Lack of provision for students in English schools who don’t go down the traditional academic route is “shameful”, according to education expert Sir Kevan Collins.

Speaking at an event on social inequality in schools, the chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation said poor technical education was one of the biggest problems in British schools.

“If you’re 15 in England, and you’re not going down the A-level [to] university route, quite frankly I think what’s offered to you is shameful,” Sir Kevan told the event on social mobility in education

“That group of young people in England who aren’t on route one, [as] I call it, the offer is one of the great crises in our education system.

‘A shambles’

“For me, if the secretary of state for education in England could do one thing, it would be to mend post-16 for young people who aren’t going to university. We’ve never got it right, it’s a shambles, and I think it’s shameful.”

The government has made improving technical education a priority in a bid to close the UK’s yawning skills gap.

But concerns have been mounting about whether the new qualifications and technical schools are fit for purpose.

Education secretary Damian Hinds has refused to delay the roll-out of new T levels despite advice from his own department the current timeframe looks “challenging”.

T levels a ‘massive priority’

A “damning” study of university technical colleges (UTCs), another of the Department for Education’s flagship policies, said they were in need of a fundamental overhaul.

Despite the DfE pledging £330 million of capital spending on UTCs, the Education Policy Institute found that more than half of students drop out between the ages of 16 and 17.

“This is why getting T-levels, as the latest attempt [to improve the technical education provision] in place, is a massive priority,” said Sir Kevan.

The DfE has been contacted for comment.