MORE teens should think about becoming brickies or sparkies, says the Education Secretary on GCSE results day.
Bridget Phillipson ripped into the Tories for turning kids into “Zoom guinea pigs” during the pandemic with little support.
She also blamed her predecessors for the crumbling concrete crisis – which forced students into makeshift classrooms in portacabins.
Writing in The Sun, she praised pupils for their hard work in tough times and vowed to turn things around.
Backing The Sun’s Builder Better Britain campaign, she stressed the urgent need for “good, well-paid trades” that keep the country moving.
She wrote: “This country needs graduates but to get Britain moving again we also need skilled technicians – brickies, electricians, IT engineers, plumbers, builders, carpenters, mechanics, welders, roofers.
“These are good, well-paid trades that help people get on in life and drive economic growth across the UK – but too few young people are pursuing these careers and it’s holding Britain back.”
She went on: “I want to deliver an age of opportunity in this country, and that means securing a new era of vocational training for our young people.
“We’ll do that by reviewing the curriculum and closing any qualification gaps so that kids have a better choice of vocational pipelines.
“And we’ll simplify taxes on employers that fund apprenticeship training to open up routes that get young people into good skilled jobs.”
