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Our manifesto

Our manifesto
Whether you're a young person, parent, teacher or employer there are ways you can get involved. Browse the links on the right hand side to find out more.

Six Steps to Change

This manifesto proposes a series of policy steps which Edge believes will significantly raise the stature of practical and vocational learning in the UK, so that:

• all young people have the opportunity to achieve their potential, and
• the UK's future workforce is equipped with the skills to be successful in the modern economy.

Edge recommends that these changes be underpinned by:

All practical and vocational courses, 14 and beyond, reflecting professional standards.

Specialised facilities:
Only institutions with appropriate resources allowed to offer a particular vocational option.

Appropriately experienced, trained and well-paid teachers:

Teachers of vocational subjects receive the same pay and conditions of service as those of academic subjects.

At least 10% work placement (8 weeks over two years):

Students have a programme of study whilst in the work place and receive guidance and support from a trained work place mentor.

Reflecting the demands of modern work place:

Courses evolve under the guidance of, and formally endorsed by employers and supported by current experts.

Edge believes that the outcome of these proposals would be:

• Excellent theoretical and practical education with clear progression routes
• All young people achieving in their chosen field
• Inspired young people who can see a future with relevant career options
• Skilled, motivated and work-ready young people prepared to drive forward the UK economy

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What's your view
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barriebirch
I agree with the principles. If you consider the criteria required to teach OUTSTANDING lessons, then teaching , even more than ever, requires concerted , research, preparation and delivery, with the needs of every child in a classroom being addressed. Use of resources, including ICT, marking, assessment, feedback and parental liaison are all laudable, but time consuming. The classroom teacher is currently over-burdoned with workload. NO CLASSROOM TEACHER SHOULD ACTUALLY HAVE MORE THAN 50% CONTACT TIME WITH STUDENTS. You cannot have high expectations whilst maintaining unreasonably hight teacher pupil ratios. the face of education will RAPIDLY change over next few years. Give teachers the chance to prepare and deliver education for jobs that have not yet been invented!
Barri eBirch

Alan Evens
That all students should leave eduction for a Government supported gap year in the UK so they can have time to think before going on into the wrong A levels or other career path. There is too much emphasis on "front end" education i.e. education from 5 to 21 non stop. At 5 everyone should be given "vouchers" for 16 years of education to take at any time they like in their life!

astreb
Specialised facilities:
Only institutions with appropriate resources allowed to offer a particular vocational option.
This is currently a joke with many institutions only paying lip service to the resources needed to teach vocational education so that students get a "good" experience. How can teachers be expected to "inspire" without access to good resources to turn theory into practice? The success rate of students should be measured by their ultimate employability rating after training not the statistical outcome of academic exams. "Pile them high and educate them cheap" seems to be the current government's approach to supplying an ever more demanding employment market.

Kate Gordon, ididbetter.com
Definitely agree with the work placement suggestion. We come across many students and graduates who have no idea about what they want to do career wise, and/or seeking first steps into employment which a placement can help with.
Ideally it'd be good for an international element to be brought into education as well, either a voucher to do a work placement abroad, language course, study abroad for a short/long period of time as this does broaden people's horizons, open new doors of opportunity and give hands-on cultural immersion as well.

James Stanfield
Unfortunately the six steps fail to solve the problem, which centres around the fact that the government funds schools instead of parents. Until politicians are removed from the equation and parents are given a choice of choosing between a variety of different suppliers then the status quo will remain. Even if the six points were implemented by one government,they could still be reversed four years later by the next government. Would this lead to a two tier system? No, hopefully it would lead to a 100 tier system where different educational opportunities cater for a variety of different educational needs and demands.

Neil.
Currently education is crippled by the adherence to an 'academic tradition' that has no basis in sound learning or the changing demands of society. If education is going to be reformed, it's going to need top-to-tail reform, including the way that we award degrees, doctorates and the way that education is funded at the highest level.
Don't get me wrong, I think that many of the aims I see here are laudable but I've worked in education for 15 years and all I can see happening in the next 'big shake-up' is another botched, compromised, committee-driven, criterion-led mess. Sorry - experience triumphing over hope there...

