![\"Gavin](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/files\/2019\/07\/EAQyd-NWkAAcgAz-1024x576.jpg\")
Gavin Williamson, who was previously defence secretary, has been appointed as education secretary by Boris Johnson.\u00a0 The Prime Minister announced his intention to invest in \u2018further education and skills\u2019 in order to develop technical and vocational skills for the 50% of young people who do not go to university.<\/p>\n
It has already been confirmed that Williamson\u2019s \u2018skills brief\u2019 included Further Education, Skills and Apprenticeships.\u00a0 A spokesperson for the Department for Education stated that \u2018further education and skills will be a priority for this government \u2013 and the Education Secretary taking the lead for this vital work is a reflection of that commitment.\u2019 (FE News<\/a>)<\/p>\n TES<\/a> explained that, because Williamson is now directly in charge of further education, the sector now holds a full seat at the cabinet table.\u00a0 He will also be supported by Kemi Badenoch (minister for children and families), who is a former apprentice who took her A Levels at a further education college.<\/p>\n Stephen Evans, Chief Executive of Learning and Work Institute commented that increased investment in further education \u2018is essential for the UK to kickstart stalled progress in improving learning and skills. That must be at the heart of a strategy to secure our future prosperity and make sure everyone has a fair chance in life.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The appointment of Gavin Williamson as education secretary and the focus on further education and skills seems promising for the future of apprenticeships, and Williamson himself seems excited to be a part of the Department for Education:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Apprenticeships are hugely beneficial to businesses and are a great way to attract and retain the best talent. Using degree apprenticeships to train new employees or upskill existing ones is a great business move to consider, and\u00a0the University of Kent<\/a>\u00a0offer a fully managed apprenticeship service which will support both business and student throughout the degree apprenticeship.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Secretary of State for Education works in the Department for Education, and takes responsibility for: Early years Children\u2019s social care Teachers\u2019 pay The school … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56574,"featured_media":619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[178759,178771,178723,178767,178719],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56574"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":622,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions\/622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Gavin](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chda\/files\/2019\/07\/williamson-1.png\")