介绍： Technical education: The new three Rs
A bold attempt to transform technical colleges runs into difficulties
From The Economist 20161029

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HOW can technical education be improved? It is a question Whitehall policymakers have struggled with for more than a century. Whereas countries like Austr...

介绍： Technical education: The new three Rs
A bold attempt to transform technical colleges runs into difficulties
From The Economist 20161029

Audio:

0:00




HOW can technical education be improved? It is a question Whitehall policymakers have struggled with for more than a century. Whereas countries like Austria and Germany have well-established vocational routes into work, in Britain repeated reforms have failed to establish what educationalists delicately refer to as “parity of esteem” with traditional academic education. Most technical instruction occurs in further-education colleges, where the quality of teaching is patchy.

University Technical Colleges (UTCs) are a new attempt to answer the question. At the opening of UTC Leeds on October 21st Mark Goldstone, the chair of governors, joked that the school would teach “the three Rs: rockets, robots and racing cars”. A few years ago, the building was a disused part of a metalworks littered with rusting oil cans. Now, behind the brick facade lies an airy, modern school filled with whizzy equipment, such as 3D printers. It will specialise in teaching advanced manufacturing and high-tech engineering.

Growth has been fast since the first UTC opened in 2010. There are now 48 around the country, teaching more than 11,000 pupils from age 14 to 18. They connect with local employers and universities to ensure that students will be suited to the local labour market (for instance, in Elstree, a London suburb close to a big film studio, that means a focus on production techniques and film studies). Much of the work is project-based or done in groups. The school day mirrors a working day, running from 8.30am to 5pm. “The first two weeks were tough,” admits one pupil in Leeds, “but you get used to it.”

The aim is to ease the transition between study and work. Students regularly mix with potential employers. One former pupil at a UTC in Sheffield recalls how work on a project to create the perfect golf club led to work experience at a local firm. Early signs suggest it is a successful approach: 97% of 18-year-olds who left UTCs in July this year were in education or employment three months later, according to the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, a charity which oversees the programme. And unlike many other technical colleges, UTCs have managed to attract rich as well as poor pupils.


Not all is rosy, though. UTCs struggle to attract female pupils: 78% of current students are boys. Academic results are so far mediocre. According to analy