ABSTRACT
In 1976 James Callaghan, the Prime Minister, startled the educational world by making a speech that dared to question the quality of education being provided in many schools. Callaghan's views were strongly opposed by all the different bodies in education: teachers, teacher unions, schools, colleges, local education authorities and the departments of education in universities. Indeed Callaghan's own Secretary of State, Shirley Williams, opposed his views and so little was achieved, but by the 1979 election Callaghan had started the ball rolling. The target of all University Technical Colleges (UTCs) is to ensure that when students leave at 16 or 18 none should join the ranks of the unemployed. One of the extraordinary features of the UTC movement is that it has been left to a charity, the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, to be the main promoter of UTCs and also to help them to become properly established and to ensure they meet the criteria of their specialist technical curriculum.
