Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, has announced education reforms that would allow pupils in England from age 14 — Year 10 — to study technical subjects such as manufacturing and AI alongside core academic subjects like English and maths. BBC News

The government described the reforms as a "fundamental change to the education system" and said the courses would be linked to local jobs and industries. The BBC understands ministers expect the new pathways into work to be operational in some areas by 2028. Ofsted will change the way it measures performance and will inspect for technical education as part of the reforms.

Burnham said "for too long" students had been told to take academic subjects to "do well and be respected." In an op-ed in The Times, he wrote that in the age of AI, practical and technical skills have become "more valuable than ever" and that Britain will need engineers, electricians and cybersecurity experts. He listed construction, coding, classics, maths, manufacturing and mechanics as valued pathways.

The announcement lands against a challenging backdrop. Data published earlier in 2025 showed more than one million young people across the UK were not in education, employment or training (NEET) — the highest level in more than 12 years. That figure covers all four nations, and education policy itself is devolved: what is announced for England would not automatically apply in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, where Holyrood, the Senedd and Stormont respectively set their own curricula.

The Association of School and College Leaders welcomed the ambition but raised concerns about school capacity, citing tight budgets and ongoing special educational needs reforms. Those caveats will resonate with headteachers who have watched successive technical-education initiatives falter at the implementation stage — from the 14–19 Diplomas of the late 2000s through to T-level delivery challenges in recent years. A reform that requires schools to offer manufacturing workshops, AI teaching and industry-linked courses demands capital investment, trained staff and timetable space that many secondaries would struggle to find from existing budgets.

Burnham's track record in Greater Manchester gives the announcement a concrete foundation. He introduced the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate, or MBacc, as a technical education pathway offering an alternative to the university route, first unveiling plans for two equal pathways for young people in 2023. GMCA He followed that with a plan to "turbocharge" growth in the city-region through the MBacc in July 2024. GMCA Sixty businesses publicly backed the vision that autumn. GMCA

More recently, employers in Greater Manchester pledged 1,000 new industry placements to support technical education in the city-region, according to a GMCA announcement in January 2026. GMCA Greater Manchester students were also the first to access a new computing certificate from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, aimed at boosting AI and digital skills, in July 2025. GMCA

The broader context here is one of shifting political gravity. A metro mayor originally elected to run transport and housing has steadily built a parallel education architecture in his city-region, and is now positioning that model as a template for national reform. Whether Whitehall can replicate the Greater Manchester approach — with its employer partnerships, mayoral leverage and concentrated industrial base — across English regions with very different economic profiles is the question that will determine whether these reforms succeed where previous efforts stalled.

The inclusion of Ofsted inspection changes is notable. Performance measurement has long driven school behaviour; if inspectors assess technical education provision, headteachers will take it seriously. But it also means the reforms cannot be quietly shelved: once Ofsted's framework changes, schools face accountability for delivery regardless of funding pressures.

The 2028 target for operational pathways gives officials roughly two academic years to design curricula, train or recruit teaching staff, and build employer networks. In Greater Manchester, that scaffolding has been under construction since 2023. For the rest of England, the timetable is considerably tighter.