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Debate on the Address

My Lords, I shall consider the proposed reform of examinations over the next decade, in particular the effect on vocational education. The problem is that this country has mishandled vocational education for well over a century. In 1902, the state created its own grammar schools. An examination system existed to sustain them, but even then vocational education was neglected. There was a reliance on very ancient apprenticeships, and the great technical schools of Victorian England, which were created by the whisky tax, were deliberately and very badly run down. By 1945, reform was desperately needed. In essence, the English state decided then, as it has continued to do, that the best way to improve vocational education and to give it prestige was to make it parasitic, or, if you like, to subsume it into the academic pattern, both in institutions and examinations. This was the thinking behind the comprehensive schools supported by both major political parties. I remember the cry that brain surgeons and plumbers would all be educated in the same institutions. The same argument was advanced when my party decided to amalgamate O-levels and CSEs in the 1980s. The idea ran like a seamless web through the whole system. Furthermore, the system of vocational examinations introduced from 1986 onwards failed to achieve a clear shape of vocational qualifications that were respected by the whole community. I should add that neither political party was prepared to take on industry and ask it to pay something and provide personnel to help to supervise and arrange vocational education. That fact rises above politics. Our continental neighbours faced exactly the same problem in 1945. Vocational qualifications were not valued and were seen as inferior to academic ones. However, they followed a different pattern. They created freestanding vocational schools, supported by generally recognised vocational examinations. In many cases, often under pressure from the state, industry had to pay something towards this and provide examiners for the courses. This was most successful in Germany, although it is true that Germany had a long interest in vocational education—Sunday schools in Saxony gave vocational education in the 1720s. Germany created its famous vocational schools—Berufsschulen—which are highly respected and combine traditional education with training for a trade. Austria does the same. In Austria, about 50 per cent of the relevant age group goes to vocational schools. The university system there examines people in detail right the way through, and many people drop out of the courses, but it is not such a disaster because they move on to vocational diplomas and then have a trade and respect and can earn money. Holland, Switzerland, and France to a degree, follow the same system. Although the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, is absent, I pay him the compliment that he has a genuine interest in academic excellence. However, I stay here on a Thursday afternoon to make this speech and to urge him and his colleagues to consider the continental experience. Merely trying to create an adjunct to A-levels will not work. To gain respect, vocational education has to stand in its own right, and have examinations that are recognised right through society. The Government have to be prepared to act with great courage and say to industry, ““You've got to pay something towards this and provide personnel for the exams””. If they do not do that, it will be another in a long history of disasters that began in 1902 and ran through to 1945. I remember the late Keith Joseph saying to me that he made a profound mistake in the 1980s. Let us hope that the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, avoids that.