Leading Article: Talking to a brick wall on training

BRITISH bricklayers have been shamefully misled, the Daily Mirror gleefully reported last week. Responsibility for a 'cruel job con' lay with its rival tabloid, the Sun. The paper had reported that, after fire had swept the Malibu area of California, bricklayers, painters and carpenters could make fortunes rebuilding homes. More than a hundred readers flew out, some sinking their savings into the air fare, only to find that there were no jobs available. Now, some men are stranded, sleeping on the beaches.

A bad business. But it seemed a little excessive of the Mirror to invite its readers to wring the Sun editor's neck. A much bigger con trick was reported the same day. This concerned Britain's almost comically inadequate attempts at vocational education. For years, our training of skilled workers has been underfunded, undervalued and disorganised. This is why British workmanship is a national joke. Now, according to a report from Manchester University, the Government has introduced new vocational education courses that will make things worse. College students are working without proper syllabuses and textbooks on courses that contain so little general education in such areas as maths that students will be incapable of adapting to changes in technology. If schools are to be encouraged, as we report on page one, to offer an education like this to 14-year-olds, it would be a disaster.

The terrible truth is that, even if jobs were available in California, employers would prefer Dutch and German workers, who get a hugely superior vocational education. We need shed no tears for Wapping; the necks to be wrung are at the Department for Education.