Post-18 Education and Funding Review

Baroness Stowell of Beeston Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd July 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stowell of Beeston (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, it is always a privilege to speak in your Lordships’ House but noble Lords might wonder why I am spending my birthday waiting to speak in tonight’s debate. I should perhaps declare that I received a technical education and studied at a further education college, so I could not let the opportunity pass to influence what happens as a result of the Augar review.

I am of course delighted that the review recommends more investment in this much-neglected area of adult education. The remarks made by many noble Lords this evening in support of technical and vocational education and their recognition of the importance of further education colleges have been very encouraging. However, funding alone is not enough for us to address the inequality and unfairness that exist between those who go to university and those who do not.

The EU referendum, the 2017 general election and Donald Trump’s election in the US all exposed educational attainment as the biggest, most significant divide in our society. Non-graduates were more likely to vote leave in the UK or for Donald Trump in the US, not because, as some highly educated people have—I would describe as insultingly—suggested, people did not know better or because those who voted that way were stupid. They did so in part because they have lost faith in too many of those more highly educated, highly qualified people whom they feel have disrespected or disregarded much of what matters to them and who, for all their qualifications, have got so much wrong. It is really important for us to understand that. As much as your Lordships have debated a lot of matters to do with Brexit over the past two or three years, I am still unsure that enough of us do. When non-graduates voted predominantly to take back control in 2016, they were voting for change—to be heard and be taken seriously.

Rebalancing the importance and status of different types of education, skills and talents is one of the most fundamental changes that those of us in positions of power and authority must make in response. However, we must understand why it is important that we do. It is not just about more skilled people, as much as we need them. If we get our response right on this very important matter, we will open up new channels for people to reach the upper echelons of authority, which are now a closed shop for graduates. In doing that, we will create the conditions to devolve more power. If that happens, we will all collectively achieve more.

The first step to getting there is recognising that good technical education is not a consolation prize for people incapable of doing a degree. We need to give technical and academic education equal status. The attitudes and behaviours needed to succeed are the same for both. Recognising this will allow common bonds to be more easily formed between university and FE students, graduates and non-graduates. We need to respect and cherish not just what is the same about students who follow different paths but the differences, which are vital to increasing our collective success and expanding the rewards. Some of us learn to know; others learn to do. Some of us learn through study; others must observe and absorb through practical experience to gain and retain expert knowledge. This does not make some of us intellectually inferior. It means that we bring something different. We will often see the world differently, join up different dots and paint a different picture—very often, the bigger picture. Not encumbered by theses, we often see things more clearly and for what they are.

Our collective success relies on mutual respect. The more we understand how much we need each other, the more we will achieve. That is how we will start to bridge social divides, create more opportunities, expand the benefits of wealth and, most important of all, make it possible for people with different types of education and skills to be in positions of power and influence. That is what social mobility should mean, not more young people following the same route to one definition of success. The real test of our success will be if Members of this House and the other place—and anybody in positions of real achievement—genuinely welcome their children or grandchildren coming home and saying that they would rather go down a vocational or technical route than follow the more traditional path to university. That is when we will know that there is a genuine mutual respect and opportunity for all of us who are dedicated, work hard and want to succeed in whatever line of work we choose. I do not know whether Augar is the answer. Whatever policy we adopt, this is what we should be seeking to achieve.