Nickie Bell
4. Students on practical and vocational courses would be taught in specialist facilities or specialist institutions and by appropriately experienced staff.

Why do students who follow vocational paths have to necessarily go to a "specialist institution" to do this. To me, this just increases the actual and perceived segregation of people doing non-academic courses. Back to the old "Tech" style colleges. Which were probably great at what they did.
However, I would think there is a place for an integrated institution where you can follow academic and vocational courses, to the percentage that suits the individual eg) 90% academic and one hands on course, or the other way round. This way young people can see the benefit of both, for themselves and their peers. It also means they have the experience of working alongside people doing a wide range of hands on subjects as well as academic, and so can hopefully help break down this snobbery around NVQ's, BTEC's etc.
I had a fully academic education, up to MA level. Subsequently all my training has been practical -website development, cooking, massage, and it's been GREAT (and all directly helped me earn a living.) I wouldn't go back to academic education for the sake of it, and who knows what I would have done had I been offered more practical choices earlier on!

anonymous
As a teacher of over 40 years experience, I would support your ideals in principle. The days of the vocational courses taught in good secondary modern schools are long gone and, sadly, many of the type of pupils which attended them are suffering from courses which concentrate on academic pursuits rather than engaging the pupil. Gaining relevant work experience can be a problem though. Rural schools suffer greatly in this respect having few local facilities to draw on and being given no funds to transport the pupils to more distant sites. More links between the work place and schools would benefit all pupils of any age and ability and I would wholeheartedlky support anything which encouraged this.

anonymous
I agree with everything EDGE stands for and believe it is essential that the government invest in young people as indivduals...this would be the most effective plan of action.

Gareth :-)
I'd be keen to see how the third sector can deliver on some of the 6 steps. As a parent with an interest in community development and a role in the newish 'social enterprise' movement I think there is an opportunity here.


anonymous
As a teacher of over thirty years, and over twenty of them in rural schools, I agree with the principles of your manifesto if not the practicalities. I was responsible for arranging work experience placements and found it extremely difficult to find enough of them with no industry except farming and hospitality for many miles.To find placements for eight weeks a year would be impossible, so how would The Edge ensure schools could manage to fulfill its manifesto promise?

Hugh Reynolds
As an employer and a parent of two, currently in the SYSTEM...

I was suspicious of the news paper advertisement "I want to be in new media. So you can't just teach me in the same old way." There are many skills needed. Some are specific to new media. MOST are not. Daft advertisement - probably written by a media studies student.

Having read the "Why edge matters" page. It seems a bit more sensible than the advertisement.

Yes we need more plumbers, nurses, doctors, carpenters and engineers. Do we need more web-designers, beauticians, DJs, solicitors, accountants, media-studies and dance students? I don't think so.

I'm also in favour of a good basic chalk-and-talk education, supported by, not led by, group learning, modern teaching and individual choice.

I think the balance in schools is not right at the moment.

I worry about: "Appropriately experienced, trained and well-paid teachers." How about including "effective" in that list? No point having more time served, well trained, lazy, disorganised and useless teachers. We have enough already.

Core skills are just that. Everyone needs them. I think I'd be more receptive if they included some thought about students being pushed to learn at an appropriate rate, in an appropriate environment.

"SATs replaced by an individual profile of attainment, skills and aptitudes which would be used by students, parents and teachers to choose a post 14 pathway." So this may preclude the student who "failed" at 14 from getting back on track. They're still being routed based on an assessment at 14. OK it may not be an academic assessment and more routes may be available, but this seems like a small improvement. It seems to me that 14 in July may not the same as 14 in September.

Nothing said about how the "individual profile of attainment" is gathered. Just not SATs.

It has also been show that, so far, "parental choice" at all levels in the education system is an unrealistic dream, used by educationalists to rebuff and demoralise parents and pupils and to centralise and control schools. Am I wrong?

I'm interested for the current system to be changed. I almost certain the material contained in this website is not a cogent analysis or "manifesto" to achieve the goals I'm interested in.

Regards

Hugh Reynolds
Technical Director
hugh@courtyard.co.uk


Hugh Reynolds
I've read through much more of the site and my original comments still stand.

