Mr. Andrew Brownlee:

The Senator made a really good point on the issues of disadvantage and practical skills and how that works or does not work in an online setting. We stressed from day one that during restrictions, even level 5 restrictions, disadvantaged students must still be allowed come in to some extent in order to be supported in small, socially distanced groups and that practical skills training still has to be delivered on site. We got support for that approach. It is really important. It taught us that even with those types of offerings, there are opportunities to blend on-site learning with smaller, bite-size portions of online learning. That is part of the overall learning on this issue.

The Senator asked whether lessons have been learned for the wider education sector. I think the real opportunity here is to get away from the idea that education is something one does between the ages of 17 and 21 and it takes one into a job and one never needs to worry about it again. We need to use much more online flexible provision to make lifelong learning something with which people engage throughout their lifetimes and careers. We will need to continually upskill and reskill to meet the needs of the future world of work. That is the change and the opportunity we now have, partly as a result of Covid. We have seen what is possible. As the Senator noted, not everything is possible, but if we can break what we offer down into more accessible, bite-size chunks and offer it through models such as e-college, we will be able to get to everyone and create the kind of society and economy that we wish to have. That is the real lesson there. I do not believe that 67% of school-leavers going into higher education is the right balance for any kind of modern economy. We need more of those people to choose to go into apprenticeship and further education and training. That is something on which we are proactively working.