Leitch Review of Skills

The publication of the Letch Review: Overall the Report finds that, over the last decade, the skills profile of the UK has improved because of an excellent higher education system; reforms to vocational training and an increasingly effective schools system.

However the report warns against complacency as we have much further to go if the UK is to remain competitive up to 2020. The UK’s future prosperity will depend upon ensuring that the UK has the skills base to be able to adapt to global changes.

It notes that while the proportion of workers with high skills in emerging economies still remains extremely low, the size of countries such as China and India means that they have high absolute numbers of skilled workers. India and China together produce around 4 million graduates each year, compared to 250,000 in the UK.

This is especially pertinent for the manufacturing sector where a decline in traditional industries needs to be replaced by high value-added activities, such as R&D.

The Review believes that the implications for the UK of these changes are clear and pressing. While growth in emerging economies does not come at the expense of growth in developed countries (there is not a fixed number of jobs in the world), the UK must ensure it has a world-leading skills base or risk loosing its share of high value-added industries and new technologies.

Our comments on the Leitch review can be found at: The Leitch Review of Skills 2005

Copies of the Report can be found on the Treasury website

Apprentices earn more

New research published on apprenticeship pay will help young people to make more informed choices about their future careers. The survey of 5,500 work-based apprentices - the first of its kind to analyse pay by sector - shows that young people on Government approved schemes are taking home on average over £500 a month. The highest paid apprenticeships are in the electro technical sector are netting an average pay of £183 per week.

However, the research has identified a £40 per week average pay gap between male and female apprentices. On average, male trainees receive a take home pay of £153 per week compared to female trainees who earn £113 per week.

This can largely be explained by the high level of gender segregation in many of the sectors. Men dominate in the traditionally highly paid sectors, the top two being electro technical and engineering, whilst women dominate the lower paid sectors, for example hairdressing which only has an average weekly pay of £90.

About six in ten (62 per cent) of all trainees intend to stay working for the same employer after they have finished their Apprenticeship. A further nineteen per cent said they would stay working in the same sector and eight per cent expected to go on to further education.

Copies of the Research can be found on the DfES website

Foster Review of FE

We welcome the publication of the Foster Review. It is now widely accepted that FE will play an important role in meeting our skill requirements. In particular, the Government’s reform plans for 14-19 education and skills will require colleges in every community to play an important part in the delivery of high quality education and training.

Foster points out that colleges have much to be proud about. Over one million extra adults have improved their basic skills, rates of retention and achievement in colleges have risen from 53% to 72% since 1997, and the number of young people on apprenticeships has more than tripled to over 250,000.

Despite this he is right to note that more could be done; drop out rates at FE are still high, there are discrepancies between lecturer and teacher pay, and whilst overall funding has increased in recent years funding has been cut to some colleges offering certain types of adult education.

Playing a central role for supplying the skills needed for business will be engaging with companies. The LSC Skills Survey shows that those businesses who use FE colleges have satisfaction rates exceeding 80%. FE colleges are major contributors to apprenticeship training. However, businesses will also need to make more effort to engage and influence colleges.
 

The first priority for FE should be skills for employability. It is also the most effective way to achieve social justice and tackle poverty. This is what Foster decrees should be their primary purpose.
 

Copies of the Report can be found on the DfES website

In line with one of the Foster recommendations the ETB is running a teacher/lecturer placement scheme, click here to read more.

Skills Academies

SEMTA and Construction Skills are amongst the first tranche of Sector Skills Councils to launch National Skills Academies, which are set to transform the skills base and competitiveness of the UK.

Each Skills Academy will be established in partnership with employers and the Sector Skills Councils. Each academy will be designed for a different sector of industry or business.

The Construction Academy, for example, rather than being 'bricks and mortar' will centre on a network of on-site training centres available on major construction projects around the country. The network will deliver training on a project-by-project basis, responding to the specific skills needs of each. This approach is designed to overcome the challenges of training a mobile workforce in a sector made up of large numbers of very small firms and sole traders.

The Manufacturing Academy on the other hand will will respond to its sectors needs by encouraging more young people and adults to consider a career in the industry by linking closely to the vocational learning available through schools to offer professional development opportunities and skills development.

As a direct response to employers and their needs these have the potential to put employers in the driving seat in developing high-quality and relevant training programmes for their own sector. This will help the transformation of the further education sector so that it meets the needs of business more effectively.

Further details can be found on the SSDA website

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