Starmer pledges to shatter 'class ceiling' of vocational education snobbery
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Children’s ability to speak clearly will be given the same status as numerary and literacy under a Labour government, Sir Keir Starmer has pledged as he vowed to shatter the “class ceiling” by ending snobbery over the value placed on university degrees.
The skill of articulating ideas is vital for “getting on and thriving in life”, Sir Keir said, adding that a lack of focus on this in the current curriculum is “short-sighted”.
“The ability to speak well and express yourself should be something that every child is entitled to and every child should master,’’ he wrote in an article for the Times.
“Yet, at the moment, the curriculum doesn’t allow us to deliver this. This is short-sighted. An inability to articulate yourself fluently is a key barrier to getting on and thriving in life.
“It’s key to doing well in that crucial job interview, persuading a business to give you a refund, telling your friend something awkward. Oracy is a skill that can and must be taught.”
The Labour leader will attack class inequalities during a major speech on education in Kent on Thursday.
In a personal speech, he will draw on his own working-class background, as the first person in his family to go to university, and vow to fight “the pernicious idea that background equals destiny”.
He will say that one of the most important ways of shattering the “class ceiling” is by ending the divide between academic and vocational education.
He will add: “I’m serious – the sheep and goats mentality that’s always been there in English education.
“The ‘academic for my kids; vocational for your kids’ snobbery. This has no place in modern society. No connection to the jobs of the future.”
The “class ceiling” in Britain is about “economic insecurity, structural and racial injustice”, as well as “a fundamental lack of respect” and “a snobbery that too often extends into adulthood ... raising its ugly head when it comes to inequalities at work – in pay, promotions, opportunities to progress”, Sir Keir will say.
Plan to ‘expand opportunity’ with more vocational training
The attack on Britain’s class system will be made as the Labour leader sets out a wider plan to “expand opportunity”, including by making it easier for young people to learn vocational skills, introducing planning reforms to allow more homes to built and “modernising the curriculum” to prepare young people with the “skills and personal qualities needed to thrive in work and life”.
In the UK last year, 43 per cent of 18-year-old women and 32 per cent of men of the same age were admitted to university.
The government pays about £21 billion to fund the education of each cohort of English-domiciled full-time undergraduate students studying in the UK, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. In contrast, it spends about £4 billion a year on adult education and apprenticeships.
Colleges welcomed Labour’s commitment to ending a focus on university degrees, but said that it needs to be backed by more funding for vocational education.
David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “I agree completely there is a snobbery against technical and vocational education and perhaps there always has been.
“What we are looking for from the next government is significant investment in technical and vocational education and something to show people that snobbery has finished and it really matters to the economy.”
Removing any stigma around apprenticeships is also a stated priority of the Government. John Glen, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told The Telegraph earlier this year that middle-class parents should encourage their children to do apprenticeships because they can offer a better “return on investment” for teenagers than university degrees.
Labour’s biggest education policy up until now has been to remove VAT relief from private school fees. Labour has claimed the policy would bring in £1.6 billion a year to invest in state schools, but analysts have argued it would generate far less revenue as higher fees would force many families to move children to the state sector.
It is also planning to reform early-years education, including by getting more graduate teachers into nurseries. It has pledged to strengthen the teaching profession by offering early career professionals a retention payment of around £2,400.
Commenting on Sir Keir’s speech on Thursday, one senior education source said: “It isn’t radical stuff. They are ramping up the rhetoric but these aren’t detailed plans for major reform.”
Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust, said that “turning the tide on social mobility will take time and substantial investment. We need a national strategy to close the attainment gap and a set of evidence-based policies to remove barriers and create opportunities for young people.”
He added: “For too long, young people in this country have been held back by longstanding educational inequalities that have widened more recently as a result of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. But there is also an underlying bias in British society, with those in positions of power and influence overwhelmingly from privileged backgrounds.
“The next government needs to put social mobility at the heart of its agenda, not just to ensure all young people have a fair chance to succeed in life, but also to make the most of our talent to drive sustained economic growth.”
Research by the University of Exeter has found that a fifth of teenagers do not get basic English and Maths GCSEs, and half of these pupils were judged to be falling behind at age five.
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said: “The stark social class divide in education is one of the biggest challenges facing any future government. For too long too many teenagers have left school without basic skills, damaging not only their personal prospects but also the future of the nation as a whole.”