I'm sure you are close to the right answer. The 'manifesto' is close to and yet so far from a workable solution.

How does your proposal link in with an apprenticeship system?
How does your proposal link in with unemployment re-training?
Why does your system retain the 14, 16, and 18 dogma? Isn't this the old system re-cast?
How does your 'institution with appropriate resources' link into industry?
Don't you think your institutional system describes vocational ghettos?
Why do you drop "in addition to continuing a broad curriculum, including English, maths and science" beyond 14? As an employer these are the key skills I want taught, tested and refined, in advance and in priority to the more narrow vocational training. A student who is thoroughly capable of assimilating, communicating and reproducing ideas will be able to contribute to their vocational studies so much more completely.

Regards

Hugh Reynolds
Technical Director
hugh@courtyard.co.uk


anonymous
A comment to barriebirch:

Given that Edge is profoundly committed to vocational training, just how do you propose to train students "for jobs that have not yet been invented"? Hence my comment about a broad curriculum throughout a learning/working career.

To me your assertions are illogical and dogmatic. Your 50% is just as arbitrary as suggesting that 50% of school leavers should go to University.

Surely those who want to go, those who have the abilities to benefit, those who are needed by our society, should go. This might be more or less than 50%.

An NQT may not be capable of delivering high quality teaching without support and much preparation time. I would hope that, like myself, someone with 25 years professional experience, might be able to re-use, re-task, re-print and improve their teaching plans and their teaching aids in a shorter, more professionally adept manner.

50%......What a gamble.

Regards

Hugh Reynolds
Technical Director
hugh@courtyard.co.uk

anonymous
A comment to Alan Evens:

Absolutely. Why is it a requirement of the system to, again, entrench arbitrary 14, 16 and 18 in the system.
This is a system designed by educationalists for educationalists.

I wants a system designed for students and employers. And hence tax-payers and tax-users.

Regards

Hugh Reynolds
Technical Director
hugh@courtyard.co.uk


Jonathan Hill
I don't understand this insistence that schools should do everything in the upbringing of our young people. Schools are there to teach; families are there to help with life experience; (potential) employers are there to give experience in the world of work. When Parents and employers want out of this sensible way of doing things it seems to me absurd that we should say: Schools must do it all.
Rather, we should be looking at ways of making parents face up to the realities of adult life and responsibility; we should make business see that if they want the profit they must be prepared to spend money.
The result of schools being expected to do everything is inevitable that they will do nothing well, The gifted will come through OK, the less able will fall by the wayside. We don't need to say that. We do need to take on board a truly revolutionary concept - that of personal responsibility, of a real sense of community and of self-betterment.
The aims of edge seem praiseworthy - but you need to be more revolutionary in looking for solutions.

D Mavin (Plymouth)
Having just had my 8 year old's teacher/parent meeting, the one thing that stood out, was the lack of concentration (on my childs part), compounded I think, by the teacher trying to captivate the class of 33 children.
I beleive that the maximum class size for primary education should be 15; would any teachers like to comment?
With the education system changing soon (students up to 18 years old), could any teacher please inform me as too the merits or not of the middle school education principal?
My view is that th primary years (5-10) should see core skills being taught (with a second language being British Sign).
I think moving to secondary education at 11 might be a big step for most (if there are 17-18 year old's about), and that a middle school education system (10-14) with the introduction of abroad base of subjects, might ease the children into senor education.
From 14-18 perhaps this is the time to divide the academically gifted from the practically minded. and then tailor education for th individual.

Any thoughts please!

anonymous
The entire school system is flawed and archaic. A nationwide factory prison churning out, at best standardised mediocrity, and at worst contaminated waste with a bitter contempt for learning.
How are kids expected to have any individual ideas for themselves at 14 or 18 when they have been systematically mass-conveyed through a relentlessly rigid system of external attainment targets imposed upon them from pre-school.

I applaud the folks at Edge for looking in the right direction but In my opinion what is needed is a radical re-think of the whole world of eduction from first principles.

