Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, is calling for a “skills revolution” across Lothian. He wants to make it clear that a vocational education is every bit as valuable as an academic one.
A recent report by Edinburgh City Council’s Education, Children and Families Committee highlighted that pupils felt:
“the pressure of expectations and that academic achievement/university is still pushed as the only acceptable choice following school”
And that there is:
“still a journey to overcome perceptions around value of vocational alongside academic routes”
The Scottish Conservatives used their parliamentary time on Tuesday to call for cross-party support to back a “skills revolution” in Scotland.
It follows Ruth Davidson’s keynote speech at party conference last month when she backed a new skills participation age of 18 for Scotland, and backed new measures to improve skills for all age groups.
The Scottish Conservative motion called on the SNP Government to use its powers to introduce a new policy framework to boost skills.
Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative Lothian MSP, said: “The idea that academic achievement and going to university are the only ways for our young people to succeed is misguided and this perception must change.
“The Scottish Conservatives value vocational education every bit as much as an academic one and believe that good skills training isn’t something for other people’s children, it’s an essential part of success for all of Scotland’s future.
“A skills revolution is needed in Scotland so that people have the training opportunities they need for a well-paid decent job throughout their working lives.
“That is why we proposed a new skills participation age of 18, instead of the current school leaving age of 18. Making it the law that everybody up until the age of 18 has to either go to college or university, or if they want to start work, it’s through a structured apprenticeship or a traineeship.”
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