University Technical Colleges are “delivering the skills that our country needs,” Skills Minister Robert Halfon MP told a packed parliamentary reception hosted by the Baker Dearing Educational Trust on Tuesday 12^th December 2023.

The reception, which also recognised outstanding UTC students, came after UTC Principals, Chairs and multi-academy trust leaders were welcomed to Broadway House in London for the UTC Winter Conference that morning.

“UTCs have stood the test of time”

Opening the conference was Baker Dearing trustee and former education secretary Baroness Estelle Morris, who told attendees the history of the UK education sector was littered with “ideas that have not stood the test of time. UTCs have stood the test of time.”

She criticised the lack of legislation from the Government – with the last two major pieces of school legislation having been withdrawn – stating that: “Legislation is not key to everything, but it does lay out a plan for the future. We’ve not had that and I think we’re frozen in time.”

Baroness Morris also said the next Government needs to “reset the dial” on the relationship between Ofsted and its stakeholders and the public and employers wish there was “greater creativity, more of the arts, more science in a broader curriculum with not so much box ticking.

“There is a mood for change.”

UTC has ‘undone the damage of mainstream school’ 

Following Baroness Morris was UTC Portsmouth Principal James Doherty, who led a workshop on vision and purpose in leadership.

This included tasking attendees with writing down, if they were talking to someone interested in their UTC, what to tell them about the UTC, what makes their UTC unique, and why should a student or staff member apply for their UTC.

UTC Leeds Principal Hannah Wilson then spoke to the conference about the school’s ‘Good’ Ofsted report, published earlier this year.

Inspectors had commended the school for its employer engagement and behaviour, the latter of which Hannah said has been tackled through a zero-tolerance policy on low-level disruption.

“There is now something tangibly different when employers talk to our kids,” Hannah told the conference with regards to behaviour, adding: “Parents say that we have undone the damage of a mainstream school.”

Following Hannah was Ofsted inspector and former UTC Norfolk Principal Alex Hayes, who offered attendees advice on handling inspectors’ deep dives, and warned that the inspectorate is again starting to look at student outcomes. He reinforced a point that Hannah had raised about encouraging parents to use Ofsted’s ParentView portal to feedback on their child’s school experience.

Another strong year for UTCs 

Alex, Hannah, and James then joined a panel with UTC Sheffield Executive Principal Nick Crew and Marc Doyle, an Ofsted lead inspector and chief executive of QUEST Multi-Academy Trust which includes University Collegiate School in Bolton, to take questions from the audience.

While the discussion generated more useful advice on Ofsted inspections, this was tempered by Marc, who told attendees: “If we spend all our time on Ofsted, we’re focusing on the wrong thing. We have got to focus on the children.”

Baker Dearing Educational Trust Chief Executive Simon Connell concluded the conference after the panel discussion, with a presentation highlighting the many successes that the UTC programme has seen in 2023.

This included the announcement last summer that two new UTCs have been approved for Southampton and Doncaster, respectively.

Simon also highlighted how the Ofsted ratings for the UTC network have risen to 84%, above the national average for secondary schools.