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15 Jan 2009 12:17:21
A Government minister has blamed parents for holding children back from getting the qualifications they need to get good jobs.
East of England Minister Barbara Follett has appealed to mothers and fathers to encourage their youngsters to stay on in education – and not to leave school at the first opportunity.
At the Association of Universities of East of England conference at Cranfield University today. Ms Follett said: “The barriers are in the parents themselves. The mother of a family on an Oxford estate was on the radio saying, ‘I don’t want them to go to university, I want them to go to work to help me.’ That’s a big switch from the 50s when parents were desperate to get their children to move on. There is even an aversion to apprenticeships – people think how do we know that apprenticeships will lead to a steady job.”
By contrast Ms Follett argued that one of the keys to combating the unfolding recession was better qualifications, more qualifications and more apprenticeships.
She urged universities to play their part by ensuring degree courses gave students the practical, hands on experiences that employers needed. She said this was the constant plea from the pharmaceutical and aeronautical industries in her own constituency of Stevenage.
Online learning, reaching out not just to young students but mature ones as well was an area the Minister highlighted as crucial. “We need graduates of all ages, not just young ones. We need women, men, we need part time courses, online courses.” She said 40 percent of the workforce needed to be graduates by 2020.
Ms Follett piled praise on the Open University whose courses enabled her as a working mother to gain the qualifications she needed to go to university.
A key role for universities was, she said, in increasing business skills – particular in the arts and film world, a sector she deals with regularly in her capacity as Culture Minister.
Additionally Ms Follett identified the provision of degrees in early years education as an area for higher education focus. By 2015 ministers want all full daytime nurseries and pre-schools to be led by graduates with degrees in early year education. To improve children’s starts in life, Ms Follett said the Government would be offering free childcare places for disadvantaged two-year-olds. “We have to get to children early. By the time they need to make choices at 16, they are set.”
She argued that it was essential to combat the skills mismatch as the recession unfolded. In the East of England alone, there have been 7,000 recent redundancies and yet there are 33,500 vacancies, which demonstrated the scale of the skills mismatch.
To help tackle this, she said the Government hopes to create a further 15,000 apprenticeships in the next few years, not just in heavy industry but in the public sector and the arts world as well.
The first conference of the Association of Universities in the East of England (AUEE)is being chaired by Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire, Professor Les Ebdon.
Latest news» 2009» January» Minister criticises parents for quashing aspirations
