The Bishop of Chester, the Rt Revd Peter Forster responded to the Government statement on a new vocational qualifications reform plan. The Bishop welcomed the need to reform vocational education and expressed a concern that continued narrowing of curricula, he also urged the Government to ensure the soft skills needed by employers were also valued.
The Lord Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I warmly welcome the Statement in its intention. Clearly there needs to be a greater focus on vocational qualifications in FE but the danger is that the move towards focusing ends up with narrowness. I think that was the concern expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Young, in his response. Indeed, we just heard of the need to learn about life as well as a particular skill.
The Minister referred to basic skills. There are a range of soft skills that employers value and that lead to a qualification being transferable. The skills that people learn in their vocational qualification often have to mutate or adapt into other skills. Can we have an assurance that in drawing up the curricula and requirements there is not too much instrumentalism—or payment by results, as is in the Statement—but rather that we do not lose sight of that broader purpose of education?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Again, it will suffice for me to say that the right reverend Prelate also makes very valid points. The intention here is not to narrow the field but to get the funding focused on exactly what employers require. As part of that training, of course the softer skills are important. This will not result in a cut in the overall funding that the Government are providing; it will result in better focused funding. Indeed, certain courses which have been cut had no take-up whatever. That does not mean that there are not some courses which only a few people take up; that should not demean the importance of those courses, and the Government are fully on board with that.
(via Parliament.uk)
The Church of England in Parliament 