In a keynote speech to business leaders at the British Chambers of Commerce Education Summit on Thursday, she said: “I want to create an army of skilled young people for British business. But I need your help. Government can’t do it alone.
“Because that’s what we need, never more than now. A skills revolution for Brexit Britain. Great companies need great people. And my department has a mission to give our young people the very best start – to become those great people.”
During her speech, the Education Secretary also outlined government plans for new ‘T-Levels’, backed by an extra £500 million of government investment per year announced in the Budget.
Greening said: “We will introduce a new certificate – the T-Level – which will be a gold standard for technical and professional excellence. Offered alongside apprenticeships, they will form the basis of our new technical education system.
“And because we need to beat countries with the best technical education – countries like Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway – we need to invest in more hours of skills training, in better quality skills training, to rival their offers.
“That’s why the Chancellor announced additional funding for T-Levels as part of the March budget – rising to over half a billion pounds per year.”
She continued: “Delivering these reforms will be a challenge. I am clear there is only one way to get this right – through a genuine partnership between business, government and education professionals. This means we need a collective plan. One plan. One team. For skills.
“A skills revolution. A technical education revolution. That is how we meet those challenges – head on. It’s how we build our future.”
The full speech is available here.
