Former education secretary Lord (David)Blunkett has told MPs that he think some of the statistics suggesting higher education was diminishing young people’s technical skills were “highly dubious”.
He said in light of labour shortages following Brexit and Covid meant investment in technical skills in higher education was necessary, and that there pught not to be a “standoff” between the vocational and academic routes, but cooperation as “both” were needed.
Sir Charlie Mayfield, chair of the QA group, added that young people’s basic skills (i.e. English and arithmetic) were improving. However he said employers were reporting that young people’s resilience and ability to work in a team required improvement.
