Edexcel’s Managing Director, Jerry Jarvis, joined a panel of Education and Skills experts for a round-table discussion on practical learning.  The event was hosted by the New Statesman in conjunction with Edge, the independent charitable foundation campaigning for practical learning. 

The panel included Chris Banks CBE, Chairman of the Learning and Skills Council; Bill Rammell MP, Minister for lifelong learning and higher education, DfES; and Liz Smith OBE, Director, TUC’s Unionlearn.  It was chaired by Martin Bright, Political editor of the New Statesman and former education correspondent at the Observer.

The discussion explored why academic and vocational pathways to learning are so disconnected, and how these barriers might be broken down and misconceptions about the value of vocational qualifications improved. 

Bill Rammell MP said: “Many of the degrees that are seen as the most prestigious, are vocational in content, such as medicine, law or engineering.  Esteem and recognition needs to flow cohesively right the way through the system.”

Richard Hamer, Education partnership director, BAe Systems, said: “At BAe Systems, the vocational pathway has always been real.  We have more than a thousand apprentices in training and a culture that encourages practical learning.”

Jerry Jarvis, Managing Director of Edexcel said: “An employer can recognise the difference between a student who has a national certificate and a student who has an A-level.  One is contextual and hits the ground running and has teamwork embedded before starting.”

Read the full supplement online.