Education is about more than knowledge. It's vital to our future economic success locally and nationally. It really is the golden flower in the money garden. A person with qualifications is much more likely to have a job - with 89% employment rate in the UK for a person with a higher education qualification, 79% for upper secondary education but only 53% for those below these levels. And a more qualified person gets more pay too. If someone with a good upper secondary education earns, say, £100, a person with a higher education qualification gets £158, while people who have not achieved good upper secondary qualifications have to make do with £67.
We do well as a country, yet we are simply not achieving our full potential. Not socially, not personally, not economically. Our achievements - nationally and individually - have not been helped by the level of the skills and knowledge we have. Britain lies in the middle of the international tables for educational qualifications. 30% of our population have few or no qualifications. Another 40% have some qualifications, yet could benefit from higher and stronger qualifications.
In this, of course, our schools have an important role to play. We have some great schools locally - like Astor College in Dover and Walmer Science College. Yet vocational education is increasingly important. What has happened to South Kent College is a real disaster. For vocational education is necessary to provide the skills required to get a well paid job. It is a key element of the Conservative knowledge revolution that Charlie Elphicke would like to see. More than that, we need to take a hard look at universities and ask ourselves if we might have more courses aimed at getting a job, less places of worthless courses and look at whether tuition fees could be scrapped on courses that will lead to a stronger economy.
There is a much wider agenda here too. We should have a revolution in apprenticeships, making diplomas work, increasing the autonomy of colleges and setting vocational qualifications with employers in the driving seat.
Charlie Elphicke believes that skills training must be aimed at what employers want so that a person can get a job. It would make a real difference in Dover & Deal where the skills base is not as strong as we would like to see.
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I am interested in the two schools you have selected to mention. May I ask by what criteria you decided to mention the two schools chosen? What are your views on selective education please? You haven't mentioned that, which is strange in this county.
- J. Tomsett
Look closer, Charlie. This part of Kent's schools are mediocre at best. Primaries are not providing the vital building blocks; secondaries are 'streaming out' everyone who they think won't get 5 GCSEs; SEN numbers are exploding with no properly linked provision and 'inclusion' and 'differentiation' are meaningless terms at the 'chalkface.' There is no true accountability at any level. Who is running KCC Education?
- School Governor
The two schools were doing interesting things that I wanted to show off to the Shadow Secretary of State . . . I'm quite proud of our community! The way the system currently is, there are grammar schools, faith based schols, secualr non grammar state maintained schools, independent schools and city academies. I think they are all great as they allow parents a wide choice to get the education they feel best for their kids. The thing that's missing are more vocational schools - the "Technical Schools" of the 1945 Butler Act. Seems to me they'd add to the ability of parents to choose what's best for their children. SEN is best handled with special needs catered for on the same school site where possible, but not necessarily in the same classroom.
- Charlie Elphicke
Being a governor at a community school (which offers and specialises in vocational courses at KS4 and 5) I am appalled that the 'school governor' has such a negative impression - we certainly don't 'stream out' and I am proud to be part of a school which is fully inclusive. We all benefit from thinking about how we interact with others that may be different from ourselves. I presume the rhetorial question at the end of 'school governor's' comment is more a reflection of personal politics than empirical evidence - you have at least three OUTSTANDING schools (Ofsted) within a radius of approximately 15 miles. I am glad you are proud of that Charlie, as you should be, especially as they are all completely different. Get out there and visit them ASAP to feel even more proud. Be proud of the collaborations and clusters that you will find too. Please don't let education become an also-ran,because it is thriving and something to be proud of here.
- J Tomsett
Sorry you're appalled. I am also a parent of more than one pupil in the area(neither school is 'Outstanding' ), a potential local employer and....a Tory voter. I would be interested to know more about how Charlie's 'catering for SEN' will actually work on the ground. And at the risk of again offending J Tomsett, few mainstream schools hereabouts haven't got the faintest idea how to serve children with learning difficulties. They haven't got the resources either. No good dumping it onto part time SENCOs. Wake up. Stop pretending...
- School Governor