21st April 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
A proposed plan by the Conservatives to introduce vocational schools for 14 year olds has been attacked by teachers in the UK, the BBC has reported. The worry is that the plans would recreate a ‘two-tiered’ system, and restrict the development of many students at age 14.
The idea is that a number of technical colleges would be set up in major cities in the UK, and at 14, students who decide that their future lies in vocational, rather than academic skills, could choose to attend these colleges and study skills more specific to a vocation. These students would still study Maths, English and Science, and would take GCSEs in those subjects.
The criticisms of the plans revolve around two main issues. Firstly, it’s perceived that the majority of students choosing the vocational option would be less wealthy than their peers continuing in academia, and therefore the more professional jobs would be reserved for the wealthy, introducing an upper and lower class of students after the age of 14.
The second concern questions whether it’s reasonable to ask students to make such an important decision at the age of 14. Many students have no idea what they want to do at that age (or least, that idea has changed before reaching 18 or 21), and the policy would not allow for the potential that a student may dramatically develop their academic ability after the age of 14; something which is very common as students mature, and become more serious about their studies.