From cars to kitchen units, football managers to discount supermarkets, Germany is famed for its exporting prowess. Can it now repeat the trick with further education?

Gavin Williamson seems to think so. Earlier this month the UK education secretary became the latest anglophone policymaker to wax lyrical about Germany’s fabled apprentice-based “dual system” of practical and vocational training. Calling for a departure from the UK’s policy goal of sending 50 per cent of school leavers to university, Mr Williamson said it was time for a more practical approach. As part of the broader endeavour of national rebalancing he plans to build “a world class, German-style education system in Britain and level up skills and opportunities”.

As someone with a passing acquaintance of Anglo-German exchanges over the decades, my initial reaction was a mixture of surprise and wry familiarity.