The “Lifetime Skills Guarantee”, a key objective of the landmark reforms of the Skills and Post-16 Education Act, seeks to transform post-16 education and training to ensure everyone has access to learning that is relevant to the local employment market and in line with the individual’s stage of life and their aspirations. If implemented well, this can be a great boost for social mobility and levelling the playing field for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, where financial capital is a constraint, and the privilege of ‘pivoting’ or retraining is simply unaffordable.
Outcomes and findings from the eight employer-led Skills Improvement Plan trailblazer pilots commissioned in 2021-2022 supports a transformational approach to tackling long-term problems to deliver growth and create high-quality jobs across the country in sectors the economy needs the most. The construction industry is facing unprecedented levels of skills shortages, which coupled with material shortages and inflation, makes the cost of building the much more affordable homes that our country needs far more complex and challenging.
The Kent and Medway local pilot highlights the needs to increase provision to increase supply and recognises that there is a quantitative gap [especially in construction] between new entrants to the industry and employer demand. However, the current measures and incentives for further education work against narrowing the gap. The trailblazer report’s recommendations must be taken forward with further consideration to inform the wide scale national rollout of the Local Skills Improvement Plans.
The requirement for early engagement with employers and exposure of young people to alternative pathways to universities such as technical education, training and apprenticeships is extremely positive and requires great diligence in implementing and enforcing. Exposure to alternative pathways to university must be a priority for providers and it will require due consideration and resource to ensure meaningful delivery and that is reaches the young people that most need it.
This can make a huge impact to reducing the cumulative effect of inequalities and disadvantages from birth which becomes exacerbated by secondary education, leading to lack of clarity, direction and decision-making on post-16 options and pathways. Often young people from disadvantaged backgrounds lack the social capital to afford the mentorship needed to make difficult and life-changing decisions at such a young age.
As someone from a low socio-economic and ethnic minority background with first-hand experience of struggling with lack of clarity and direction on post-16 options over 15 years ago, it is disheartening to realise that despite my work with the Social Mobility Foundation - who provide mentoring to thousands of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds on post-16 pathways – the country still has a long way to go in providing meaningful intervention throughout the education system to ensure better attainment and progression.
Innovative and agile implementation strategies that seek to widen participation and increase access for harder to reach groups and ethnic minorities is paramount for levelling-up and addressing the disproportionate devastating impact of Covid-19 on these groups, which will help stimulate economic recovery and growth.
The Act is progressive and outlines several positive and transformative priorities that will require an integrated approach for effective implementation and delivery to achieve landmark outcomes and benefits for the people that so much need it.
Key Points:
• Effective collaboration and cohesive coordination will be required between government, employers, academies, and stakeholder groups to ensure an integrated approach that results in efficient delivery.
• Implementation and delivery strategies will need to be innovative and agile to widen participation and ensure access for harder to reach groups and ethnic minorities.
• A pipeline of talent needs to be developed from early in the education journey of young people to ensure businesses are agile enough to meet future demands.
• The technical careers especially those in sectors of construction will need to rebrand and reposition itself for attractiveness for a younger generation.
This article originally appeared in The Leaders Council’s special report on ‘The Impact of the Skills & Post-16 Education Act on the Construction, Engineering & Manufacturing sectors’, published on July 4, 2022. Read the full special report here.
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
