Over the last week I've been thinking about the new breed of schools, University Technical Colleges.  Focused on bringing together employers and the higher education sector, these 14-19 academies are seen by Lord Baker as the last rung in the education ladder as laid out under the 1944 Education Act.

Project based and centred on technical and vocational skills and training, these schools are seen to fill the need for a craft and manual curriculum creating groups of young people with the tools that local and national business need. The first UTC - the JCB Academy is set to open soon. With the backing of big employers, Rolls Royce and JCB themselves, the first of what Lord Baker hopes will be many, will no doubt open to the applause that is given to the new.

To support this employer led curriculum and sitting alongside the more academic in nature, a new technical Bacc is likely to rival the English Bacc.  Valuing the vocational route that the young people of 14 years old, UTCs and the Technical Bacc are as yet untried. 

One of the key aspects for these new approaches will be how 'equivalent' the vocational will be to the academic, the technical Bacc to the English Bacc. This is critical since without equivalency we will continue to value the academic above the vocational and continue to see some forms of education of a superior quality compared with others. This is all the more important given the Government's commitment to international comparisons and I read with interest the early work that OfQual is involved with developing. 

In Learning Plus UK, our commitment is to providing accessible education performance data that supports practitioners to improve their practice. Our work with local authorities, schools and colleges is beginning to raise some interesting issues about the equivalence of A levels compared with BTECs and the way students make choices about their routes of study. Understanding the link between GCSE results and the next steps in young peoples education careers is all the more important as the level of young people not in education, employment or training continues to rise and the Government remains committed to raising the participation age.   Couple this with the concern voiced by the Wolf Review on the plethora of vocational courses and their emphasis on young people acquiring Maths and English and understanding what makes educational success will be critical.

If UTCs are to be a success, they will need to understand the skills, knowledge and aptitudes that young people bring with them at age 14. Setting the performance bar too high or too low will lead to a cohort of students who again 'fail' in the system. Rather than being another rung in the education ladder, UTCs could end up narrowing aspiration and restricting rather than broadening the educational choices available. And at age 14 that might mean closing doors too early.