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The world is changing rapidly but our education system is failing to change at the same pace. Browse the ideas below to find out how you can get involved in our campaign — have your say on practical and vocational learning and what you would like to see change in the education system, set up a practical learning project or support VQ Day, our national day to celebrate vocational success!

See the people's voice brought to life
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Watch the election broadcast
Why: Watch the first ever election broadcast generated entirely by the public and have your say on practical and vocational learning.
Have your say
Why: Have your say on practical and vocational learning and what you would like to see change in the education system.
Watch the trailer and have your say
Why: "We are the people we have been waiting for" is a landmark independent documentary which explores the education system in the UK.
Get ready to celebrate VQ Day 2010
Why: Find out more about VQ Day 2010, a national celebration of vocational qualifications for students, teachers and employers.
Download Edge's Six Steps Manifesto
Why: Edge's Manifesto proposes six policy steps to significantly raise the status of practical and vocational learning in the UK. Download the Manifesto to find out more.

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What's your view
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Mark
As someone who was failed by education in the 1970's and has been recently employed as a support worker in a secondary school, I'm appalled that the same kind of young people who were failed alongside me then are failing now. After you wade through all the education jargon and policy it still comes down to the fact that we insist on valuing academic skills above practical or creative abilities.

SallD
Neil is right - the problems are caused by the fact that the english education system is almost entirely academic. G.C,E.s were developed for 16% of the population - recognition that that's about the percentage for whom an academic education is suitable. We are, therefore, failing at least 84% of the population - demoralising them and then throwing them into a work environment for which they are totally unprepared and unfit. The vocational education on offer is low level, devalued and too late in the educational life. Yes - give each child a basic, broad, good and thorough grounding in a uniformed establishment known as a secondary school (primary, secondary, tertiary NOT secondary v grammar).) At age 14, set literacy and numeracy tests. If they pass, they can leave school and go into tertiary schools (not uniformed) or strictly regulated apprenticeships. If they fail, they stay at school another year - this would be a huge incentive for them to pass. Yes - lots of work experience. I understand rural problems, our family having suffered them but transport plays a huge, underestimated, underfunded and unregulated role here and my transport policy is...another story. As a retired teacher, I would recommend class sizes of around 24: parenting classes for pupils AND parents: an ethos of personal responsibility, etc. etc.

L Palmer
Many subjets, so it seems, don't need to be studied to degree level when g.c.s.e and A level would be enough ( with the exception of science, medicine and law) eg - Drama, Sociology, History, Media, Philosophy, RE, Geography, Art ect. After secondary level practical skills are better off being learnt at a higher level. we all form our own opinions about most of the above subjects anyway whether we have degrees in the subjects or not because we all have working brains as human beings do! if we want to know more about a subject we could take it on as a hobby or read a book, but it is not fair to have a two tear system of snobbery that looks down upon a museum assistant for example who joined after leaving shool at sixteen and took the NVQ route as oppose to a similar worker who did a history degree. They may both have the same level of knowlege and experience, the only differnce being that one enjoys sitting in a classroom and one enjoys learning while working. We can all learn and think, it's just a matter of personal choice as to how and when we do it.

Miss L.C Palmer
Clacton, Essex
U.K

Michael
As a secondary school teacher of many years standing I am concerned about the creeping vocationalisation of secondary education. Likewise, I am concerned with the proliferation of a philosophy within schools that represents vocational teaching and learning as having a monopoly on innovation and relevance to students' lives and futures. Obviously the (unspoken) flip side to this philosophy is that non vocational subjects, or a non vocational approach to education, is elitist, out of touch and irrelevant.
This is a pretty shocking presumption. Education is surely about more than preparing young people for the world of work, more than developing a single "talent" or "learning style" that a student may or may not be displaying at age 11, more than base pragmatism. It is surely about developing young people who are genuinely knowledgable, able to think and question critically and independently and who are engaged with, and informed about, the world around them. In my opinion these qualities can only be truly developed through subjects that have no alterior motives, that don't necessarily have a quantifiable end or "employment outcome" and that celebrate learning for its own sake.
What is being suggested is yet another education "revolution", this time a "revolution" that is vocational in nature and a "revolution" that enshrines the idea of education as a commodity, something only of relevance if it has an easily measurable outcome. We move towards this approach at our peril and potentially at the expense of a generation who will not have been encouraged to analyse, criticise, question, think, and perhaps most importantly, appreciate learning for the sake of itself.

