But having thought about this a little more, I am left perplexed by Gove's decision. The impact goes against so much I thought was accepted wisdom.

Industry has for many years had a concern that school leavers do not have the skills and experience to meet employers' needs. Back in 2004 the Tomlinson Report had suggested new ways forward. This opened up opportunities for more vocational education, and was cautiously welcomed by industry.

Clearly some vocational courses don't have the academic rigour of one GCSE, let alone several. But there are others that are academically challenging and both fill an educational niche and meet industry's needs.

For example, young people from here in Derby have, for the last two years, had the opportunity to go to the new JCB Academy in Rocester on the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border. This worked with exam board OCR , major local businesses like Rolls-Royce and Toyota and universities including Cambridge and Warwick to develop new Engineering and Business Diplomas. They integrate learning 'horizontally' across traditional subject areas, and were judged to be worth several GCSEs each.

Now Gove's decision has shattered the specialist curriculum at the JCB Academy- the reason d'etre for their existence - declaring that their core specialist elements are worth only 1 GCSE each.

Will industry be as willing to participate in government initiatives in future if support in return is so fickle?

The Tomlinson Report was also generally well-received by the Liberal Democrats. And key elements of its new vision for 14-19 education were included in our 2010 manifesto. Some of these also found their way into the Coalition Agreement, such as

• We will improve the quality of vocational education, including increasing flexibility for 14-19 year olds and creating new Technical Academies as part of our plans to diversify schools provision.

And

• We will create more flexibility in the exams systems so that state schools can offer qualifications like the IGCSE.

At a stroke Gove has attacked this expectation of a wider range of qualifications, and alienated at least one of the only two new Technical Academies that have so far opened. How many of the other Technical Academies in the pipeline will now withdraw from the process? Less than 12 months ago his department was welcoming these and talking up the very qualifications he's now rubbishing.

So what next?

Schools and colleges will now not just teach children to jump through the assessment hoops on which school performance is judged, but also the schools and exam boards will offer 'vocational' courses primarily designed to meet GCSE expectations. Whether these will also meet industry's needs and engage the more challenging pupils remains to be seen.

Maybe the worst point of all is the way this shows a severe lack of co-ordination between the Department of Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Dave and Nick - please do something to bring these together!

* Lucy Care was a target candidate in Derby North in 2010 and would have been the second ever female Chartered Engineer in Parliament if she had been elected. She blogs at lucycare.net.