UK Politics
Look here, young man
Published 14 February 2008
The Tories have plans for our "disaffected" youths.
Chris Grayling, the shadow work and pensions secretary, is clever. This week he described Britain's "disaffected young men" as a "Jeremy Kyle generation". Most Tory voters would perhaps have their own terms for this breed of low-slung menaces, but Jeremy Kyle would probably not feature. The reference was thought up between Grayling and his political adviser. You can imagine the challenge: it's Chris, so it would probably be after work, maybe a Commons bar. He's a lager man, so three pints of Kronenbourg later and - bingo! - "Jeremy Kyle generation". Three words that say it all, without any resort to "layabout", "scrounger" or "hoodie".
Grayling explains. "The concept came from the issue of young men whose parents haven't worked, haven't pushed them to go to school, who sometimes have no father figure. They often father kids themselves at a young age, it's a vicious circle, and it wasn't always like this." He puts many of the problems down to a social shift. "Young men are not following dad or granddad into a trade any more, globalisation means much of British manufacturing has moved east. It was a gradual process, but now it has really hit us."
On role models, he talks about the breakdown in behaviour of footballers and pop stars, and the influence they have. "Although I don't agree with Alex Ferguson's politics, I'm a Manchester United fan, and the revelations from their Christmas party were depressing." He's pleased the new England manager Fabio Capello has introduced a regime of zero tolerance for players who set a bad example. (Note to Cam eron: get Capello on board for a bad boy behaviour white paper.)
Grayling has admirably come up with some policy ideas which could inspire the disaffected young man on the verge of exclusion, involving Lottery-funded sport and more male teachers. However, the most significant area of Conservative policy was outlined recently by the education team with little or no fanfare. Vocational training.
It's always been tricky talking about vocational education if you're a Tory. A strategist says: "It can look like we are saying, 'My kids will obviously go to university and yours can unblock my sink or change the oil in my car.' It's not like that." Nick Gibb, shadow minister for schools, has spent the past year visiting schools. He is convinced that vocational education is paramount, but does not hold back when he talks about the many reasons why the image of vocational education has been so badly tarnished. "Most opinion-formers are from an academic background. Many backed the government's university target because they think that only academic accomplishment could deliver a sense of personal worth. This has poisoned public thoughts on vocational education."
A few weeks ago, during the debate on the Education and Skills Bill in the Commons, Michael Gove, the shadow education secretary, grew increasingly irritable at the bad manners of the Education Secretary, Ed Balls, when he talked, chuckling with chums on the front bench during an intervention on apprenticeships. When Gove pointed out his apparent lack of interest in the subject, an embarrassed Balls turned claret.
So what would the Conservatives do? "Many training programmes dubbed as apprenticeships are not worth the name," says Gibb. "Nearly half are not completed and contain no workplace element. We must lose the idea that the purpose of vocational training is seen as a second-rate fallback for those who struggle with academic work." Under a Conservative government, apprenticeships would be run by employers and based on workplace training. Those training at college would already have secured a job placement. At present, thousands are being "trained", and then are flogged around in an attempt to find them employment. This has been done to manage statistics so it looks as if everyone is busy and doing something.
Like most well-intentioned ideas, the funding side is not heavy in detail. How much the businesses themselves would have to contribute is not mentioned. When asked about this, his answer was that "there has to be an honest debate about who pays for it".
But Gibb is adamant: "Young people have to read and write before anything else. Failure of vocational education in the UK is the result of a lack of clarity about what it's for."
Post this article to
We want to encourage people to comment on our content and to exchange views with other readers and hope this will be done on a courteous basis. However, if you encounter posts which are offensive please let us know by emailing comments@newstatesman.co.uk and we will take swift action where necessary.
