When I used to do the Land clearance and landscaping, I had to move an entire hill, complete with tree roots and buried 1930s era water feature no one knew was there by hand with a shovel when I was 13, didn't take a break the whole day, that was a good days work
The education system is too focused on equipping our young people for office jobs. My secondary school was split into 3 smaller "colleges", one was for the gifted and talented, the other two were for "mainstream" students, which in itself is riduclous because that system has already been proven to cause mental health issues in children from studies conducted in America, the results also repeated themself in my school with numerous kids geting depression, attempting suicide, and even a year 8 trying to throw herself off the top of a building - I've no idea how the school managed to pressure a year 8 so much. I started prior to the new school being built and before all the mini school crap and we used to have not a care in the world.
Anyway to my point, I wanted to take construction at GCSE, I was told I would not be able to, despite it fitting in with my time table, simply for the fact I was in the gifted and talented school, thus deemed "too inteligent" for it. Vocational subjects are completely brushed aside. I think they forget we need tradesmen, farmers, and so on. Anything remotely vocational was frowned upon at my school.
The look on my teachers faces and that of the careers officer when I told them I wanted to join the Army, not as an Officer and just as an Infanteer, they were truly mortified !
I think an education reform, to make us more like Germany would be of great benefit. Trade schools and the like which they have over there. Maybe when we wouldn't have a load of unemployed degree holders with 40k debt and a chip on their shoulder about working in Maccy dees.