Thousands of pupils will be offered the chance to opt out of academic study at 14 to undertake vocational training

Within the next five years, up to 70 technical schools teaching practical skills such as bricklaying will be opened, aimed at equipping a new generation of workers with the skills for business.

The new scheme is one of the most radical shake-ups of the education system since the creation of comprehensives, and is being headed up by Lord Baker of Dorking, the former Conservative education secretary. He described how: “If we are going to have high-speed rail, the fastest broadband in the world, new nuclear power stations, we are going to need technicians, we simply don’t have enough technically orientated people coming through.”

Each of the proposed schools would cater for up to 800 pupils aged 14 to 19 and would be sponsored by a university or further education college. They would also have links with employers. One technical school, sponsored by the plant machinery company JCB, has already opened in Staffordshire. Five more are planned for the autumn and between 12 and 20 for September next year.

The colleges are planned in areas including Walsall, Hackney, Southwark, Central Bedfordshire, Luton, Norwich, Wigan, Sheffield, Warrington, Daventry and Knowsley.

The full story can be found on the Telegraph website.