The Baker Dearing Educational Trust wants to create new technical education pathways in existing secondary schools based on the University Technical College model.
UTCs are specialist institutions supported by university partners that offer technical education to students aged 14 to 18. There are currently 20,000 students being educated in around 50 UTCs across the country.
The new model would see so-called UTC “sleeves” set up in mainstream secondary schools to offer more accessible technical education options for students.
The Baker Dearing Educational Trust has already supported the establishment of a UTC sleeve at Abbeywood Community School in Bristol, which it says has proved “successful”. It adds that “several multi-academy trusts have expressed their interest in the initiative”.
The charity has now launched a consultation on the initiative to gauge support for the idea.
A statement said: “At pre-16, UTC sleeves will offer an integrated path of study – rather than a discrete selection of subjects – with students being prepared for T levels, which the sleeve will offer at post-16.”
Each sleeve will also replicate other characteristics of a UTC curriculum, including employer-based projects which aim to develop employability skills.
It says that the development of a UTC sleeve, including its curriculum, will be informed by an employer board of representatives from local companies. This curriculum could include skills specialisms which are in short supply locally.
Baker Dearing Educational Trust chief executive Simon Connell said: “Schools, students, parents, and employers are eager for a careers-focused technical education which gives young people the skills they need to take up fulfilling careers in industries in dire need of fresh talent.
“This consultation should be seen as a rallying cry for educationalists and stakeholders to show their support for the UTC sleeve initiative – which will create hubs of technical education excellence within successful schools.
“In addition to the new UTCs which have been put forward in the latest free schools round, the sleeve initiative demonstrates educators’ and employers’ appetite for technical education which is built by employers with students in mind.”
Headteacher at Abbeywood Community School Benjamin Dilley added: “We have both enjoyed and benefited from operating a UTC sleeve at Abbeywood Community School. Students have really engaged with the specialist curriculum and greater focus on preparing them for the world of work and the specialist pathway is complementing their other subjects.
"It has helped us offer a wider array of options to students and families in our community and encouraged those with an interest in engineering to join our school. Meanwhile, our employer partners have been supportive in discussing our curriculum and we look forward to working more collaboratively to design an even more bespoke curriculum. Our employer partners are excited by the possibility for a pipeline of young, work-ready talent.”
- Baker Dearing Educational Trust: UTCSleeve: A UTC pathway formainstream schools, 2023: https://bit.ly/3Ijv5Kl
- Baker Dearing Educational Trust: UTCSleeve: Consultation, February 2023: https://bit.ly/3EvgXg1