The Isle of Wight Council’s Lead Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Chris Whitehouse, has warmly welcomed the news that the Government is to spend more than £500 million a year driving forward a new bid to improve technical training for young people.
The move, which was confirmed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Phil Hammond MP, in yesterday’s Budget, will be the biggest overhaul of post-16 education in 70 years. The qualifications have been named ‘T-Levels’.
Cllr Whitehouse says:
“The Government’s 15 new technical training courses for 16 to 19 year olds will be the Rolls Royce of skills training, replacing more than 13,000 out of date qualifications of sometimes dubious value. This will give all our youngsters a real chance to get high quality skills training to make careers in manufacturing, engineering and many other technical subjects as attractive for them as university is for academic students.”
“The decision to leave the European will make it even more necessary that the Island and the country as a whole has a real chance to upskill the workforce ready for the challenges and opportunities that Brexit will bring. I’ll be working with Island employers to encourage them to liaise ever more closely with our schools and colleges to deliver the best possible courses to our youngsters, giving them the chance to fulfil their potential and compete with the most skilled and productive workers around the world.”
