VOCATIONAL STUDIES
Vocationally yours BYE-BYE BTECS, HELLO T-LEVELS? OCCUPATIONAL STUDIES ARE IN HIGH DEMAND
W
hen it comes to the way education is structured, the oft-repeated generalisation is that it’s designed for
two broad categories – people who are academic, and people who are good with their hands. We’ve historically been very bad at catering for individuals with talents and interests that straddle both camps – who are both thinkers and doers, or who would prefer to switch between the two. Traditionally, the assumption has been that the brightest and best are the cerebral set, who score top marks all the way through school, soar through their A-levels then head on to high-profile universities to undertake an academically focused degree. Yet increasingly, the graduates who emerge at the other end don’t have the skills that employers are looking for. One survey of business leaders found just one in five bosses thought a degree equipped you with the right skills for the workplace. The education system still puts a premium on the ability to memorise and regurgitate information. But characteristics like flexible thinking, problem-solving and resilience are more closely linked to the way that businesses recognise challenges and opportunities, and evolve and grow in response to them. Now, though, change is coming. Every school – even the most traditionally academic – can namecheck some of their brightest and best who have shunned university and instead opted for a workplace-based qualification. While apprenticeships aren’t anything
Increasingly, graduates don’t emerge with skills employers are looking for
CAMBRIDGE EDUCATION GUIDE 33
Powered by FlippingBook