1 October 2012
Last updated at 21:27 GMT
Miliband targets 'forgotten 50%'
Labour leader Ed Miliband's conference speech will include plans
for a new qualification for the "forgotten" 50% of youngsters who do
not go to university.
1 October 2012
Last updated at 20:59 GMT
Mr Miliband will give what aides describe as a highly personal speech
He will vow to reform apprenticeships by giving businesses more control.
And he will attempt to boost his public profile by talking about his own background and values.
He is under pressure to project a more prime ministerial image after recent polls suggested he trailed his party in popularity and that most people would prefer David Cameron in Number 10.
In what aides were describing as the most personal speech ever given by a British political leader, Mr Miliband will talk about growing up as the son of Jewish refugees who fled the Nazis.
Highly skilled workforce And he will speak about his experiences of attending a North London comprehensive school - although he will stop short of explicitly contrasting this with Mr Cameron's more privileged background.
He will say: "I was born at my local NHS hospital, the same hospital where my two sons were born. And I went to my local school with people from all backgrounds."
"My school taught us a lot more than just how to pass exams: it taught people how to get on with each other, whoever they are and wherever they were from."
Mr Miliband will declare that the next Labour government will reform education and apprenticeships in partnership with business to pave the way for a more highly skilled and highly paid workforce.
"For years and years, our party has focused on those young people who go to university," he will say.
"But it's time now to focus on those who don't go to university.
"The young people who are too often the forgotten 50%. We cannot succeed if we have an education system which only works for half the country."
'Fast track' The aim is for the new qualification to replace the dozens of existing vocational qualifications with a single "gold standard" exam, that will also include maths and English.
Labour would also carry out a major reform of apprenticeships, giving control of the £1bn budget for on-the-job training to business and allowing firms more of a say in setting the standards for vocational qualifications.
"Sector by sector, we're going to give business the power and responsibility to make sure the training happens," he will say.
There would be a new "fast track" for apprentices to match the one that already exists to get bright graduates into the civil service and all large firms with government contracts would be forced to provide apprenticeships.
He will tell delegates: "I want ours to be a country where kids aspire not just to go to Oxford and Cambridge but to excellent technical colleges and elite vocational institutions.
"We need to do what we haven't done in decades: build a culture in our country where vocational qualifications are not seen as second class certificates but for what they can be - a real route on and up to quality apprenticeships and jobs."
On Monday, Mr Miliband averted a head-on clash with unions amid tensions over pay restraint and cuts.
A proposed union motion condemning the current pay freeze for public sector workers was watered down, avoiding the danger of defeat for the Labour leadership, who insist preserving jobs must take priority over pay rises.
Labour conference: Ed Miliband to unveil new exam
Mr Miliband will give what aides describe as a highly personal speech
Labour
leader Ed Miliband is to pledge to transform the lives of the
"forgotten" 50% of young people in England who do not go to university.
In his keynote speech in Manchester, Mr Miliband will unveil
proposals for a new qualification - the technical baccalaureate - to be
taken at 18.He will vow to reform apprenticeships by giving businesses more control.
And he will attempt to boost his public profile by talking about his own background and values.
He is under pressure to project a more prime ministerial image after recent polls suggested he trailed his party in popularity and that most people would prefer David Cameron in Number 10.
In what aides were describing as the most personal speech ever given by a British political leader, Mr Miliband will talk about growing up as the son of Jewish refugees who fled the Nazis.
Highly skilled workforce And he will speak about his experiences of attending a North London comprehensive school - although he will stop short of explicitly contrasting this with Mr Cameron's more privileged background.
He will say: "I was born at my local NHS hospital, the same hospital where my two sons were born. And I went to my local school with people from all backgrounds."
"My school taught us a lot more than just how to pass exams: it taught people how to get on with each other, whoever they are and wherever they were from."
Mr Miliband will declare that the next Labour government will reform education and apprenticeships in partnership with business to pave the way for a more highly skilled and highly paid workforce.
"For years and years, our party has focused on those young people who go to university," he will say.
"But it's time now to focus on those who don't go to university.
"The young people who are too often the forgotten 50%. We cannot succeed if we have an education system which only works for half the country."
'Fast track' The aim is for the new qualification to replace the dozens of existing vocational qualifications with a single "gold standard" exam, that will also include maths and English.
Labour would also carry out a major reform of apprenticeships, giving control of the £1bn budget for on-the-job training to business and allowing firms more of a say in setting the standards for vocational qualifications.
"Sector by sector, we're going to give business the power and responsibility to make sure the training happens," he will say.
There would be a new "fast track" for apprentices to match the one that already exists to get bright graduates into the civil service and all large firms with government contracts would be forced to provide apprenticeships.
He will tell delegates: "I want ours to be a country where kids aspire not just to go to Oxford and Cambridge but to excellent technical colleges and elite vocational institutions.
"We need to do what we haven't done in decades: build a culture in our country where vocational qualifications are not seen as second class certificates but for what they can be - a real route on and up to quality apprenticeships and jobs."
On Monday, Mr Miliband averted a head-on clash with unions amid tensions over pay restraint and cuts.
A proposed union motion condemning the current pay freeze for public sector workers was watered down, avoiding the danger of defeat for the Labour leadership, who insist preserving jobs must take priority over pay rises.
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