Labour’s Deputy Leader and Education Secretary Lucy Powell has backed the Government’s drive to expand technical and vocational education, arguing that education should be a “passport into the working world”.
Powell said around one million young people are currently not in education, employment or training — roughly one in eight — and warned that too many have been left without a clear route into work.
Writing on X, she said:
“Education should be a passport into the working world.”
She added:
“One million young people in this country are not in education, work or training - that’s 1 in 8. Not from a lack of ambition, but a lack of a way in.”
As Education Secretary, Powell said Labour is seeking to close the gap between the classroom and the workplace by bringing employers, schools and colleges together more closely.
A key part of that programme is the expansion of technical and vocational pathways from the age of 14, giving young people greater access to practical skills, work experience and direct links with employers.
Powell said:
“That’s why Labour is bringing employers, schools and colleges together to close the gap between classroom and workplace.”
She added that the new routes would give young people access to “real skills, real work experience, real links to employers where they live”.
Her comments echo Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s warning that the youth unemployment crisis has been “ignored for too long”.
Burnham has argued that young people are not lacking ambition, but opportunities, and has pledged to create more practical routes into employment.
The Government’s approach is also being backed by employers. Sainsbury’s has announced 10,000 new work experience opportunities for young people from October, with a focus on communities facing higher levels of disadvantage and young people who are not currently in education, employment or training.
For Powell, the reforms form part of a broader effort to reshape the education system so that academic success is not treated as the only route to a good career.
As both Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Education Secretary, she has placed skills, technical education and stronger links with employers at the heart of Labour’s approach to tackling youth unemployment and widening opportunity.
