In The Leaders Council’s recent special report into the Skills & Post-16 Education Act, Recro Consulting managing director, John McDonough, shared his concerns that the new Local Skills Improvement Plans [LSIPs] need to be backed up by tangible action to reform the skills system, if the government is to resolve years of discord between industry and education and tackle the labour shortage.
Having been enshrined in law in late April 2022, one of the hallmarks of the Act is the LSIPs, which aims to place industry at the centre of the skills system by requiring employers and colleges to collaborate, which will ensure that education is delivering on the needs of industry and that learners are emerging with the requisite skills for the workplace.
The measure and its intentions have understandably received praise. However, scepticism remains among leaders within industry over how LSIPs will practically work on the ground, given the long enduring disconnect between industry and the education sector.
Given the lack of engagement that has been allowed to fester for so many years, McDonough – whose business specialises in employability and recruitment solutions consultancy and training – remains unconvinced that education providers will suddenly start to do things differently after long-term poor-quality provision, even with LSIPs in place.
McDonough said: "Employers get what comes through employability and skills funding through job centres, colleges and training providers. The elephant in the room is that the quality is often poor, the results aren’t being. measured by the Department for Work & Pensions [DWP] and there is a mismatch between what employers need, what is funded and what providers can deliver.
“Moving the dial in the marketplace to make education providers do things differently and deliver the paradigm shift we need is no simple fix. People have been institutionalised and are going through the motions, so the civil servants and ministers that we need to deliver such systemic change don’t have the capability, competence nor motivation to do it.”
McDonough went on to further suggest that within some corners of education and government, figures of influence lack the effort and motivation to begin resolving the problem.
“A senior business leader encapsulated the situation perfectly when he told me recently that: ‘I agree with you completely, but this stuff is in the “too difficult” box. You’re dealing with people who don’t want a solution and business wants to deal with people who do.’ If the appetite isn’t there to resolve this, the Act will make little difference.”
The full special report on the Skills and Post-16 Education Act can be found here.