Children should be shown the respect we have as adults. If the government feels it needs to intervene in our life of learning then it should abandon the concept of the one size fits all "school" in favour of a network of learning facilities, study centres, and skills courses that can be accessed by anyone at a time that is right for them. This could resemble the current university system and a huge variety of subjects would be available at all levels so that adults as well as children can study. The delivery of courses need not be by teachers or lecturers so long as the course leaders have a sound knowledge of the subject and can deliver it effectively. They could be remunerated based on regular attendance and/or results and students could be given vouchers in sufficient quantity to allow them access to sufficient learning opportunities.
Children could then work on building a personalised portfolio of skills in whatever order suits them. They should not be forced to study any subject against their will (even English and Maths.) Kids have a huge natural appetite for learning and as soon as they realise that without these core skills they are unable to do much else they will voluntarily work at these to improve their chances and create further opportunities. So what if they are teenagers before they learn to read! They might be able to strip an engine and put it back together at age 10 instead. Lets free the best time of our lives from the shackles of term time, age linked key stages, herding into year groups. Put an end to truancy, bullying, disaffection and low staff moral.

No doubt there would be practical complications but the existing school infrastructure could be used in a radically different way to achieve this. Just a thought.

leighhhh
i believe that if someone has a passion for something they should follow it without letting family members or anyone else make decisions for them. usually when you do, you will sometimes realise you have wasted your time in persuing something you are not interested in. people should go by this philosophy in order to be happy - "follow your bliss"

anonymous
I logged on to see what this was about after seeing the advert in the Times weekend supplement. I studied GCSE's and was halfway through my A levels when it was realised that I was not in the top grade predictions for my high achieving private school, and so to preserve their league tables I was forbidden to continue. Instead I chose a career path in the agricultural (equine based) industry, attained excellent qualifications and experience in this area and did well UNTIL a car accident left me unable to continue in this area of work. My teenaged laissez-faire in narrowing my education into ONE area has meant that now, at 30, I'm on incapacity benefit and struggling to reatrain in a new career, rather than just "walking" into a new career path with previous qualifications such as A levels or a degree. Early choices are not always going to suit you for life, so a broad-based early education is vital to ensure you keep your employment options open. As it is I was fortunate to be able to retrain as an NVQ assessor, but not everyone will be as fortunate and may find themselves in an obsolete career or suddenly due to circumstances beyond their control having to retrain later on. Surely early diversity followed by concentrating on a certain career path AFTER higher education is a more sensible option?

Philos
Why should a national education system be based on age?
We all absorb learning at different rates at different stages of our lives dependant purely on the individual: although different teaching methods may affect the rate of learning.
An ideal education system should allow students to move up, down and across the the system as their ability dictates. Allowing bright students to progress through the system faster that the average and the slower ones to have their learning reinforced by remaining at an appropriate level. This would stop the current problem of the brighter students being held back by the slower.
Students should also be able to mix and match academic and vocational subjects as required.

Luke Flegg
Hi.

Schools need to stop expecting students to conform.
It's the schools that should be conforming to the students.

A bright kid knows what they need. At least when adults offer their advice.
Kids aren't stupid. But they will be if you treat them like they're stupid.
Take away their power to control their own life, decide what lessons to go to, which direction they want to head for, what interests they want to pursue, and you make them mindless.

You do not understand children if you think they aren't mature enough to have a concept of the future, or why it's important to prepare for it.
Adults worry about the future on childrens' behalf and make the journey of preperation boring, uninspiring, and do not encourage kids to think or ask questions.

If you don't think a child has the sense to think beyond the present, then you probably haven't seen an environment that encourages them.

I don't know how to fit this in such a small space.
GCSEs and exam boards need to be deleted.
Teachers actually KNOW students and are the best qualified to write HOLISTIC reports on them, not just A+ MATHS, but everything an employer/HE institution wants to know.

Luke
theflegg@gmail.com

Luke
Hi.

Schools need to stop expecting students to conform.
It's the schools that should be conforming to the students.

A bright kid knows what they need. At least when adults offer their advice.
Kids aren't stupid. But they will be if you treat them like they're stupid.
Take away their power to control their own life, decide what lessons to go to, which direction they want to head for, what interests they want to pursue, and you make them mindless.

