The report of an independent review (by Lord Leitch) said that radical change was needed in the way young people and adults were trained, to close the skills gap and protect economic competitiveness. It recommended making full-time or part-time education or training compulsory until the age of 18, and a target of 95 per cent of adults to have basic numeracy and literacy by 2020. Employers should have more say over training. There were too many vocational qualifications, many with few benefits.
Source: Lord Leitch, Prosperity for All in the Global Economy: World Class Skills - Final Report, Cm 9996, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | HMT press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | BCC press release | UUK press release | ASCL press release | NUS press release | HEFCE press release | ICG press release | ALP press release | CPAG press release | FT report (1) | FT report (2) | FT report (3) | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Personnel Today report | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Dec
An inspectorate report said that standards of adult training in England had improved dramatically overall: but low apprenticeship completion rates were 'unacceptable'. Only half of those on apprenticeships finished them.
Source: Annual Report of the Chief Inspector 2005-06, Adult Learning Inspectorate (0870 240 7744)
Links: Report | ALP press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Dec
In the 3 year period between 2002 and 2005, the adult participation rate in learning increased by 4 percentage points to 80 per cent. (This applied to adults aged 16-69 outside of continuous full-time education who had taken part in some form of learning over the previous three years.)
Source: Dawn Snape, Emily Tanner and Rupert Sinclair with Juliet Michaelson and Steven Finch, National Adult Learning Survey (NALS) 2005, Research Report 815, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2006-Nov
An article said that the government's adult learning strategy was a response to what were perceived as the skills demands of a knowledge economy for global competitiveness, rather than to issues of social inclusion and increased opportunities for lifelong learning.
Source: Yvon Appleby and Ann Marie Bathmaker, 'The new skills agenda: increased lifelong learning or new sites of inequality?', British Educational Research Journal, Volume 32 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Oct
Researchers found 'mixed' longer-term outcomes of the Work-Based Learning for Adults programme, on the basis of administrative data. (WBLA is a voluntary programme designed to help long-term jobless people move into sustained employment.)
Source: Stefan Speckesser and Helen Bewley, The Longer Term Outcomes of Work-Based Learning for Adults: Evidence from administrative data, Research Report 390, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2006-Oct
A report examined the role of adult learning in the development of extended services by schools, and showed how it could support the other services that schools were developing with their communities.
Source: Jeanne Haggart and Rachel Spacey, Adding Value: Adult learning and extended services, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (0116 204 4200)
Date: 2006-Sep
A report presented the findings of a systematic review of the impact of learning on low-qualified, out-of-work adults. Interventions with an employment-focus (such as job search, employer placements, and work-based training) were often more successful in leading to employment-related outcomes. The chances of obtaining employment improved following a welfare to work intervention. Studies also showed a statistically significant impact on the earnings of participants following a learning intervention.
Source: Sally Dench, Jim Hillage and Pam Coare, The Impact of Learning on Unemployed, Low-qualified Adults: A systematic review, Research Report 375, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2006-Aug
A report examined the impact the Union Learning Fund had had on the lifelong learning and workforce development agenda. Unions had successfully used ULF funds to develop their learning policies and strategies. Almost two-thirds of employers indicated that they had a learning agreement in place as a result of ULF activity; and 75 per cent reported an increase in 'skills for life' learning.
Source: Neil Shaw et al., Evaluation of the Union Learning Fund (2001-2005), Research Report 789, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2006-Aug
A study sought to identify what different groups of people thought or did about financing their own learning, and that of their children and other family members. Just over half of respondents said that they would be prepared to save to pay for personal-interest learning or for education/career-related learning: but half were unsure about the cost of learning, whether for personal interest or related to their education/career.
Source: Claire Ivins and Claire Callender, Paying for Learning, CfBT Education Trust (0118 902 1000) and Learning and Skills Development Agency
Date: 2006-Jul
The adult learning inspectorate published its annual report for 2005-06.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2005-06, HC 1167, Adult Learning Inspectorate, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jul
A government Minister pledged to end illiteracy and innumeracy in the adult workforce by 2020.
