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Schools to offer technical subjects to pupils from age 14, Burnham says

ended 28. July 2026

Secondary school pupils in England will be able to study subjects like manufacturing and AI in addition to core academic learning under reforms outlined by Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

The government said the courses, which would be available from Year 10, would be linked to local industries and designed to give children a clearer pathway into work.

Data published this year showed more than one million young people across the UK were not in education, employment or training, the highest level in more than 12 years.

The government has described the policy as a "fundamental change to the education system" but few details behind the broad political vision have been published so far.

Writing in the Times, Burnham said: "In the age of AI, practical and technical skills haven't become less valuable - they've become more valuable than ever. Britain will need brilliant engineers, electricians and cybersecurity experts more than ever before.

"For the first time, technical education will be at the heart of our curriculum, not bolted onto the sides."

  • What is your response to the development?
  • Does the education system need revamping? Is this the right direction? 
  • What are the pros and cons of this?

Responses asap.

6 responses from the Newspage community

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Scott GallacherVerified
Director at Rowley Turton
It's encouraging to see technical education being given greater prominence. Not every young person is best served by a purely academic route, and the UK desperately needs more people with practical and technical skills.

The challenge is making sure this is real technical education, not simply academic subjects with practical-sounding titles. I hope this doesn't become the educational equivalent of replacing music with music technology – where the name changes but students end up with less hands-on experience. AI and advanced manufacturing are important, but so are engineering, construction, electrical, plumbing and other practical skills that employers are crying out for.

We have tried to elevate technical education before, but too often it lacked the funding, facilities and prestige of the academic route. If this is genuinely going to transform opportunities for young people, the Government will need to back its ambition with serious, sustained investment.
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Nouran MoustafaVerified
Practice Principal & IFA at Roxton Wealth
From my perspective, this is one of the very few genuinely positive reforms proposed by a Labour government. It is a very welcome and much-needed change. The education system absolutely needs revamping, and this is the right direction.

We need to move away from pushing every pupil towards A-levels, university and expectations the job market may not meet. Schools should prepare young people for the modern economy, especially as AI replaces some roles while demand grows for engineers, electricians and cybersecurity specialists.

The key benefit is that more young people could enter skilled work, earn sooner, pay tax and rely less on student loans or state support. However, this will only work if there is a clear route from school into apprenticeships and employment. Businesses must be encouraged to offer those opportunities, which means reviewing employment costs and regulation. Without that pathway, we risk giving young people skills but no realistic route into work.
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Kate UnderwoodVerified
Founder & Chief People Strategist at Kate Underwood HR and Training
I like the direction of travel, but success will come down to how it’s delivered. For years we’ve measured success by exam results and university places, while practical skills have often been seen as second best. The reality is employers need both. AI is changing the workplace, not replacing it. Young people will need technical skills, but they’ll also need to communicate, solve problems, work in teams and adapt. Those are the skills that build careers. The key is making sure this isn’t just another qualification. It needs genuine links with local employers, hands-on experience and teaching that reflects the real world. We’ve spent years preparing children to pass exams. It’s time we started preparing them to succeed in life.
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Samuel Mather-HolgateVerified
Managing Director & IFA at Mather and Murray Financial
This is the right instinct, but the hard part is not inventing new courses- it is making them worth taking. Technical education has been treated for too long as the poor relation of academic study, when Britain badly needs people who can build, wire, code, repair and manufacture. The risk is that AI and manufacturing become shiny optional add-ons chosen only by pupils already interested in them. Schools need proper employer links, respected qualifications, clear routes into apprenticeships and universities, and careers advice that does not treat vocational routes as second best. Making every subject mandatory may be too blunt, but every pupil should leave school with exposure to practical, technical and digital skills. Done well, this could make education more relevant. Done badly, it becomes another slogan with a GCSE timetable attached.
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Harvey DhillonVerified
Founder & CEO at Zmartly
UK graduate vacancies fell 42 per cent in a year, to 8,398 in May, the steepest annual drop on record. So the university route is not being downgraded by this government. It is being downgraded by AI, and Burnham is catching up rather than leading. I see it inside my own profession. Trainee accountants used to learn the job on ledgers, data entry and reconciliations, and software now does all three. The World Economic Forum ranks bookkeeping and payroll clerks among the fastest-declining jobs on earth. We have spent 40 years building an education system that produces exactly the workers AI replaces first. The GCSE was designed in 1986, for an economy that needed careful processors of information. The machines do that now. What is left is judgement, and the work a machine cannot physically do. Backing technical routes is right.
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Colette MasonVerified
AI Ethics Consultant at Clever Clogs AI
Teaching 14-year-olds about AI before AI has proved it can consistently deliver value beyond old-school logic-based automation is an odd priority for a government trying to fix a million young people being NEET.

The infrastructure and cybersecurity announcements have teeth. The UK has a 3,800-a-year shortfall in cyber professionals, 44% of businesses lack basic cyber skills, and nearly half of organisations hit by attacks in the past year took weeks to recover. Training young people for those roles makes immediate, measurable sense. But "AI" as a curriculum subject in 2026 is a political garnish, not an employment strategy. The technology is shifting faster than any school syllabus can keep pace with, and what counts as an AI skill today may be irrelevant by the time these students sit their first job interview. Further, Britain has a well-documented brain drain in exactly these technical fields. We invest, and they take the skills to NY, Frankfurt, or Singapore for better wages.