracking £200m to spend on Further Education colleges dilapidated estates...they need to make these places kids want to go /5

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury These courses are also cheaper than Uni courses and often don't mean that you have to go away and rack up further debts...

But as @JohnLaramy CEO of Exeter College explains, you need to make the "sell" - get kids to see virtue of education that leads clearly to £££ in pocket /6

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy The second part of that, as @JoJohnsonUK explains is shifting some of the road blocks from 'modular' learning...transferring educational 'credits', and ending rule that means cannot go back and study at same or lower level than you've already studied at/7

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy @JoJohnsonUK Which is why the govt wants its Lifelong Learning credits that mean you can have loans four years of education across a life time...partly to address the huge drop of in adult education, down 40+% since 2012 per @ukhesa data /8

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy @JoJohnsonUK @ukhesa This all makes sense since - as Social Market Foundation @SMFthinktank
boss @jameskirkup observes in modern world being good at essay-writing at 21 can't equip you for a 50 year career...And yet while all this might be true, can the govt shift 18yo and adult choices? /9

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy @JoJohnsonUK @ukhesa @SMFthinktank @jameskirkup This the big question and it brings us onto the 'sticks' part of the conversation....this govt is clear (the manifesto was clear) that it wants more students studying "productive" courses, not least because nearly 50-odd % of loans aren't paid off . /10

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy @JoJohnsonUK @ukhesa @SMFthinktank @jameskirkup It wants to shepherd students into - to quote one insider - doing courses that are "more local and cheaper" and more directly address skills shortages, which are legion, and steer students away from reflexively opting for a three-year degree, which is seen as "proper"/11

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy @JoJohnsonUK @ukhesa @SMFthinktank @jameskirkup They note that Germany and USA really doesn't have - PM's words - the "snooty" distinction between vocational/academic which when you talk to people like @AdaCollege CEO Mark Smith, as my colleague @bethanstaton did, clearly still exists /12

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy @JoJohnsonUK @ukhesa @SMFthinktank @jameskirkup @AdaCollege @bethanstaton So among the sticks could be Augar-type ideas like grade thresholds - say minimum 3 Ds to get to univ - or shifting/toughening/differentiating terms of student loan repayments to make people think harder about taking on an arts degree that isn't like to pay dividends.../13

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy @JoJohnsonUK @ukhesa @SMFthinktank @jameskirkup @AdaCollege @bethanstaton The problem is that these are blunt instruments and risk a highly reductionist approach to education and - as @JoJohnsonUK and @DavidWilletts3 have argued risk squeezing/deterring the very people who have only just benefitted from access to HE/FE education /14

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy @JoJohnsonUK @ukhesa @SMFthinktank @jameskirkup @AdaCollege @bethanstaton @DavidWilletts3 Because obsession with STEM is all well and good, but in a services economy you really need the entire gamut - the design, marketing, managerial etc skills that make the world go around.

We all 'drive' cars and computers without needing to know how to code/engineer them /15

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy @JoJohnsonUK @ukhesa @SMFthinktank @jameskirkup @AdaCollege @bethanstaton @DavidWilletts3 With the spending review coming, time will tell how ambitious the government is going to be in really re-shaping the adult and 18+ education landscape, but it really is quite core to this government's out look - and noteworthy that @BorisJohnson gave that speech /16

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy @JoJohnsonUK @ukhesa @SMFthinktank @jameskirkup @AdaCollege @bethanstaton @DavidWilletts3 The question is whether it will be quite radical, or much more incremental - for example (as Johnson hinted) giving more "flexibility" to businesses on the apprenticeship levy and how it is defined/spent /18

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy @JoJohnsonUK @ukhesa @SMFthinktank @jameskirkup @AdaCollege @bethanstaton @DavidWilletts3 Because right now there is a skills shortage as this British Chambers @britishchambers
report shows - and biz, in current conditions, can address these gaps with targetted shorter interventions rather than committing to a 3/4-year scheme /19

britishchambers.org.uk/news/2020/09/b…

@BorisJohnson @theresa_may @Hallam_VC @hmtreasury @JohnLaramy @JoJohnsonUK @ukhesa @SMFthinktank @jameskirkup @AdaCollege @bethanstaton @DavidWilletts3 @britishchambers And all that, without talking about #COVID19 and extent to which that will change attitudes as unemployed (often least skilled let go first) seek to retrain, which itself might be catalyst for some change.

All this key thing to watch between now and 2024//ENDS