An article examined the impact of the 2008-09 recession on training activity. In international terms, the United Kingdom was assumed to have a deregulated training market that was sensitive to changing economic conditions: but despite the severity of the recession, employers had cut training expenditures by a small amount and the impact on training participation rates had been minimal. A combination of market intervention and business requirements had obliged most employers to sustain training despite the recession.
Source: Alan Felstead, Francis Green, and Nick Jewson, 'An analysis of the impact of the 2008-9 recession on the provision of training in the UK', Work, Employment and Society, Volume 26 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Dec
A report by a committee of MPs said that many areas of the coalition government's apprenticeships programme required closer scrutiny, careful monitoring, or even complete reform. The report said that the government should define an overarching strategy for the programme, so that the public and Parliament could effectively monitor progress against targeted outcomes. It should also formulate a formal definition of an 'apprenticeship', stating clearly that apprenticeships were for developing skills, not simply for the validation or consolidation of existing skills.
Source: Apprenticeships, Fifth Report (Session 201213), HC 83, House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Additional written evidence | BIS press release | AELP press release | ATL press release | CBI press release | Labour Party press release | Million+ press release | NIACE press release | NUT press release | 157 Group press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Nov
A report by the European Commission said that European education and training systems continued to fall short in providing the right skills for employability, and were not working adequately with business or employers to bring the learning experience closer to the reality of the working environment. These skills mismatches were a growing concern for European industry's competitiveness. Despite progress over the previous 5 years in the percentages of those qualifying from higher education, sustained efforts would be needed to reach the headline target of 40 per cent of young people completing higher education.
Source: Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes, European Commission
Links: Report | European Commission press release
Date: 2012-Nov
The report was published of an independent (government-commissioned) review of apprenticeships. It said that few schemes under the coalition government's apprenticeship programme were of adequate quality. Apprenticeships should be focused on those who were new to a job or role that required 'sustained and substantial' training.
Source: Doug Richard, The Richard Review of Apprenticeships, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills/Department for Education
Links: Report | DE press release | AOC press release | CIPD press release | 157 Group press release | Labour Party press release | NIACE press release | NUT press release | TUC press release | UCU press release | Warwick University press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Nov
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that subcontracting arrangements had forced often very good smaller apprenticeship providers to either work together or become a subcontractor of a larger provider. In several cases this had diluted accountability and had placed a greater distance between the learner and those responsible for learning. Some lead contractors lacked sufficient expertise of work-based learning to assure the work quality of their subcontractors.
Source: Ensuring Quality In Apprenticeships: A survey of subcontracted provision, HMI 120153, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills
Links: Report | OFSTED press release | SFA press release
Date: 2012-Oct
An article examined industrial relations and industrial training. Change in these areas involved combinations of both strategic transformation and 'muddling through' by key actors.
Source: Howard Gospel and Tony Edwards, 'Strategic transformation and muddling through: industrial relations and industrial training in the UK', Journal of European Public Policy, Volume 19 Issue 8
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Sep
An article examined the principal developments in research on key aspects of work quality – skill, and job control.
Source: Duncan Gallie, 'Skills, job control and the quality of work: the evidence from Britain', Economic and Social Review, Volume 43 Number 3
Links: Article
Date: 2012-Sep
A report set out a strategy designed to help developed (OECD) countries identify the strengths and weaknesses of their national skills systems, benchmark them internationally, and develop policies that could transform better skills into better jobs, economic growth, and social inclusion.
Source: Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Lives: A strategic approach to skills policies, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Sep
A report of an independent inquiry said that group training associations – an existing network of employer-led training organizations – could help to remedy the serious skills gaps and shortages that were hampering economic recovery.
Source: Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Role of Group Training Associations, Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies
Links: Report | IOE press release
Date: 2012-Sep
A report provided a comprehensive review of recent European research on new skills and jobs. It said that equal access to education (especially at an early stage of life) and continuous vocational training for all were the first priorities for raising employment levels in a sustainable way. This strategy needed to be complemented by a labour market policy that supported a high variability of employment contracts, allowing job-to-job transitions within and between firms according to market needs and individual lifecourse conditions.
Source: Gunther Schmid, New Skills and Jobs in Europe: Pathways towards full employment, European Commission
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Aug
A think-tank report examined how skills policy could help households on low-to-middle incomes share in future economic growth. Investments in the early years were the surest route to later achievement, and there was no substitute for continuing to push for improvements in the education system. There needed to be a shift in focus from quantity to quality – towards qualifications that met the needs of employers. There also needed to be a more targeted approach to raising the supply of skills, focusing on specific gaps and types of skill – such as basic and low level skills, and literacy and numeracy qualifications – rather than blanket increases in supply.
Source: Anna Vignoles, Up-Skilling the Middle: How skills policy can help ensure that low to middle income households share in future economic growth, Resolution Foundation
Date: 2012-Jul
A paper examined the influence of both demand and supply factors on educational mismatch in a set of 10 European countries (including the United Kingdom). Demand factors generally played a major role in reducing educational mismatch in technologically more advanced countries, whereas supply factors were more important in countries that were lagging behind in the international division of labour. At the same time, important cross-country and gender differences were identified in the way the demand/supply factors operated.
