Choose the right future

YOUNG people in Bridgend will need better skills for future employment in the growing economy of Wales and Labour will deliver these opportunities if it wins the Assembly elections.

Labour will make new, high quality, vocational courses available to 14- 19 years olds of all abilities in Wales from 2008 and give young people the training that directly relates to their future careers.

New courses in fourteen fields from Engineering and Construction to Hair and Beauty will have the same status as GCSE and A level and will be included in the Welsh Baccalaureate. They will enable our young people to proceed to further/ higher education or employment.

The current take up of vocational courses in schools in Wales is low by European standards. Labour wants to reverse this. The kind of skills that vocational training offers are in demand, that’s why Labour wants to improve the quality of these courses to help young people in Bridgend carve out a career for themselves and realise their full potential.

Giving young people - whatever their ability and wherever they live - the chance to use their talents and find their vocation in life proves our commitment to social justice and to our future.

Raising the quality and the choice of the courses will also raise their status in the eyes of parents and young people – employers are already convinced that vocational training is the best way of matching skills supply with demand.

By 2011, fourteen vocational courses will be available in such fields as Business, Information Technology and the Environment or Social Care, Tourism and creative courses.