Can Burnham’s vision for Manchester schools work for the rest of England?

Two years ago I stood at the back of a conference room in Manchester Hall over a cup of coffee and watched Andy Burnham unveil his vision for transforming technical education in Greater Manchester.

A year ago he announced plans for the Manchester Baccalaureate, or MBA, and was running in and out in front of a room full of academic and business leaders, armed with PowerPoint slides and guest speakers.

Now, as Prime Minister, Burnham has announced plans to take the idea national and reform the technical education system across England.

At this stage the details are still scarce. We know it will include giving students the option to study more vocational courses and work experience from year 10 onwards, but how it will work in practice is still up in the air.

One thing that is certain is that the thinking and ambition behind it is the same as that which underpins the MBacc: a commitment to providing young people with a clear step-by-step route into practical and technical careers.

The problem is that the MBacc itself can be a difficult concept to wrap your head around if you’re not familiar with it.

Let’s be clear from the start: it’s not like a T-level or any other kind of qualification. In England, the V-levels have been announced In recent years.

Rather, it’s a framework that aims to give youngsters a “clear line of sight to good jobs” in careers and technical fields.

The best way to think about it is in a step-by-step way – draw a flow chart – that teenagers can follow from school to any technical job.

It is developed in parallel with the more obvious academic line. In the year During the July 2024 conference event, Burnham and other speakers made it clear that those who want to move into desk jobs can follow a well-rounded set of GCSEs, A-levels and university degrees.

But for those who want more practical tasks, the landscape is very complicated.

The MBAacc is seen as an effort to simplify that landscape, giving young people interested in entering more professional or technical careers a chance to learn which courses they can take and provide them with real-world work experience.

It describes pathways to employment in seven different categories.

As the MBacc is still in its infancy, its success is difficult to measure.

It is not until 2030 that every youth wants to achieve its mission of providing a clear path to a good career. By 2035, the aim is for every young person to have 45 days of work experience by the age of 19.

According to the most recent figures, the MBacc is offered at 101 secondary schools and colleges in Greater Manchester – around 40% of the total.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority said 1,405 young people gained work experience in its second year.

As those teenagers leave school and enter the world of work, time will tell how much that will change.