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We have some similar issues on this side of the pond (though maybe a bit less severe) - the push for apprenticeships in the last few years has done a bit to offer other routes for youngsters, though its a very flawed and uneven system, and very much open to abuse.
We used to have have a mix of further and higher education with different routes for academic and vocational specialisms. There was always a slight sense that the polytechnics (who offered a mix of technical, vocational and some academic courses)were somehow a lesser institute than a university and a City and Guilds diploma of an equivalent level never had quite the cache of a degree.
So rather than bolster the vocational pathways and work to increase their standing on their own terms, they decided to turn all the polys into universities and have kids go to university for a hotel management, or hospitality degree
The tension between more or less academic focus is still there - the old polytechnics are now new universities and for the most part there is still a sense that most of them are below the older universities in standards.
I think it would have been much better to try to tackle the class prejudice at the heart of that disparity and promote (and better fund) vocational training and education at all levels.
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