Technical education is more than hard hats

I know this from experience. I grew up in Cardiff in a family of actors, dancers and musicians and had a place to study drama at university - until a careers adviser suggested an accountancy apprenticeship instead and opened a door I hadn’t even known was there.

I qualified through the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) – a UK awarding and assessment organisation and professional membership body helping people from all backgrounds build careers in finance. By 23, I'd gone on to co-found Mazuma with £100 – today a multi-million-pound accounting software business supporting SMEs across the UK.

Last year, in a full circle moment, I was elected AAT’s youngest-ever president. In the conversations I’ve had with AAT students, I’ve been reminded that my story - of not really understanding the career pathways available to me, of almost taking the wrong route – is still all too common.

Burnham’s decision to focus on closing the gap between the classroom and the workplace is therefore a welcoming starting point. His argument that technical education should be treated as a first choice, not a fallback, is spot on. Better work experience, stronger links with local employers, and more practical learning will help young people gain the skills they need.

But the challenge is not only whether local skills provision is responsive enough. It is whether young people understand the full range of careers that vocational and technical training can unlock.

If we talk about technical education only in terms of hard hats, construction, advanced manufacturing or clean energy, we risk replacing one narrow view of success with another. Those industries are vital, but a country serious about reindustrialising, building homes and delivering good growth in every postcode will need skilled people in every sector, in every region.

I also understand why the Prime Minister wants education to reflect local economies. I've spent my career building a business in Wales, so I know firsthand how important skilled local people are to the growth of businesses of all sizes. But again, those local economies don't only need engineers, electricians and construction workers. They also need accountants, finance technicians and bookkeepers helping thousands of businesses start, grow and create jobs.

This is also where many young people already are. In 2025, banking, finance and insurance accounted for around one in seven jobs held by 16 to 24-year-olds. These are not abstract City careers but practical, skilled and increasingly digital roles available in businesses and communities across the country.

Yet too many young people still do not see them that way. Recent AAT research found that more than two in five people did not see accounting as a profession for “people like me”. That perception is a serious barrier. You cannot choose a career you do not know exists, and you are unlikely to pursue a profession you have been led to believe is for someone else.

Employers feel the consequences too. AAT has found that over a third of employers struggled last year to recruit people for finance and accounting roles with the skill sets they needed. That is bad for young people and the wider economy, because strong finance skills are essential to business growth and productivity.

That is why every young person should leave education with a clear understanding of all the options available to them: academic routes, technical routes, apprenticeships, vocational qualifications and professional pathways. And I’m not talking about a one-off assembly in Year 11.

There is a real urgency to build a greater awareness of the range of pathways into the system earlier, with each part of that system, whether employers and training providers or schools and colleges, working together.

AAT shows what this can look like in practice. Our open-access qualifications in accounting, bookkeeping and business skills help people develop practical knowledge and move into employment without needing a perfect academic route. Recent economic modelling found that people whose highest prior qualification was at GCSE level earned 21% more than the national median after studying with AAT.

Ultimately, the lesson is not that every young person should become an accountant. This career is never going to be right for everyone. Instead, all young people across the UK should be able to see and understand the full range of routes into skilled work that are available.

Burnham’s ambition should therefore be judged not only by how well local education reflects employer demand, but also by whether more young people can see a future that feels achievable and right for them - whether that involves a hard hat, a laptop or something else entirely.

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Lucy Cohen is President of the Association of Accounting Technicians.

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