subject: Future Plumbers Have Something To Look Forward To [print this page] Presidency ministers have an interest in plans to prompt children to study practical lessons and train for careers as workmen. The London Evening Standard has let slip that a program drawn up by Lord Baker, which suggests that young student's find out about vocational talents rather than entering conventional education, has received important backing.
Under the scheme, scholars aged 12 and 13 will be presented with the chance to leave the traditional college system and learn practical skills like plumbing, joinery and bricklaying at new university-sponsored universities. Pupils in the varsities will study plumbing courses, electric courses and bricklaying courses in the morning and learn normal subjects like English, maths and science in the afternoons.
Lord Baker informed the Standard it was crucial for Britain to coach children thru practical courses as there are a bunch of countrywide projects which may have a talents deficit in days to come. He said to the paper : "We are immensely short of technicians. If we're going to build nuclear power stations, high speed rail links, Crossrail and wind farms, we need technicians."
Lord Baker asserted that Britain should follow Germany's example and invest more in technical varsities to appeal to scholars who are unhappy with educational subjects and need a more practical-based approach to education. Talents Minister John Hayes informed the paper it was important for Britain to supply a student route into vocational careers which receives the same support as the trail into school.
"I'm awfully fascinated by what Kenneth Baker has claimed. We have got an extremely clear educational trail which we respect. We need a vocational trail which is just as rigorous," he informed the Standard
The newspaper reported how star student Natasha McDonald chose to enroll in plumbing courses despite achieving high grades at school. Natasha McDonald got A-grades at GCSE but became plumber and recently won the Edge charity's vocational student of the year award. She told the Standard that even though she was academically talented she felt that she was more suited to more practical lessons outside the conventional school environment.
"I didn't like sitting in class the whole day. I had to do something hands-on," Ms McDonald told the newspaper. Ms McDonald has used the skills she learned on plumbing courses to renovated social housing for Homes for Haringey. Lord Baker, who was Margaret Thatcher's education secretary, plans to create up to 100 University Technical Colleges, each with 600 pupils.
