In the News
In the Prime Minister’s speech on ‘Levelling Up’ on the 15th of July, the issue of post-16 education was highlighted as the area in which differences across society are greatest. He stated that while UK universities are institutions to be proud of, there needs to be a renewed focus on practical and vocational education. The Government’s “obsession”, to use his words, led to the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill.
An employer-led approach
Introduced to Parliament in May, the Bill is currently working its way through the House of Lords towards becoming law. It aims to broaden the provision of vocational post-16 education and introduce Local Skills Improvement Plans, using an employer-led approach to identifying skills gaps. Jennifer Coupland, chief executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), feels an employer-led approach to identifying what training is needed to plug the nation’s skills gaps will ensure training remains relevant and needed.
This sentiment was echoed by Luke Goodlet, director of operations at training provider The Skills Network, who feels the employer-led approach will mean the workforce needs of employers will be met, allowing thousands of people the chance to get into work locally and fulfil local jobs shortages, rather than travelling further afield to train for work.
Going hand-in-hand with the employer-led approach will be a push to ensure students considering their post-16 education are made fully aware of the opportunities technical qualifications and apprenticeships can offer. This has already been attempted with the Baker Clause, which was passed into law through the Technical and Further Education Act 2017 and stipulated schools had to allow FE and skills providers access to their pupils to discuss technical education routes. However, with poor enforcement, former education secretary and founder of the university technical colleges programme Lord Baker has introduced an amendment to the Bill, whereby schools could be sued if they do not comply with the clause. Jane Hickie, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), backs the amendment, arguing that without it, the Bill has ‘bark but no bite’.
Adult education and reskilling
On top of provision for 16-19 education, the Bill also seeks to address the growing need for workers to be able to retrain, either within their current industry or in order to seek a career change. As the UK seeks to address the need for new ‘green’ jobs and as many industries are affected by growing digitisation, Gavin Williamson outlined the lifelong loan entitlement the Bill introduces, which will ‘give every adult access to a flexible loan for higher-level education and training at university or college, usable at any point in their lives.’ However, Kate Green, Labour’s shadow education minister, said that the bill actually does not focus at all on those who need to retrain, and that the lifelong loan is simply part of "a months-old commitment for a Lifetime Skills Guarantee that is simply not guaranteed".
Jo Johnson, the former Conservative universities minister who now chairs the creative provider Access Creative College, joined in with the criticism of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, arguing that within the 400 courses being offered, there are not enough non-STEM options for learners, arguing this ignores “economic value generated by the wider creative industries”. As well as creative industries, there was initial anger when courses in areas such as hospitality were not included in the list of courses that could be accessed with the lifetime skills guarantee. However, following lobbying efforts, 12 courses in hospitality and catering were added to the list of 400-plus on offer.
Following the Prime Minister’s reshuffle earlier this month, the Department for Education has undergone major change, with all bar one of its six ministerial positions with new appointments. FE and skills will now be split between Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, and Alex Burghart, the new apprenticeships and skills minister, and as such, who will take control of the Bill and its passage, at the time of writing at least, is yet to be clarified.
Interview
This month, we spoke to Professor Josie Fraser, deputy vice-chancellor of the Open University, about the Bill. Of particular note for Professor Fraser is the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE), which could have a major impact on adults' ability to access skills and training provision.
Will the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill improve the provision and quality of skills training in the United Kingdom?
The Bill is a massive opportunity to address the decline in lifelong learning in England. It should be seen as part of the jigsaw needed to underpin skills training, as well as an overarching policy and funding framework to deliver meaningful lifelong learning. At the Open University, we strongly support the Bill’s objectives to “make it easier for adults and young people to study more flexibly allowing them to space out their studies, transfer credits between institutions and take up more part-time study”. But will it? That, we don’t know at this stage. At the time of writing, the Bill is still going through its parliamentary stages so the jury’s out as to whether, and by how much, it will improve provision and quality. There are scant details on key elements in the Bill, such as the LLE, which enables access to the equivalent of four years of post-18 education for an individual to use through their lifetime - this could be more modular learning as well as full years of study and will cover higher technical and degree levels. The specific design features of the LLE and how it will work in practice will be critical to its success.
Is an employer-led approach better able to address the skills gaps in local areas?
It is essential that we have an approach that brings providers, employers and key elements of the local skills and economic ecosystem together. We’ve been keen to reiterate that there needs to be a wide definition of what ‘local’ means. By that, I mean that the Bill ensures that the role played by providers without a local bricks-and-mortar presence in a particular area is taken into account in local skills improvement plans (so called LSIPs). If you take the OU, for instance, we have students in every single Westminster parliamentary constituency, and are the largest higher education provider in 63 (20 per cent) of the 314 English local authorities. The flexibility of the OU’s learning model, and our open access ethos, means we are a natural complement to more local providers, particularly in relation to disadvantaged learners and where there is limited face to face higher education provision.