BeckyyCrichton
I'm Being Told I Have Talent All The Time By Teachers,Friends Family Even People I've Never Met Befor But I Still Keep Having To Prove Myself But Nothing's Being Done About It, I Guess They Don't Have Time For Difference But I Can't Help Being Who I Am, I Really Want The Best Out Of My Life But My School Makes Me Feel Like I'm Aiming Too High,I Keep Telling Myself It's Scotland I Want Because I've Herd They Work With Natural Learners And I Really Want To Follow In The Footsteps Of My Family History,In Science Because Now Might Be The Last Chance. I Just Want Grab Every Chance And Prove Myself But Every Chance Seems To Be Taken From Me, I'm Always Held Back, I'm Not Saying I'm A Special Little Snow Flake And I Am Only In Year 10 (4th Year At School) But Something's Not Right!

From What I'm Told I Need To Do Something About It Befor It's Too Late.

WillofAyton
At last! Joined up thinking! I wish you all the luck in the world.
This is a personal view of where we have gone wrong and the direction we should take.
I taught for 30 years in the public sector in the North East of England. I was in at the earlier stages of comprehensive education having been a miner's son who attended a grammar school. I am naturally very practical and taught Art and eventually Design Technology. I was also a Careers teacher.
Late in my career I was told about the 3 main learning styles and found that by using them my pupils' learning improved. I had particular success by intererpreting the National Curriculum/GCSE Design and Realisation for a large group of difficult boys by using the style of learning biased towards touch/experience. They were soon saying to me that it was their favourite subject because at last, after 3 years, they had made something in D&T! Prior to that they had been attempting to design without enough life experience to do so and therefore failing to make anything worthwhile.
In the same school the pupils would take their cooking to their pastoral teachers to show them what they had made. I never saw an essay presented like this.
Nearer to home, my week with a major heavy industry provider as a careers teacher made me aware of their apprenticeship scheme. My grade A son was leaving school and, being a practical sort, I encouraged him to join the scheme. Thirteen years later he is an engineer earning more than I ever did after he gained a degree in electrical instrumentation. His brother was more in to the Arts and despite college and university has spent most of his post university years (with a degree) as a cleaner with a huge debt around his neck.
The day the Herald of Free Enterprise went down the Thatcher government held at meeting to which a leading vocational exponent was invited. His follow up was a seminar that I attended. He was worried because the phrase he came away from the governement with was "We need to warehouse a generation".
Please can those with the power and influence to do so accept that all children are not the sam and that equal oppotunities mean providing education of equal status in the thre learning styles. What are they? Use the internet to find out. It will open ones eyes.

Mo
I came to this website wanting to back vocational training, but reading it I'm concerned that maybe we are failing both the academic "elite" and the vocational learners alike. Doesn't it all come down to getting society and parents (and teachers, employers and future customers) to value the practically skilled, and to value the academically skilled, as appropriate. At the end of the day we need Britain to be truly classless, not skill-less!

Keep at it with your campaign, ALL kids need positive learning experiences, and a promising future.

David Hough
I have spent a lot of time over the past few months defending our education system from the attacks of extremists. However, that does not mean I don't believe we could do things better. I would like to become involved in a positive, do something organisation, that intends to help all unlock their potential, at whatever level that may be!

Amelia
My secondary school was all about academics and getting into a top university, so that is the path that I followed. However I would do anything to go back and instead of taking the university route do some vocational training. Myself and alot of my fellow arts graduates feel completely useless in the world of work. If only we'd learnt something practical at school and then been given the option of vocational training. But this was viewed as something only the less academic students did. While they bring important skills to the work place, us arts students bring our ability to write essays - a completely worthless skill. Because we are drowning in university debt we now can't afford to retrain in something practical and useful. Alot of us feel quite bitter about this and wish we hadn't been sheep, blindly following each other into university just to please our schools and make them look good by being able to produce lists of students attending the top universities.

