FST BLOG

University Technical Colleges – Educating today’s young people for tomorrow's careers

• 30 January 2023
• Education, Technology
• Simon Connell

With almost 50 schools located around the country, delivering to around 20,000 pupils, University Technical Colleges are well established as high-quality providers of a science and technology curriculum.

UTCs grew out of the concern shared by former education secretary Lord Baker and former Post Office chief executive Lord Dearing that the school system does not address employers’ need for work-ready 18-year-olds, armed with the technical skills suited to the modern economy.

This led the two to establish the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, to help spread UTCs across the country, in partnership with local employers and delivering a high-quality experience for talented young people.

The need for a greater supply of skilled young people has taken centre stage over the past year, with many industries being held back by labour and supply shortages in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The pressing need among employers for skilled workers is matched by the growing demand from young people for greater access to technical education. The number of UTC students has been increasing and two established UTCs are now looking to open additional schools in their areas to meet demand.

A survey recently undertaken by the Baker Dearing Educational Trust found nearly 50 per cent of UTC students who joined at GCSE-level already had an idea of what they wanted to do as a career and felt the UTC was right for them. Eighty-five per cent of Year 11 students felt they had opportunities and experiences not available at their previous school.

The UTC programme is consistently delivering strong results for its students and employers, with a quarter of leavers progressing to an apprenticeship last summer. Ninety-four per cent of those apprenticeship starts were A-level equivalent or above, allowing those young people to develop their technical skills to fill key gaps in our industrial capacity.

The UTC journey to meet the needs of local employers

The ball started rolling with UTCs when Lord Baker and Lord Dearing lobbied the Department for Education to support the establishment of the first UTC - The JCB Academy in Staffordshire – in 2010.

In the following thirteen years of the programme, successful UTCs have been based on a common approach:

• A focus on active, rather than passive learning with a large component of project-based education.
• Strong ties with local employers which help shape the UTC’s curriculum and provide regular opportunities for students to interact with industry.
• A dedication to securing the best outcomes for our students by acquainting them with a professional work environment and cutting-edge equipment and facilities.
• As strong an emphasis on so-called soft skills, such as communication and teamwork, as on technical skills.
• Partnerships with local universities to aid UTC students’ understanding of, and confidence in, new and expanding sectors such as experimental science.

It is this ‘UTCness,’ as we call it, which means students can expect a consistent standard and format of delivery across the UTC network: from North East Futures UTC in Newcastle down to UTC Plymouth

Yet each UTC has developed to match the demands of their employers and students more closely, as well as react to the changing tides of education policy.

A fifth of UTCs are now offering T Levels, the government’s technical education alternative to A-levels. UTC Warrington is set to become the first school in the country to offer just T Levels from this September.

Each UTC has also specialised in sectors which are relevant to their local employers. The Leigh UTC in Dartford has angled its curriculum to focus on computer science and engineering, with a state-of-the-art server room and engineering hall packed with industry-standard equipment to aid delivery.

Elstree Screen Arts Academy, less than an hour north of The Leigh UTC, specialises in media and the entertainment industries to support employer partners including Elstree Studios, Sky, the BBC, and NBC Universal

One of the original tenets of the UTC programme was an atypical 14-19 age range. But over time, in response to the needs of young people, many UTCs have opted to welcome students at the age of 13 instead. This has not only helped those UTCs align with the local education system and build student numbers, but it has also engaged young people in technical education at an earlier age.

The UTC programme has also evolved so more of our schools are now part of a multi-academy trust. This, again, cements their place in the education system of their local area and strengthens the UTC’s finances and student numbers.

Of course, it is vital that UTCs meet the same educational thresholds as all other schools. Today, 85 per cent of all UTCs are judged by Ofsted as ‘good or better’, which is above the national average of 80 per cent for all secondary schools.

UTC sleeves: Growing the impact of a UTC education

Having established what works when delivering technical education, the UTC programme is always eager to share its expertise with employers and other education providers. To that end, we have launched the UTC sleeve initiative.

A UTC sleeve involves a secondary school offering the technical education curriculum which is used in UTCs alongside their usual academic pathway. The curriculum is developed with the help of an employer board and support from a local UTC. Students enter the sleeve at age 14 and leave at 18.

One sleeve is already up and running in Bristol and we are working with a series of other schools on establishing further sleeves. Crucially, the UTC sleeve is deliverable in a short time frame, and makes use of existing pots of government funding, particularly those set aside for the introduction of T Levels

Should you be interested in discussing the sleeve project, please do not hesitate to get in touch through our website.

Today, the UTC programme is continuing to deliver on its original vision. The benefits of the blended academic, technical, practical, and employability-focused curriculum are clear to see in the outstanding student leaver destinations achieved each year.

With this track record, and the acute national skills shortage, now is the right time to rapidly grow the programme’s impact. This way, more young people can have access to this highly relevant form of education, and this, in turn, will increase the flow of talent employers so desperately need. The UTC sleeve is a deliverable, cost-effective approach to achieving this.

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