‘We won’t widen opportunity until we widen our definition of success’

When the Prime Minister held up a graduation cap in one hand and a hard hat in the other in this week’s announcement video, he wasn’t simply announcing a new education policy. He was challenging one of the most deeply embedded assumptions in British society: that there is one “gold standard” route to success, and that every other pathway represents a compromise.

He’s right to do so.

For too long, we have built an education system that tells young people there is a hierarchy of ambition. University sits at the top. Technical education, apprenticeships and vocational learning are too often presented as worthy alternatives for those who didn’t quite make the grade.

That isn’t just unfair. It is economically self-defeating.

As a former President of the National Union of Students in Scotland, and someone who has spent much of my career working to widen access to higher education, some might expect me to view this announcement with scepticism. Quite the opposite.

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If we genuinely believe that talent is spread evenly across our communities, then opportunity cannot be defined by attendance at a university alone. Widening participation has never meant encouraging every young person to follow the same route. It should mean ensuring every young person can follow the route that best matches their talent and facilitates their ambitions and aspirations.

In fact, one of the greatest lessons from widening access is that systems only change when people have credible alternatives.

If we want fewer people to feel that university is their only option, then apprenticeships and technical qualifications cannot simply exist. They must command the same respect, the same prestige and the same confidence from young people, their families, employers and wider society.

That is a much bigger challenge than creating new courses and qualification frameworks.

Parents and carers want the best for their children. For decades, the Blairite “education, education, education” narrative has prevailed; a neat calculation that suggests that academic success is what leads to security and prosperity. It should surprise nobody that many still see securing a university place as the safest investment in their child’s future. Changing that mindset will take time, evidence and political leadership.

The experience of Scotland offers an important lesson.

Foundation Apprenticeships were introduced with the right intentions: to allow young people to begin technical learning while still at school and gain meaningful experience with employers. Yet the programme, piloted in 2014 and rolled out in full a decade ago, has never achieved the scale many hoped for.

Part of the reason lies in how it was presented. Too often, Foundation Apprenticeships were seen as something different (and not in a positive way) from academic learning, rather than something equally demanding, equally valuable – and importantly, equally credit-bearing. While schools understood the qualifications, many parents and carers remained uncertain. Some worried that choosing a technical pathway meant limiting future opportunities rather than expanding them.

That should never have been the choice.

Technical education must not be viewed as a consolation prize for those who struggle academically. Nor should it become a separate track for particular groups of young people. The most academically able pupils should see engineering apprenticeships, digital technologies, advanced manufacturing, defence and construction in exactly the same way previous generations viewed medicine, law or accountancy: prestigious careers that demand intelligence, skill and commitment.

If that cultural shift does not happen, participation will remain limited and old assumptions will simply be reinforced.

There is another question we should ask ourselves.

The state is prepared to invest tens of thousands of pounds in supporting a student through university, underwriting tuition and providing maintenance loans because we recognise that developing talent benefits society as a whole.

If we believe technical education is equally valuable, should we not show the same confidence in employers who are prepared to invest in young people?

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Many businesses want to recruit apprentices but struggle with the upfront costs of supervision, training, mentoring and lost productivity during those early months. Those employers are making an investment every bit as valuable as a university educating an undergraduate. Public policy should recognise that.

That does not necessarily mean writing bigger cheques. It means asking whether our incentives genuinely reflect our priorities. If parity of esteem is our ambition, parity of investment should at least be part of the conversation.

The Prime Minister’s announcement marks an important change in direction, but its success will depend on much more than creating opportunities for fourteen year olds.

It will require schools to embrace technical education as enthusiastically as they embrace academic achievement, and to the same qualification levels. It will require employers to be genuine partners rather than occasional participants. It will require parents, carers and wider families to be brought along on the journey, understanding that technical learning is not settling for less, but preparing differently. And it will require the government to invest with equal confidence in all forms of talent.

For generations, Britain has judged educational success by asking how many young people progress to, and graduate from, university.

Perhaps the better success measure for the next generation is this: are our young people progressing into lives where they can thrive?

If this new approach helps us answer that question differently, then it deserves not only our support, but our determination to make it succeed.

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