This Is What A Former Head Teacher Thinks Of The New 'T Levels'

27 May 2018, 17:41 | Updated: 27 May 2018, 17:43

This former head teacher says Britain has "a real problem" in vocational and technical education, and won't be solved by the introduction of new technical qualifications on its own.

A former head teacher in north London and chairman of Campaign for Real Education told Andrew Castle that the newly announced T Levels won't solve youth unemployment on its own.

Chris McGovern said that it would be "desirable" for young people to have an academic or vocational pathway "at the age of 14", which is two years earlier than what it is now.

"Too many youngsters are going on academic courses for which they are not suited," he said.

"I think it would be better if we could have the GCSE's at the age of 14, instead of 16."

Youngsters are "unemployable because they haven't got basic literacy, or numeracy skills."

The education secretary announced the new technical qualifications today, saying that they're part of the "biggest reform to technical education" for over 70 years.

Damian Hinds described the existing education system in the UK is "too complicated".

"When we look around the world at the leading systems and compare that to our technical education, our our system is too complicated," he said.

"There have been to many different qualifications and employers haven't always had confidence in all of them."

The secretary also described how business will be "absolutely integrated" with the new offering, adding: "as well as being central to designing what people should be taught, it's also really important to have industry placements so that part of the learning is done in a real place of work."