You do not understand children if you think they aren't mature enough to have a concept of the future, or why it's important to prepare for it.
Adults worry about the future on childrens' behalf and make the journey of preperation boring, uninspiring, and do not encourage kids to think or ask questions.

If you don't think a child has the sense to think beyond the present, then you probably haven't seen an environment that encourages them.

I don't know how to fit this in such a small space.
GCSEs and exam boards need to be deleted.
Teachers actually KNOW students and are the best qualified to write HOLISTIC reports on them, not just A+ MATHS, but everything an employer/HE institution wants to know.

Luke
theflegg@gmail.com

Martin Alder
The practical or vocational teachers would need to have undertaken at least the PGCE or similar course in teaching skills to be considered for renumeration at QTS level. In addition to haiving proven skills in their chosen crafts, eg higher level NVQs or their professional qualifications of at least the level to which they are permitted to teach Just having practical skills does not make anyone a teacher or instructor and the teachers own skill level has to be of a high standard. To do therwise will lead to poor quality eaching and output.
A bit less markting hype about outstanding would indicate professional not an image led approach. For example the performance of a 1950s sports car may have been outstanding then, but technology means an everyday sports car today performs better.So which one was or is outstanding?
Outstanding implies above the norm, so if every lesson is outstandimg it becomes the norm and improvement is not indefinite as the human raw material does not change that quickly by evolution
What you need are quality lessons that achieve their aims lead by qualified staff trained to the correct standard.Expecting some kind of show biz show for every lesson is not sustainable. Teachers teach every day for years. They do not have seasons like performers, nor long periods of rest.
One can only expect a sustainable level of performance.
As fror training for jobs that have not yet been invented, that is an oxymoron. What you can do is train theskills that can be used to train for any job. That is one level back from what is mentioned and that is what basic eductaion is and should be about

martin alder
Ther do seem to be a lot of marketeers etc and very few educationalists on the board of an organsiation devoted to eduction

martin alder
This assumes that 14 year olds actually know what they want. My experience of Austria where this type of specialisation occurs at an early stage is that the number of square pegs in round holes is still significant at age 18 or 20. The cost in time and effort in then recovering is not insignificant.
The British system has long been criticised for unecessarily early specialisation and this appears to suffer from the same potential problems. Surely 16 is early enough to consider specialisation and even then it shoudl be light touch as young people are far from mature and to close off options at this stage is not good.
Whilst agreeing that sound vocation and technical training ahs to be improved, the increasingly complex nature of today's industry also requires maturity and broadness of education,. So whilts practical training may suit some, a significant number will need more.
Practical training alone will not be the panacea for all of those with problems preventing effective progress in the traditional education system either.

So whilst there are some interesting ideas here, one should baer in mind that it is a particular view with its own agenda ( thespecialist providers needing a revenue stream), that is not necessarily in line with the agenda's of other society stakeholders

knorman
Children have an insatiable appetite for learning.
They don't need to be spoon fed or spend all day in a classroom to get a first rate education.
They need adults to talk to and discuss what interests them and other children of different ages to mix with to play and work through ideas.
First - keep children playing in mixed age groups for as long as possible. Spend time outdoors pottering and tinkering with real tools and real life situations.
Read to them and surround them with books and words and they will learn to read by themselves.
Give children access to Museums, libraries, craft sessions, science clubs, history groups etc etc. Supply access to interesting experts on all subjects, and people to chat to about the world. They will find a route through the maze of practical skills and knowledge.
Let children choose what to study and when - without pressure and preconceived ideas of what is right for them and they will teach themselves not only to read, write and do maths - but also usually to love these things. Sometimes they may start by diving straight in the deep end, and at other times will piece things together a tiny bit at a time.
Children need to be supported in learning, not taught so that they enjoy what they are doing. This way they keep intrested and become capable of learning what they need, when they need it - and will continue to do this for the rest of their lives.
See the work of John Holt, and research on informal learning by Alan Thomas and the decades of research on autonomous learning and home education to see a highly effective and empowering education system at work.

Jackie
I agree.
Not everyone is academic, and the country does not need just academics in order to develop and sustain itself.
Teaching needs to be seen to be relevant to the student's interests and ambitions, whether that is to be a nuclear physacist or a plumber.

