Under the leadership of Tony Blair the Labour party committed themselves to increasing the numbers of 18 year olds attending university. The result of this push, combined with an unstable national economic situation, was huge numbers of graduates struggling to find work and feeling let down by the government. As the current government are faced with the disgruntles of graduates unable to find work and heaped in debt, Ed Miliband is using the Labour party conference as an opportunity to put forward a different approach to solving Britain's employment dilemma. The hope is to rebalance an education system which Miliband believes favours a narrow elite.<br/><br/>The Guardian have revealed that Miliband is basing his reforms on Professor Alison Wolf's discovery in a 2011 report commissioned by Gove. Wolf "The staple offer for between a quarter and a third of the post-16 cohort is a diet of low-level vocational qualifications, most of which have little to no labour market value. Among 16 to 19-year-olds, the review estimated that at least 350,000 got little to no benefit from the post-16 education system". The report highlighted that only 4% of 16-year-olds who have failed GCSE Maths and English go on to pass them by the age of 19, an omission that contrasts with the rest of the world's absolute determination to improve basic numeracy and literacy of its post-16 vocational students. Miliband is promising to reform the education system which he believes has failed the 'forgotten 50%' by giving them second-rate vocational qualifications that do not increase their employability. Miliband's plan is to introduce a vocational route leading to a gold standard qualification to be awarded aged 18 called the Technical Baccalaureate. All young people will be required to study English and Maths to the age of 18 in order to qualify for the Tech Bacc award. Miliband is taking inspiration from the German apprenticeship system, which requires companies to sign legally enforceable agreements in which participating firms have to pay a levy to cover the cost of training. Business control of the £1 billion budget will go to the Skills Agency.The Conservatives have retaliated by suggesting that they have their own plans for implementing Miliband's goal and will have achieved it by the time of the next election. Only time will tell whether this increased focus on vocational work will provide the key to opening up the jobs market.
