University technical colleges are “failing to deliver a high-quality education” and must abandon recruitment of pupils at age 14 to guarantee their future, a thinktank has said.
The IPPR also said a moratorium should be declared on the opening of new studio schools because they are “particularly vulnerable to a cycle of decline”.
UTCs and studio schools are 14-19 institutions that aim to give students technical skills and work-based learning.
In a report published today, the IPPR says both types of schools are failing to recruit sufficient numbers of pupils, attract a broad mix of students, deliver a balanced curriculum and enhance pupils’ progress.
According to its research seven UTCs and 14 studio schools have closed or announced that they are closing since they were opened in 2011 and 2010 respectively.
The think tank believes significantly more will follow suit, with 13 UTCs and seven studio schools filling less than 50 per cent of planned year 10 places in 2015-16.
The schools are “failing to deliver a high quality education to pupils” it argues, with only 35 per cent of pupils in UTCs and 26 per cent in studio schools achieving five A*-C grades at GCSE in 2015-16.
The report says the schools “experience structural barriers to recruiting pupils at age 14 which are extremely difficult to overcome, and which makes them vulnerable to fall into a cycle of decline”.
These barriers include locals schools not promoting transition at 14 because it means they will lose per-pupil funding if a student opts to move to a UTC.
To turn the UTC programme around, it calls for the next government to abandon transition at 14 and to repurpose UTCs to “deliver high-quality, specialist technical provision to students aged 16-19”, with an emphasis on providing the new T-level qualifications.
All new UTCs should be 16-19, and existing ones should have to convert unless they have a record of high performance, the IPPR recommends.
However, the thinktank says no new studio schools should be opened and existing studio schools should be made to join multi-academy trusts because they are “particularly vulnerable to a cycle of decline”.
Craig Thorley, senior research fellow at the IPPR, said: “These schools are not, on the whole, working for pupils, and face too many barriers to being successful.
“The next Parliament will see a greater commitment to technical and vocational education, in order to form part of a modern industrial strategy post-Brexit.
“In order to save the UTCs programme, these schools should be converted to post-16 providers able to deliver high-quality technical education in line with the needs of young people and the economy.”
However, the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, which was set up to pioneer UTCs, said the IPPR’s report was “flawed and incomplete”.
Charles Parker, the trust’s chief executive, said: “The data used by the IPPR is based on 2013-15 and is out of date.
“It is regrettable that such an inaccurate and unrepresentative report should have been issued by a responsible and reputable institution.”
He said UTCs had “outstanding destination data”, with only five of 1,300 UTC leavers aged 18 in July 2016 not in education, employment or training.
