On BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, the association’s president Dianne Johnson warned that apprenticeships and vocational training had been effectively downgraded in UK society, with skilled workers being perceived as "second-class citizens" in the education system.
Commenting on the release of A-level results today (19 August), she said that with an ageing skilled workforce in areas such as electrical contracting, the UK is "sitting on a ticking time bomb with skills".
John Bangs, National Union of Teachers head of education, backed her comments, saying "vocational training had suffered in recent years".
He said: "One of the problems is that vocational and academic skills are seen as separate. It is too often assumed that someone with one cannot have the other."
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