Snobbery around skilled trades is holding back the economy says Bridget Phillipson

Snobbery is holding back the economy as young people are pushed to go to university instead of learning the skills Britain really needs, says the Education Secretary.

Bridget Phillipson believes thousands of children are missing the chance of a fruitful career, leaving the nation short of workers in trades like construction.

This week she will unveil plans to revamp the careers service to give pupils a wider range of job options.

Oxford-educated Ms Phillipson, who grew up in a deprived part of Sunder-land, is determined to ensure pupils from every background get a chance to go to a top university.

But she said: "The snobbery around skilled trades is holding back the growth that we need. It has held back our country for far too long and we need to turn it around."

School careers advice will be improved and every child will do work experience, under plans to be highlighted at this week's Labour conference. The aim is to encourage youngsters to consider careers such as construction or engineering.

At the same time, teachers benefiting from a bumper 5.5 per cent pay rise will be told they must be "more ambitious" for pupils, including pushing children from poorer backgrounds to consider applying to the nation's most elite institutions.

And the Education Secretary signalled plans for a review of university funding "to look at all the options" and ensure young people aren't put off studying for a degree by the prospect of massive debts.

In an exclusive interview ahead of Labour's annual gathering in Liverpool, Ms Phillipson, 40, said she was "lucky"
as the child growing up in a council house to attend a school which pushed her to achieve - but others are not so fortunate.

She said: "They organised a visit to Oxford and I hadn't put my name down for it, but the deputy headteacher sent a note into one of my lessons and told me I was to see him straight away.

"He told me he expected my name to be down for the visit by the end of the day. That was the attitude they took.

"A great education at a state school changed my life but I know that in some ways I was lucky and I don't think life should come down to luck.

"It's not enough for me to defy the odds. I want working-class kids from across the country to defy the odds."

That means ending the link between where a child grows up or how wealthy their parents are and their chances of going to university, she said. But it also means providing more apprenticeships.

"I went to Oxford but I think the snobbery around the skilled trades, there is still a big challenge there." Britain needed construction workers to build homes, engineers to work in robotics as well as carpenters and electricians, she said.

"I want young people to have real choices. But when it comes to a lot of the trades, young people don't see that as an option, partly because they don't get the work experience and careers guidance."

The Government also wants to make more training available to people already in work to help them learn new skills, she said. Examples include teaching car mechanics how to repair new electric vehicles.

The focus on skills does not mean downgrading the role of universities offering traditional degrees, according to the Education Secretary, who revealed she is considering radical changes to student funding.

Most undergraduates currently pay fees of £9,250-a-year and leave university with an average debt of £43,700.

"We have to make sure it's fair for the taxpayer too but the system isn't working at the minute, for students, for taxpayers or for universities," said Ms Phillipson.

However, she suggested there would be no bail-out for universities struggling financially, after vice-chancellors warned they are heading for a financial crisis this autumn. "Universities are independent institutions. They have to manage their own budgets and that does mean vice-chancellors making decisions about how the numbers stack up," she said.

One of the first changes introduced by Ms Phillipson was how inspection service Ofsted evaluates schools, and they will no longer receive short and brutal verdicts such as "outstanding", "good", "requires improvement" or "inadequate".

But she vowed: "Teachers won't get an easy ride under the Ofsted reforms. This is about high standards for our children."

A particular concern is poor behaviour and the Education Secretary said teachers sometimes struggled with parents who failed to support schools, a problem she believes is fuelled by closures during Covid.

"Some parents never had the opportunity to physically go into their child's school early on, never had the chance to meet their teachers. That has created some problems."

Problems outside school were also causing issues inside classrooms, she said. "Too many children go into school hungry."

The slogan of Labour's conference will be "change begins" - an upbeat message following what critics see as the gloomy focus on spending cuts and "difficult decisions".

Ms Phillipson argues the focus on education provides a chance for Labour to provide an optimistic vision of the future.

She said: "I know we can deliver on that change people voted for, making sure where you are from doesn't determine what you are going to achieve in life.

"It should be about your hard work and your talent, not the town you are from or the family you are born into. That's the challenge we face and that's why I am in this job."