
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has set out plans to create equal pathways for young people to pursue academic or technical qualifications when choosing their GCSEs.
The schemes expand on Greater Manchester’s devolved power for post-16 technical education to support the one in three young people in the city-region who do not want to pursue further studies at university.
Andy Burnham has announced the creation of a Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc) to parallel the EBacc England-wide scheme to guide students towards choosing GCSEs that will set them up best for further academic study. The MBacc is designed to fill in the gap for students wishing to pursue technical career options, and the the remaining two-thirds of 14-16 year olds who do not work towards or achieve the EBacc.
The proposal is that by September 2024 the MBacc will guide students towards subjects which will maximise their chances of getting a good job in key growth sectors in the Greater Manchester economy, such as Engineering, Computer Science or the creative subjects. Young people on the MBacc route would take subjects such as Engineering, Business Studies and Art and Design alongside the core of Maths, English and Computer Science – or an ICT equivalent.
A consultation with government and local partners would take place on the proposed MBacc route subjects.
The MBacc will be designed to steer young people on the technical route to seven different career gateways at age 16 which represent the strongest areas of the Greater Manchester economy, including:
- Manufacturing and Engineering
- Financial and Professional
- Digital and Technology
- Health and Social Care
- Creative, Culture and Sport
- Education and Early Years
- Construction and Green Economy.
Each of the gateways will lead to a group of quality T Levels, accompanying work placements and other technical qualifications.
Also announced yesterday (16th May) as part of the city-region’s investment in post-16 education is an expansion of the Greater Manchester’s Apprenticeship and Careers Service (GMACS), which will be expanded to sit alongside the UCAS university admissions service, and allow young people to explore their options in one place, and put technical and academic career paths on a more equal footing.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said:
“For too long we have ignored the value of technical skills and that ends today in Greater Manchester. We want to create equivalent opportunities for our young people in Greater Manchester and ensure they are provided with the tools to achieve their career aspirations, with the idea of an MBacc, developing our GMACS offer and through partnership working with employers.
“The EBacc is great for young people who want to go onto university, but there is no equivalent suite of qualifications at 14 and 16 that align with the real-life employment opportunities being created in our city-region. There is also no direct link to employers, leading to skills gaps in the Greater Manchester economy and confusion from young people on what they need to do to secure a job in their chosen industry. Today is the start of the journey of creating a clear and equal pathway for technical education.”
Cllr Eamonn O’Brien, GMCA lead for Education, Work, Skills, Apprenticeships and Digital, said:
“Employers say there is wide demand for skills in areas such as digital, education and early years or construction, but our current skills system is not linking young people to these jobs.
“Our ambition is to start with what is already working well, in this case the well-travelled route to university, and ensure young people have the same route to technical education.
“By using the powers granted from the Trailblazer Devolution deal, we will be able to create a system which ensures the city-region is a fair and equal place for everyone to get ahead in life and work.
“We are putting forward some ideas about how this can be done, not as an end in itself but as the start of a discussion about how, working together, we can move towards the vision of Greater Manchester as an integrated technical education, skills and work city-region.”