Wolf review recommends businesses should receive subsidies to run internships, but moves to do away with some courses should be taken with care
The subject of vocational training has been in the news a lot recently, not least because of the headaches faced by many employers in funding and administering such schemes.
So it's pleasing to see today's report by Professor Alison Wolf directly recommending that businesses receive public subsidies to help them train apprentices and run internship programmes for the under 19s.
The government is said to be largely supportive of the Wolf report's recommendations, but I suspect businesses hoping to benefit won't be rushing to take on apprentices just yet. The prospects of public funds being released for anything right now are slim, and it remains to be seen whether such subsidies can or will be found.
The report, commissioned by the education secretary, Michael Gove, looks primarily at training for 14- to 18-year-olds. Quite clearly there is a need for the jumble of funding and qualification incentives in this area to be simplified, and some of the courses held up as examples of profligacy make for uncomfortable reading.
It struck me as peculiar, though, that one in particular is being singled out for criticism. The Preparation for Working Life course (worth half a GCSE) reportedly teaches "hazard identification at home, on the roads and at work", as well as general dangers relating to "storage, falling/ladders and the use of energy". Students also learn about personal awareness and how to identify emotions such as happiness, grief and envy. And there's a section on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle including a balanced diet, exercise, social interaction and enough sleep.
Encouraging healthy living, wellbeing and safety awareness among young people may not seem like a directly vocational goal, but think of the bigger picture for a moment: changing generational behaviours in this way could return huge long-term savings to businesses and taxpayers alike in terms of rising healthcare and liability costs. (Indeed, this Saturday's Work section will look at the subject of wellbeing programmes at work and some of the benefits they do – and don't – offer.)
The truth is, these are valuable life skills that a lot of children, especially from less privileged backgrounds, do not possess. The government understands the value of all this perfectly well – as evidenced by its stated plans to start measuring the population's wellbeing using official data – which makes its ridicule of this particular course all the more bewildering.
At a graduate careers industry event earlier this week it was interesting to hear Michael Portillo – a former darling of the Conservative right – speak passionately about the need to help families from deprived backgrounds rediscover their faith in education as an escape route from poverty, as well as of the diverse benefits businesses could reap by investing in young people whose school grades do not necessarily reflect their potential. Some would argue that teaching kids basic life skills is the first step to achieving this.
The question of whether the Preparation for Working Life course merits half a GCSE (or indeed, what a whole GCSE is worth these days) is one to be debated elsewhere. But the modules don't strike me as being ridiculous. On the whole, the Wolf proposals should be well received, but whatever good intentions the government may have, it needs to be careful it doesn't undermine them before they can begin to blossom.