Scotland needs 'fewer young people going to university', ex-SQA boss claims
Education experts said Scotland must push for parity of esteem between a university degree and apprenticeship
Scotland needs fewer young people going to university, a leading educationalist has said.
Janet Brown, former Chief Executive of the SQA, said Scotland must move to a place where apprenticeships and university degrees are on an equal footing.
She was joined in her calls for reform by James Withers, who said the Scottish Government has shown a “lack of courage” in curriculum reform.
At an evidence session before Holyrood’s Education and Gaelic committee Mr Withers and Dr Brown were quizzed by MSPs.
It is three years since the completion of the Withers Report into the skills system in Scotland.
Mr Withers described witnessing a “cultural issue” in the education and skills system where apprenticeships were treated as “secondary and second best” to traditional academic learning.
He said the fact that the apprenticeship system has been separate to the rest of the education system has made it seem like an “add-on” for young people not progressing well through academic routes.
The Scottish Government has committed to introducing 150,000 apprenticeship placements through the life of the parliament.
However, Mr Withers said this will only make an impact once “we have culturally embedded parity of esteem into our system”.
He also criticised the government for failing to implement measures recommended by the Hayward Review, a report into the curriculum and qualifications by Louise Hayward.
“It's a huge disappointment to me that some of the key recommendations she came up with have been shelved and just haven't been progressed at all,” Mr Withers said.
“There’s been a lack of bravery and courage to grasp real reform in our education system.”
Dr Brown said Scotland is one of a number of countries with the perception that as many young people as possible should go on to university.
“If we think about the future, it's likely that we are going to need far more people to not go to university than we currently have,” she added, because not all jobs require a university degree.
She backed a submission from Mr Withers that Highers should be renamed Level 6 as a move to equality of qualifications.
The education expert said the curriculum needs a drastic overhaul to modernise it.
Dr Brown added: “What we're teaching them today is good for 1995, but not necessarily for the future.
“We need to take some risks because it's always very hard for teachers who are absolutely focused on getting the best for their students to actually do something radical.”
In response to a question by Duncan Dunlop, the Liberal Democrat MSP, on the value of a university education, Mr Withers said: “We should be ambitious for our young people to go to university, but not for all our young people to go to university.
“And because the culture has become so embedded that university is a golden pathway, we are at a point where at least half our pupil population, and certainly a much higher percentage in some areas of Scotland, are leaving school believing they are failures before their lives have even begun.
“And I honestly can't think of anything more damaging to a country, particularly one with a with a shrinking working age population.”
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