We felt necessary to share with you this very interesting article that appeared in the written edition of The Times the 26th of this last August:
“Private schools are encouraging more pupils to learn a trade as they move away from pushing all students towards university.
The numbers at independent schools taking Btec vocational qualifications, which are equivalent to A levels, has doubled in the past four years, analysis by The Times has found. Head teachers said that they were increasingly advising students to take a different path from the traditional university route.
With pupils questioning whether degrees represent value for money, heads said that more companies were hiring those with technical and business skills.
Independent school students are taking Btecs in subjects such as construction, animal management, engineering and agriculture to prepare for the workplace. Fewer than half who take the vocational qualifications at sixth form go to university.
As well as rise in Btecs, bright school-leavers are being encouraged to go straight to work through degree apprenticeships announced by the government in 2015. Popular in the City and engineering, these allow students to learn to degree level while working on practical projects and being paid.
Julian Thomas, master at Wellington College, which held its first degree apprenticeship conference this year, said: “We’re seeing only the beginnings of a shift in perception. It feels to me like the blue touchpaper is being lit on what could be a higher education revolution.
“From the moment that tuition fees trebled, the shift in perception became inevitable. There’s a sense of greater questioning whether or not university is the right route for everyone. The level of student debt is shocking. At the same time, I speak to a number of CEO’s of big companies and they say graduates are not well prepared for work.”
Figures published today by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) showed that entries for Btecs rose by a fifth last year across the 452 ISC schools who submitted results. An analysis of figures reveals that the number of Btecs taken at ISC schools has more than doubled since 2013.
This year, 765 Btecs were taken by 603 pupils. This compared with 646 taken last year by 516 candidates, and 290 entries by 237 pupils in 2012.
Schools offering Btecs include Brighton College, Sedbergh School, a boarding school in Cumbria, Queen Ethelburga’s College and the Faculty of Queen Ethelberg in York, and Stamford School in Lincolnshire.
Across the country, some 376,000 are taken.
Clarissa Farr, retiring head teacher of St Paul’s Girls’ School in west London, said it was starting an entrepreneurship programme, allowing sixth-formers to work with businesses to solve problems and understand the creative process behind business innovation.
She said: “While the traditional idea of an undergraduate degree as an opportunity to broaden the mind and deepen understanding of a specific discipline still appeals in some quarters, the increased cost of university and the burden of debt means that students are applying greater critical scrutiny to the quality of higher education.”eééonger a given. Within large organisations like Google being much more direct about the skills they want – and will pay for – skills such as teamwork, creativity and problem solving ability, the status of a degree may soon become more fragile.”
Many Russell Group universities accept Btecs, alongside A level, as admissions criteria for certain degrees. Ucas, the admission body, values the highest grade of Btec as the equivalent of three A*s at A level.
Nick Gallop, the head teacher of Stamford School, said they were a good alternative to the new A levels, which had a “narrow focus”.
Richard Cairns of Brighton College said his school offered a Btec in sports science for pupils wanted to pursue degrees in the subject and represent their country. He said the school would probably offer T level, when they were introduced by the government. These are high-quality qualifications offering technical training with greater rigour.
“University used to be something to aspire to,” he said. “Any student really can go to university, the qualifications required are so much lower. It’s no longer seen as a great mark of academic success. Certain pupils are thinking it’s not such a great deal any longer, particularly with the fees.”
GSCE’s and A levels get all the headlines at this time of the year. As ever, less is made of pupils receiving their grades for vocational exams while the assumption lingers that technical subjects are for lower achievers and problem pupils. If that were ever true, it is no longer.
The number of pupils taking Btec exams at independent schools increased by 20 per cent this year. When a small but significant number of pupils at selective private schools such as Brighton College are pursuing technical qualifications instead of A levels, change is in the air. Indeed, the pattern is mirrored in the state sector, with an increasing number of pupils nationally sitting at least one vocational exam. Teenagers skeptical about the value and cost of a degree are thinking more creatively about life after GSCEs, and so are their teachers. If this proves an enduring change in attitudes it will be a boon or government efforts to guide more secondary school pupils towards vocational study. In the spring budget, the chancellor pledged £500 million to improve technical education for 16 to 19-year olds. This would never have sufficed alone. In countries where vocational education is most effective it is as respected as academia by parents, pupils and broad range of employers. In Germany, vocational students can dream of jobs at Deutsch Bank as well as BMW.
For the country that built the Spitfire, Britain is still a technical education laggard. Only 43 per cent of pupils have any experience of it, compared with 70 per cent in Austria and Finland. Ministers need to focus on completing a pipeline from Btec or T level, the technical counterpart to A levels, to university for those who choose it and fast-track careers in industry for those who don’t. If vocational education still suffers from a prestige deficit, the signs are that it won’t last much longer.”
The article was written by Nicola Woolcock, educational correspondant of the newspaper and is one of the many indications we have that tomorrows market will be the market for EurEta professions. We must be innovative, enthusiastic and ready!