After being appointed as Labour’s opportunity mission champion last year, I made it clear my role was to get out and learn from the education institutions that are making a real difference.
It is of course important to know the national numbers on how many students are studying which qualifications and what they progress to. But it is just as important to me to visit education providers and speak to the people there about how they are managing to increase opportunity in their communities as well as support economic growth. As this is a core mission for Institutes of Technology (IoTs), I was delighted to be invited to visit the Greater Birmingham and Solihull IoT hub recently.
An IoT is a strategic collaboration between further education colleges, universities, and employers designed to deliver high-quality technical training in growth sectors. These institutes offer highly-regarded, inclusive education and training designed to equip learners with higher-level skills aligned with local industry needs and national economic priorities. IoTs are spread across England, from Exeter in the Southwest to Durham in the Northeast, providing opportunities for learners to develop careers in areas like advanced manufacturing, clean energy and digital technologies.
I want to champion these institutions, because a coherent place-based approach is important to ensure our young people end up in fulfilling careers whilst boosting economic growth locally. No matter where you are in the country, you deserve good quality, local, technical education, and after that, access to fulfilling careers in the place you grew up. And if you live somewhere with a lot of choice, it should be easy to find the best course for you, not a minefield.
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For those of us lucky enough to start life advantaged and go to university, it can be tempting to think that this is the only route to success. What I saw at GBSIoT was a state-of-the-art Learning Factory — home to one of Europe’s largest cyber-physical manufacturing rigs — and students from further education and higher education working alongside each other, gaining the skills they will need to go on to work in advanced manufacturing roles across the West Midlands.
It is not just Birmingham leading the way in delivering skills-based education to young people. The IoT network is supporting the development of critical British skills across the country. In my own constituency of Hyndburn, the Lancashire & Cumbria IoT has brought together colleges from across the two counties with employer partners like Leyland Trucks to give students the opportunity to build a career in their local industries.
Place-based technical education is equally important for employers. The collaboration within the Lancashire & Cumbria IoT means that when Leyland Trucks reported a need for electric vehicle training for its apprentices, Preston College swiftly integrated a new module directly into their courses.
Manufacturing is but one of the sectors crying out for skilled employees. But preparing people to do well in these sectors isn’t just about the technical skills. I saw at GBSIoT a focus on the individual learner, and huge support for their welfare as well as more transferable skills and career guidance. This is what great education providers do well.
When I was elected just under a year ago, too few people were participating in apprenticeships and training, and too many of our young people were leaving school unprepared for the future. We have since made it our mission to drive up standards and create higher-quality training and employment pathways. This starts by empowering local communities and employers to develop the skills people need. By taking this approach, delivered in partnership with Skills England, we can ensure we have the highly trained workforce needed to deliver Labour’s core missions. It’s clear to me that the IoT Network should be at the heart of delivering on this agenda and our wider opportunity mission.
Labour’s ambition to break the class ceiling won’t be achieved overnight. But with long-term partnerships between educators, employers, and government, we can match high-quality skills with high-quality jobs in every part of the UK. That’s how we create opportunity and drive the inclusive growth our country needs. I am pleased that the government has extended IoT licences to 2028 — that provides welcome stability. But we now need to double-down on this successful model to deliver the real change people across the country are demanding.
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