It is essential that we have an approach that brings providers, employers and key elements of the local skills and economic ecosystem together
Does the lifelong loan entitlement do enough to ensure access to academic and/or technical education for UK adults?
It is essential it does but, we don’t have the detail yet about the LLE to know if that will be the case. For the LLE to be truly flexible and lifelong, then it must support and incentivise the merger of vocational and academic pathways: a linear approach would fail the individual, the employer and the economy. Flexible and transferable skills and pathways are needed to help people move forwards as well as sideways, equipping them with what is needed for the future. At the OU, we talk about the climbing frame being just as important as the ladder. We continue to urge for real ambition from government with the LLE as a fundamental reform to the current system rather than a bolt on. Again, the devil will be in the detail. Will all students be able to access exactly the same support for fees and living costs regardless of how they choose to study: modules or full qualifications; part-time or full-time; face-to-face or at a distance? That’s the type of approach needed if we are really to put the individual at the heart of this and give them maximum choice over what is right for them.
The digitisation of the UK economy and the need for green jobs will require widespread and major reskilling of the existing workforce; does the Bill place enough emphasis in delivering skills in these areas?
It absolutely needs to and, as an academic whose career has centred on the advancement of STEM skills, I believe this to be critical. We’ve been talking to business, sustainability and digital entrepreneurs at the OU recently to identify the skills and jobs forecast to be of vital importance to UK economic growth in the coming years, with roles such as sustainability officer and digital content strategist featuring in the top five. But it would also be short sighted to focus solely on a STEM-related skill set. Much analysis and insight has also identified the significant and growing shortages in interpersonal and core management skills such as critical thinking, creativity, negotiation, communication, teaching and training.
Going back to the design of the LLE, it’s also important that it removes barriers for people to upskill and reskill based on the post-18 study decisions they made 5, 10, 20 years ago. The so-called equivalent or lower qualification rules (that prevent you from accessing student loan funding at equivalent or lower level to previously undertaken) must be removed, otherwise how do we help the geography graduate to become a nurse or the Spanish graduate to become a data analyst?
Opinion
This month, Jane Hickie, chief executive of the AELP, argues the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill currently lacks ambition, and needs broadening in order to ensure a sustainable post-pandemic recovery led by skills and training.
There's an Urgent Need for Investment in Training and Apprenticeships
Training rarely enjoys a high profile in the national media unless employers start complaining about skills shortages or a large number of unfilled job vacancies. It’s been different recently because the effects of the pandemic and the number of EU workers going home have combined to generate headline stories about the shortage of lorry drivers, carers and hospitality staff.
The day after the EU referendum in 2016, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) said: “The referendum result means that a skilled British workforce will be needed more than ever. All sectors, especially examples such as construction, hospitality and care, are and will be heavily dependent on having good quality training in place”. Five years on and in response to the current labour shortages, the government is briefing that employers should invest in our domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad.
Independent training providers deliver the majority of apprenticeships but the Bill seeks to reduce their role
The Government may have a point, but public investment in apprenticeships, traineeships, adult skills programmes and technical education remains a vital ingredient to make the economic recovery sustainable after the pandemic. This autumn’s Spending Review will offer answers on the scale of investment available following the measures implemented in July 2020’s Plan for Jobs but in the meantime, ministers are hoping that the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill will also make a difference. After it completes its passage in the Lords, the Bill will be considered by MPs in the autumn and AELP will brief that further education and skills training should secure sustainable employment for individuals and improvements in workforce productivity while retaining a drive towards improving social mobility or ‘levelling up’. In this context, some of the principles in January’s Skills for Jobs white paper were in our view correct, but the Bill itself lacks ambition. If the new legislation is to make a real impact, the Bill needs to achieve:
Bringing back Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs): The Commons Education Committee has rightly called for ILAs to be restored to increase participation in adult skills programmes. They would make a fundamental difference in adding some substance to the Prime Minister’s promise of a lifetime learning guarantee in the form of a first level 3 qualification for adults without one.
Keeping the levy for apprenticeships only: The apprenticeship levy was being overspent before the pandemic and so ministers should resist siren voices and any Bill amendments for it to be used for other forms of training.
Backing Lord Baker’s efforts to enforce impartial careers guidance in schools: Lord Baker is seeking to strengthen his own ‘Baker Clause’ in the Skills Bill on the issue of many schools not offering impartial advice on post-16 vocational and technical education options and his amendment should be supported.
Independent training providers deliver the majority of apprenticeships but the Bill seeks to reduce their role by imposing unnecessary bureaucratic costs and limiting their influence in the proposed local skills improvement plans. Right now, this is hardly a recipe for supporting a skills-led recovery.