The Leaders Council is proud to announce the publication of its special report into the Skills & Post-16 Education Act and the impact it will have on the construction, engineering and manufacturing sectors.
The compilation of the report follows the events of April 26, 2022, when 26 leaders from the construction, engineering and manufacturing industries met with Leaders Council chairman, Lord Blunkett, at London’s Caledonian Club. During this meeting, attendees discussed the then Skills & Post-16 Education Bill, days before it proceeded to Royal Assent.
The views and insights of all involved were used to compile the Special Report, which will now be presented to relevant policymakers and leaders within the construction, engineering and manufacturing arenas.
According to the government, one of the key measures within the Act is to embed employers in the heart of the skills system by legally requiring that employers and colleges collaborate to develop Local Skills Improvement Plans [LSIPs].
LSIPs, ministers hope, will enable the training on offer to meet the needs of local areas, ensuring that people no longer need to leave their hometowns to find quality employment. Tim Balcon, CEO of the Construction Industry Training Board [CITB], believes that they will offer a foundation to “support people to realise their career aspirations without having to leave their communities and ensure that local employers have access to the skills they need to grow and thrive. The Skills and Post-16 Education Act offers a foundation for this ambition to be achieved.
Within the special report, Lord Blunkett talked-up the urgency of the collaboration between employers and education coming about quickly and smoothly, in order to make these ambitions a reality and allow LSIPs to “be developed…and to turn their immediate needs into learning and skills for the economy of the future”, which will see us face newer challenges around “artificial intelligence and robotics, and the rapidly changing nature of work.”
Robert Halfon MP, chair of the House of Commons Education Select Committee, also spoke positively about LSIPs and called the Act’s endeavour to “enhance the ties between work and education” as its “most crucial step.”
It is apparent that this closer working relationship between education and industry will need to deliver reforms. Graham Hasting-Evans, CEO of education and skills charity NOCN, shared his view that existing courses remained “too theory based” and there was not “enough emphasis being placed on practical skills”, resulting in learners not being taught the requisite skills for the workplace. Moreover, Hasting-Evans was concerned by the Act’s broad focus on young people and warned that the wider challenges of levelling-up, social mobility, digitisation and moving the industry toward Net-Zero were not given sufficient attention.
Meanwhile, Sir John Hayes MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Skills, Careers and Employment, was optimistic that the Act could have a “significant impact” through its commitment to the Lifelong Learning Entitlement but was disappointed that it came in the form of a loan which left the bill for upskilling in the hands of the individual. He goes on to suggest that if “industry and/or government were to pick up that bill, what a show of confidence that would be in the workforce.”
A consistent issue raised in the report among its contributors was the need for more to be done to entice young people to work in the construction, engineering and manufacturing sectors. Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders [FMB] said that the acute skills shortage in these sectors “comes down to barriers and perception” and he credits the Act for looking to “broaden skills advice” and “improve the perception of being a builder”, reinforcing its standing as a “positive step” rather than a “career of last resort”, which is a prevalent view in society, schools and career services.
DPI UK owner Sandra Wiggins echoed Berry’s words, emphasising that youngsters need to stop being falsely informed that the “only route to sustainable employment is through the university pathway.” Furthermore, Wiggins also called for reforms to the existing funding model around apprenticeships, which would create better conditions for learners to go out into businesses and train on the job, in industry, which she believes is the best place for learners to become “work ready” and pick-up the practical and soft skills required.
Read the full special report into the Skills & Post-16 Education Act here.
Photo by Abdul Zreika on Unsplash