Sean Delaney
This is the problem that is at the heart of the education system, and without confronting this we can't make progres:
http://www.principiadialectica.co.uk/blog/?p=550

Claire Sambrook
I teach at a University and I am very worried about the students' attitude in general. They are not curious or passionate. I myself was failed by the UK education system even though I now teach. I have an industry background an constantly try to get my students to be curious about all disciplines and to 'Learn by doing'. I visited the most amazing school in Aarhus, Denmark called the Kaos Pilots who very much believe in the more holistic approach. They do not take students younger than 23 years old and require them to have world skills and a curious enterprising attitude.
I am very keen to get involved in shaping the future of education. As Ken Robinson said there are loads of amazing people doing great things with education so let's be radical and start to implement a change.


Katie Ward
I read about you in the Guardian on Saturday and was quite interested until I read you had done research which showed "half of adults were average or poor students". Well that's a shocker; I hope you did not spend too much money on that research. For your information, half of all people are below average at anything...that is part of the the definition of the average. Your work sounds interesting but don't try and back it up with nonsense statistics.

JAMES
Hi Great to hear more support for younger people under 24, I'm 29, what support can I get?

Yve
Glad to see so many comments on non-recognition of practical and vocationsl skills. Perhaps an educational drive should be directed at the whole population to educate us as to what skills are needed by our society and to try and gain the respect that vocational careers deserve. Then perhaps we would value and demand the inclusion of the choice for such training in the educational process

Adrian Oldfield
Saturday Jobs and Summer Jobs are a great way to obtain valuable work experience and a bit extra cash, visit our matching service www.findmeasaturdayjob.com where we will offer a free service to young people looking for work and employers looking to support young job seekers not to mention support for parents and schools.



Roger Holloway
I am now 71 and still working and capable. As a youngster I was in the first group of 11+ children selected to go to one of the new 1944 act Grammar Schools.I was taught, as were all my fellow pupils, woodwork, metalwork and engineering drawing & design, in addition to all the usual academic subjects up to the end of the third year, with options after that. As a consequence not only did I become a teacher and eventually a senior administrator, I have continued to develop competence in the skills I learned and make my own furniture, do all my own building and design work as well. This was a great gift that I and my fellow pupils were given by the first post-war government. We were all taught by craftsmen who knew their trades to a high level of skill. They were much respected and emulated by us as a consequence. I find it very sad that few people have the opportunity to develop the skills that I possess, even amongst so-called 'professional' tradespeople. For example, general skills in the building industry are very poor. I therefore warmly welcome your proposals and give you my full support.

The view I hold that all secondary school pupils should learn genuine craft skills at some stage at least in their school careers (to which I would add electronics, cookery and homecraft) is not held by all. I would respond to those who disagree with me that the deterioration of the school curriculum since the 1960's by the removal of these important life and work skills from the curriculum has contributed to the deterioration in the economic health of our nation.

anonymous
Are any projects underway in Scotland? We have some of the same issues, but a different education system. For example, we have the Skill for Work programmes that introduce kids to the workplace, normally in partnership with local colleges and industries. http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/5952.html

Mr Anderson
Fantastic video, i just hope this can gain momentum and that our children are givne a far greater chance to achieve in life. I too failed as a result of education in the 80s but luckily i knew i had potential and followed it even despite 3 custodial sentances and leaving school at 15 years without any education I came through working for large coporate firms earning between £40K and £70K so potenital is what needs to be developed

AJ
It would seem to me that since the Government introduced the league table system for monitoring schools progress that the corriculum has been geared towards "exam based "learning. Kids are only taught what is needed to pass the GCSE's. They are told that they must achieve grades of C and above and that anything lower is not valid, this means that those who are less academic feel unable to keep up. Schools no longer prepare kids to leave school and go straight into work ,few provide support to those who want to take the vocational route or provide vocational courses in their sixth forms.

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