The Baker Dearing Educational Trust (abbreviated as the Baker Dearing Trust or BDT) is a UK-based registered charity established to support, advocate and develop

university technical college A university technical college (UTC) is a type of secondary school in England that is sponsored by a Universities in the United Kingdom, university and has close ties to local business and industry. University technical colleges specialise in su ...

s (UTCs) in England. An official partnership with the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...

has been made for this purpose. All schools with UTC status must have a licence agreement with the BDT as it is the creator and owner of the UTC model, trademarks and brand. This agreement is fulfilled via a license fee.

History

Lords Kenneth Baker and Ronald Dearing conceptualised the UTC in 2009 and established the trust in the same year. Baker had previously served as

Secretary of State for Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. ...

from 1986 to 1989, during which time he introduced the

National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or othe ...

and

City Technology College In England, a City Technology College (CTC) is an urban all-ability specialist schoolWalter (2007), p. 6 for students aged 11 to 18 specialising in science, technology and mathematics. They charge no fees and are independent of local authority ...

through the

Education Reform Act 1988 The Education Reform Act 1988 (c. 40) is legislation that introduced multiple changes to the education system in England and Wales, including the introduction of Key Stages and the National Curriculum. It replaced many rules and structures that h ...

. Dearing died in February 2009 but he and Baker's ideas were approved by education minister

Andrew Adonis Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, (born Andreas Adonis; 22 February 1963) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and journalist who served in HM Government for five years in the Third Blair ministry, Blair ministry and the Brown mi ...

of the Labour Party and the incoming Conservative-Lib Dem coalition. The first UTC opened in 2010 and further expansion soon followed. Since then, the trust has been tasked by the Department for Education to oversee the UTC programme. It aids UTCs in deciding their curricular provision and technical qualifications (of which they specialise) and also helps open more UTCs. This is provided through a partnership with the department which is reviewed per annum. Baker has used this to promote the programme and influence the government's education policy, introducing the Baker Clause to the Technical and Further Education Act 2017. This clause requires schools to provide all pupils in

years A year is a unit of time based on how long it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun. In scientific use, the tropical year (approximately 365 solar days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds) and the sidereal year (about 20 minutes longer) are more exa ...

Year 8 Year 8 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the eighth or ninth year of compulsory education. It is known as First Year in Scotland and Ireland. Children in this yea ...

to Year 13 access to a non-academic careers adviser. These advisers are expected to discuss UTCs with pupils, promoting them whilst doing so. Many schools have failed to follow the clause, resulting in threats of legal action from Baker. The trust has also attempted to introduce a technical baccalaureate with Andrew Adonis. From 2012 to 2019 the trust's chief executive was Charles Parker. Upon his resignation he was replaced by Simon Connell. Parker has remained in the trust as an adviser to its

senior management Senior management, executive management, or upper management is an occupation at the highest level of management of an organization, performed by individuals who have the day-to-day tasks of managing the organization, sometimes a company or a cor ...

Support

The trust has seen continued political and academic support, with the

board of trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

having included Labour's Kumar Bhattacharyya and Andrew Adonis and educators such as Kevin Satchwell,

Edwina Dunn Edwina D. Dunn, OBE (born May 29, 1958) is an English entrepreneur in the field of data science and customer business strategy. Since 2014, she has been the Chief Executive Officer of the consumer insights company Starcount. She is also the foun ...

and

Mike Tomlinson Sir Michael John Tomlinson Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 17 October 1942 in Rotherham), known as Mike Tomlinson, is an educationalist, formerly a teacher and Ofsted, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services ...

. Other supporters include

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

education secretary

Gavin Williamson Sir Gavin Alexander Williamson (born 25 June 1976) is a British politician who served in various Cabinet positions under Prime Ministers Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak between 2016 and 2022, lastly as Minister of State without ...

, astronaut

Tim Peake Major (United Kingdom), Major Timothy Nigel Peake (born 7 April 1972) is a retired British European Space Agency astronaut, Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), Army Air Corps officer and author. He is the first British ESA astronaut, the second a ...

, physicist Brian Cox, Rear Admiral John Clink and lords

Peter Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, (born 21 October 1953) is a British politician, lobbyist and diplomat who has served as British Ambassador to the United States since February 2025. A member of the Labour Party, Mandelson serve ...

and

David Puttnam David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam, CBE, HonFRSA, HonFRPS, MRIA (; born 25 February 1941), is a British-Irish film producer, educator, environmentalist and former member of the House of Lords. His productions include '' Chariots of Fire' ...

. An eight-member independent policy group of MPs co-chaired by Kenneth Baker and

Robert Halfon Robert Henry Halfon (; born 22 March 1969) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician and was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Harlow (UK Parliament constituency), Harlow from 2010 ...

has been established to aid the trust and enforce the Baker Clause.

Research

The trust conducts research into UTCs, often comparing them to mainstream schools. This research appears to typically favour UTCs and often clashes with the Department for Education's official data. BDT chair Kenneth Baker claims that this is because the official data is outdated by two years and disregards exam results from students taking a level 2 qualification or lower.

References

External links

Trust website
{{Specialist schools in the United Kingdom Educational charities based in the United Kingdom Engineering education in the United Kingdom