The Triple Alliance: what went wrong? What can be done?

Abstract

The paper considers the need for a triple alliance between the world of employment, government and the education service, argues that in Britain the alliance is not functioning effectively—and perhaps never has done so—and asks what can be done about it? Evidence for failure—or absence—of a triple alliance is drawn from the lack of longer‐term planning, the undesirable conflict between the concepts of education and training, our apparent inability to provide effectively for the retraining and updating of the workforce, and the incoherence of our educational systems and structures. A reference to the Bryce Commission of 1895 suggests that such problems are long‐standing ones. It is argued that the national educational system (at least in England) has traditionally favoured values such as those implied by the phrase ‘the high culture of the mind’ above the creation of wealth (in its widest sense). A change in the balance of educational values is called for. How is this to be brought about?—First of all, by the creation of an effective triple alliance. The paper ends by demonstrating the urgent need for effective planning for the next decade when the likely demand from industry for a substantial increase in graduates and diplomates with engineering and IT skills, together with the need for many more primary and (later) secondary teachers, will conflict with the downward demographic trends at post‐secondary level.