T. Ireland
I would really like to have your definition of the word 'education'.T

Beryl Pratley
not a wildy different curriculum pattern to the one in existence up to the 90s, when the further education system started to be dismantled by those who never had any direct experience of it. Ultimately, this isn't really about schools, which will never have enough teachers with relevant non-educational experience themselves, let alone specialist resources - it's about creating well funded, forward looking specialist colleges post 14/16.
Reinstate good quality, independent teacher training to avoid the cycle of ignorance for vocational teachers employed,trained, and mentored in poor quality institutions


Dr Stefan Szczelkun
I couldn't see your policy on inclusion. Do you have one?
It is important that those with manual skills are valued alongside those who take a more literary pathway. I have noticed that the early teenage split between those who will 'succeed' at school and those who 'fail' and are so destined for other jobs is highly divisive and destructive of social relations. I don't think young people should be sent to different institutions reinforcing the so-called intellectual / manual split in society.
(I've just finished Richard Sennett's book 'The Craftsman'.)
But an effort to value all abilities equally is to be applauded.
My own study wiki 'sense-think-act', a collection of 200 exercises, attempts to suggest a module of a universal approach to the basis of human ability.

Dr Stefan Szczelkun
I couldn't see your policy on inclusion. Do you have one?
It is important that those with manual skills are valued alongside those who take a more literary pathway. I have noticed that the early teenage split between those who will 'succeed' at school and those who 'fail' and are so destined for other jobs is highly divisive and destructive of social relations. I don't think young people should be sent to different institutions reinforcing the so-called intellectual / manual split in society.
(I've just finished Richard Sennett's book 'The Craftsman'.)
But an effort to value all abilities equally is to be applauded.
My own study wiki 'sense-think-act', a collection of 200 exercises, attempts to suggest a module of a universal approach to the basis of human ability.

Barbara Cannon
Hello

I am the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Labour Party for Penrith and The Border. I have just watched your election broadcast and would like to say that I entirely agree with you. I worked for a number of years in a Training and Enterprise Council with schools and employers and have seen for myself the advantages to young people and employers that a vocational education can bring. For a couple of years I managed a programme of work between employers and FE Colleges in my area and with similar organisations in Portugal, Belgium, Spain and Germany. It became apparent to me that we have a great deal to learn from other European Countries who value vocational education far more than we do. I am happy to support your manifesto. Good luck.

anonymous
I'm a student currently studying for my first year of A Levels, and I often notice that students often seem to be bunched together regardless of their academic ability. I think that there should be support groups for students who are willing to work, but often struggle, particularly those with dyslexia, and learning difficulties; and I think the higher achieving students should work separately, and be encouraged to further research around their subject to achieve even better results. I think if this happened then the lower achieving students wouldn't feel so intimidated, and the higher achieving students could excel to the best of their ability, and feel able to achieve even more.

anonymous
What about education for education's sake - informing the mind and allowing innovation and creativity to foster and energize society?

Jane
I work in a school where at 14 year old, the students can choose to take vocational qualifications in building, mechanics, hair and beauty and childcare all at a local college (special facilities and trained instructors). This year 40 of the 300 year 10 students attend college one day a week. We offer BTECs in Sport and Childcare and work with the Fire Brigade to give further vocational education.
It costs more money than keeping the students in school studying GCSE's and it affects how the school is judged on results as students can be limited on how many grade A-C GCSE's (or equivalent) they can gain from vocational education however the school is committed to giving these opportunities to students.
What we can not achieve is more work placements. It is industry that limits this, not the government or schools. Large businesses give limited slots in the year, small companies can not take many students. There needs to be more understanding about what a work placement is and what a student should gain from that work placement.

Paul
It all sounds quite good, but I worry that in practice you'd end up marginalising the humanities, which have no direct economic or employability benefit to either the pupil or the country, but which nurture the mind and soul, and induct a pupil into the riches of British culture and enable them to understand the arts.

anonymous
What i found when going from secondary education to A levels was there where so many new subjects that I knew nothing about, so chose not to take them unknowing if I may like or be good at the subject. I think secondary schools need to have some sort of program of introducing students to the range of subjects available at A level if they want students to achieve their potential.

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