Source: Speech by Alan Johnson MP (Secretary of State for Education and Skills), 14 June 2006
Links: Text of speech | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jun
A study of parents who undertook some form of learning found that half of mothers and a third of their partners thought that it had a positive impact on their children s schoolwork.
Source: AVON Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC): Adult Learning and Families, Research Report RBX02-06, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Brief | ALSPAC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jun
The education inspectorate published a report on its work in 2005-06, and also its strategic plan for 2006-07. By April 2007 it would be renamed the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, and would take over the relevant work of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, HM Inspectorate of Court Administration, and the Adult Learning Inspectorate.
Source: Ofsted Departmental Report 2005 06, Cm 6813, Office for Standards in Education, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Ofsted Strategic Plan 2006 to 2007, HMI 2658, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833)
Links: Report | Strategy | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
A report examined a workplace learning scheme in Scotland. It said that the benefits arose from the unique position of unions in accessing and engaging ?hard to reach? learners in the context of a high-trust relationship with members.
Source: Patricia Findlay, Robert Stewart, Eli Dutton and Chris Warhurst, Evaluation of the Scottish Union Learning Fund (SULF) (2000-2005), Scottish Executive (web publication only)
Date: 2006-May
A survey found that 1 in 3 of the population had not participated in any form of learning since school: but 41 per cent of skilled manual workers were learning, up from 33 per cent in 1996.
Source: Fiona Aldridge and Alan Tuckett, Green Shoots? The NIACE survey on adult participation in learning 2006, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (0116 204 4200)
Links: Summary | BBC report
Date: 2006-May
A report compared the provision of vocational education and training in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany. It said that training policies were increasingly based on similar general principles which promoted the improvement and reform of vocational education and training, although the implementation of these principles tended to remain specific to each country.
Source: Josie Misko, Vocational Education and Training in Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany, National Centre for Vocational Education Research (ncver@ncver.edu.au)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-May
A paper said that the government should radically reassess its attempt to address skills shortages through vocational education and training. There was an "obsession" with blanket targets that treated the entire national workforce as a single entity.
Source: Ewart Keep, Market Failure in Skills, Sector Skills Development Agency (01709 765444)
Links: Paper | Personnel Today report
Date: 2006-Apr
A new book examined the key issues involved in successfully promoting workplace learning.
Source: Neil Thompson, Promoting Workplace Learning, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that fewer than 1 in 20 small and medium-sized businesses used the 'learndirect' training scheme, and called for it to be promoted more.
Source: Extending Access to Learning through Technology: Ufi and the learndirect service, Twenty-eighth Report (Session 2005-06), HC 706, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Ufi press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Mar
A report said that the funding of workforce development needed to be radically overhauled, and subsidies widened out to training providers other than colleges.
Source: Building a Skilled Nation: The business perspective on education and skills, British Chambers of Commerce (020 7654 5808)
Links: Report | BCC press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A revised edition of a book examined the background to the sudden rise of interest in lifelong learning among policy-makers; mapped existing patterns of participation; evaluated the measures being developed to promote lifelong learning; and assessed the prospects of achieving a viable learning society.
Source: John Field, Lifelong Learning and the New Educational Order (Second revised edition), Trentham Books (01782 745567)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Feb
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government's adult learning targets were likely to become increasingly difficult to meet, because they could only be met by attracting 'hard to reach' and older learners. People in low-skilled employment were a large group whose needs were not being met.
Source: Skills for Life: Improving adult literacy and numeracy, Twenty-first Report, (Session 2005-06), HC 792, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan
A survey found that almost 1 in 5 adults in Wales said that they struggled with basic maths.
Source: Welsh Omnibus Survey 2006, Basic Skills Agency (0870 600 2400)
Links: Summary | BSA press release
Date: 2006-Jan