Source: Emauela Ghignoni and Alina Veashchagina, Educational Qualifications Mismatch in Europe: Is It Supply or Demand Driven?, Working Paper 154, Department of Public Economics, Sapienza University of Rome
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Jul
A think-tank report said that the economic crisis was compounding long-standing problems for low-skilled workers. The skills policies of successive governments had focused on subsidizing employers or individuals to train: but this had simply led some employers to get free training that they would have conducted anyway, and learners to take courses that were of no or limited value in the wider economy. The report called for a new approach using market signals to identify and serve the demand for skills, with further education colleges rewarded for giving employers the skilled staff they needed.
Source: John Springford and Ian Mulheirn, Britain s Got Talent: Unlocking the demand for skills, Social Market Foundation
Links: Report | SMF press release
Date: 2012-Jul
A paper provided an overview of policy instruments in developed (OECD) countries intended to promote employer-provided training – including the stated rationale and objectives, the target groups, and operational design.
Source: Normann Muller and Friederike Behringer, Subsidies and Levies as Policy Instruments to Encourage Employer-Provided Training, Education Working Paper 80, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined the factors influencing institutional strategy in response to the higher skills policy of the New Labour government in England during the period 2006-2010.
Source: , 'Institutional strategies in response to higher skills policy in England', Higher Education Management and Policy, Volume 24 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
A report identified significant mismatches between the supply of new skills and employer demand in particular sectors. This was the result of further education colleges receiving funding from central government based on studying and passing qualifications rather than on job outcomes, particularly local work. This in turn was resulting in tens of thousands of students being steered on to popular courses that they could easily pass but that were unlikely to help them into future employment.
Source: Laura Gardiner and Tony Wilson, Hidden Talents: Skills mismatch analysis, Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion/Local Government Association
Links: Report | LGA press release
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined intergovernmental reform initiatives in Europe, designed to promote a comprehensive model of skill formation in response to heightened global competition among 'knowledge societies'. Although the European model integrated diverse characteristics of influential national models (including that of the United Kingdom), the ambitious goals and standards codified in the twin Bologna and Copenhagen processes in higher education and vocational training offered a new model to compete internationally.
Source: Justin Powell, Nadine Bernhard, and Lukas Graf, 'The emergent European model in skill formation: comparing higher education and vocational training in the Bologna and Copenhagen processes', Sociology of Education, Volume 85 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
Three linked reports examined the relationship between income inequality, poverty, and skills. The distribution of skills projected for 2020 would reduce fixed (or absolute) poverty rates by 2.2 percentage points equivalent to lifting about 1.5 million people out of poverty in comparison with the distribution of skills in 2008: but it would have only a small impact on income inequality.
Source: Mark Taylor, Tina Haux, and Steve Pudney, Can Improving UK Skills Levels Reduce Poverty and Income Inequality by 2020?, Joseph Rowntree Foundation | Mark Taylor, Tina Haux, and Steve Pudney, Skills, Employment, Income Inequality and Poverty: Theory, evidence and an estimation framework, Joseph Rowntree Foundation | Gillian Paull and Tara Patel, An International Review of Skills, Jobs and Poverty Implications for the UK, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report (1) | Summary (1) | Report (2) | Summary (2) | Report (3) | Summary (3)
Date: 2012-Jun
A skills survey (by an official advisory body) examined training and staff development, vacancies unfilled because of skills shortages, gaps in employees' skills, and recruitment of education leavers. Only a small minority of businesses reported vacancies unfilled because of skill shortages: but almost 1.5 million employees did not have the skills required to perform their job role.
Source: Ben Davies, Katie Gore, Jan Shury, David Vivian, Mark Winterbotham, and Susannah Constable, UK Commission s Employer Skills Survey 2011: UK Results, UK Commission for Employment and Skills
Links: Report | Summary | NIACE press release
Date: 2012-May
A report by a committee of MPs said that as many as one-fifth of apprenticeship schemes lasted six months or less and were of 'no real benefit'.
Source: Adult Apprenticeships, Eighty-fourth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 1875, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | CBI press release | BBC report | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-May
A report provided a comprehensive and comparative overview of traineeship arrangements, including legislative/regulatory and quality-assurance frameworks, in all 27 European Union member states.
Source: Kari Hadjivassiliou, Emanuela Carta, Tom Higgins, Catherine Rickard, Suzanne Ter-Minassian, Flavia Pesce, Manuela Samek, Davide Barbieri, Daria Broglio, Sandra Naaf, Philipp Grollmann, Tanja Weigel, Tobias Wolfgarten, and Kristina Hensen, Study on a Comprehensive Overview on Traineeship Arrangements in Member States: Final synthesis report, European Commission
Links: Report
Date: 2012-May
An article presented new data on the average skill levels of the European Union workforce. There was evidence of a pronounced rise in labour quality in most countries after 2007.
Source: Lili Kang, Mary O'Mahony, and Fei Peng, 'New measures of workforce skills in the EU', National Institute Economic Review, Volume 220 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
A paper examined the tools and governance mechanisms that policy-makers were putting in place in order to improve the utilization and deployment of skills by employers.
Source: Anne Green, Skills for Competitiveness: Country Report for United Kingdom, Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Working Paper 2012/05, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-May
A report provided an overview of the supply of apprenticeship-type schemes in the European Union member states. It discussed the effectiveness of these schemes in raising employability and facilitating the labour market transitions of apprentices.
Source: IKEI Research & Consultancy, Apprenticeship Supply in the Member States of the European Union: Final Report, European Commission
Links: Report
Date: 2012-May
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published a strategy designed to help countries to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their national skills systems, benchmark them internationally, and develop policies that could transform better skills into better jobs, economic growth, and social inclusion.
Source: Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Lives: A strategic approach to skills policies, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Strategy | NASUWT press release | NUT press release | Unionlearn press release | Work Foundation press release
Date: 2012-May
A paper provided an overview of what was known about age-skill profiles in developed (OECD) countries. It showed how trend data based on repeated cross-sectional observations of direct measures of skill at the cohort level could be used to estimate skill gain and skill loss over the lifespan and over time.
Source: RichardDesjardins and Arne Jonas Warnke, Ageing and Skills: A review and analysis of skill gain and skill loss over the lifespan and over time, Education Working Paper 72, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Apr
A think-tank report examined why employers did not train. A lack of investment in training was rooted in 'low-road' competitive strategies that did not require a highly skilled workforce. Although often profitable, these business models had implications for employees, consumers, and the state.
Source: Tess Lanning and Kayte Lawton, No Train No Gain: Beyond free-market and state-led skills policy, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Apr
A new book examined the changing role of trade unions in the provision of vocational education, workplace training, and skill development – drawing on a collection of studies relating to the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Norway (together with Canada, Australia, and the United States).
Source: Richard Cooney and Mark Stuart (eds.), Trade Unions and Workplace Training: Issues and international perspectives, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Apr
An article examined whether differences in welfare regimes in European countries shaped the incentives to work and get educated.
Source: Andres Rodriguez-Pose and Vassilis Tselios, 'Welfare regimes and the incentives to work and get educated', Environment and Planning A, Volume 44 Number 1
Links: Abstract
See also: Andres Rodriguez-Pose and Vassilis Tselios, Welfare Regimes and the Incentives to Work and Get Educated, Working Paper 2011/01, IMDEA Social Sciences Institute (Madrid)
Date: 2012-Mar
A paper examined shifts in skills policy in Scotland towards emphasizing the importance of effective skills utilization. It advocated greater collaboration in skills utilization practice and research between relevant stakeholders.
Source: Chris Warhurst and Patricia Findlay, More Effective Skills Utilisation: Shifting the terrain of skills policy in Scotland, Research Paper 107, Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (Cardiff and Oxford Universities)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Feb
An article examined the problems created by 'bad jobs', and in particular the lack of incentives for people in such work to participate in education and training. The fundamental causes of low pay and low-quality employment had been misdiagnosed, and the public policy solution of 'up-skilling' was relatively ill-fitted to achieving the desired goals.
Source: Ewart Keep and Susan James, 'A Bermuda triangle of policy? "Bad jobs", skills policy and incentives to learn at the bottom end of the labour market', Journal of Education Policy, Volume 27 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
A study examined how a system of comprehensive occupational-level information used in the United States of America could be used in a United Kingdom context. The system was found to be robust, and capable of being built upon further in a multitude of ways by organizations that had an interest in skills.
Source: Andy Dickerson, Rob Wilson, Genna Kik, and Debra Dhillon, Developing Occupational Skills Profiles for the UK: A feasibility study, Evidence Report 44, UK Commission for Employment and Skills
Date: 2012-Feb
A briefing paper provided a summary of apprenticeships policy in England.
Source: Chris Rhodes, Apprenticeships Policy, Standard Note SN/3052, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2012-Feb
A think-tank report said that a failure to address the under-utilization of skills, especially at the lower end of the labour market, constituted a barrier to both social mobility and the competitiveness of the economy.
Source: Jonny Wright and Paul Sissons, The Skills Dilemma: Skills under-utilisation and low-wage work, Work Foundation
Links: Report | Work Foundation press release
Date: 2012-Jan
An audit report said that apprenticeships for adults offered a good return for the public money spent on them overall: but the government could improve value for money significantly by targeting resources on areas where the greatest economic returns could be achieved.
Source: Adult Apprenticeships, HC 1787 (Session 2010-2012), National Audit Office, TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | DBIS press release | AOC press release | NIACE press release | SFA press release | BBC report | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Jan
The coalition government announced (following consultation) that from 2014 just 125 out of the 3,175 qualifications that were accredited and approved for study by young people aged 14-16 would count towards secondary school performance tables in England.
Source: Qualifications for 14-16 Year Olds and Performance Tables, Department for Education
Links: Guidance | Hansard | DE press release | NAHT press release | NASUWT press release | NUT press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Jan