Report on "Skills in the Modern Workforce" Discussion Group
Host: Allan Wilson MSP, Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
Facilitator: Grahame Smith, Deputy General Secretary of the STUC
Introduction
Around 50 participants took part in the discussion and, though the majority of these came from businesses or business organisations, the group also contained MSPs, union representatives, learning providers and policy makers from the Scottish Executive.
The Minister posed two questions to focus the group's discussions as follows:
- In developing the skills of the workforce, where does the balance of responsibility lie between the government, the employer and the individual learner?
- Are employers given enough opportunity to feed into policy on skills development and if not, how could this be improved?
Session Summary
At the end of the session the Minister summarised the discussions and outlined the main points raised by every contributor (these are described in the following section). He highlighted four themes that he felt had dominated the workshop as follows:
- Soft skills - these were mentioned by a number of participants as being important for business. Some contributors felt that the education system could do more to develop learners' soft skills and the need for more extra-curricular activity in schools was mentioned. One business representative stated that he often has to develop the soft skills of those he employs. Others felt that the development of soft skills was a dual process, with a role for both the individual and the employer.
- Early intervention - a number of those who participated in the discussion stressed the importance of investing in early year's education, but the discussion did not go into greater depth around this issue.
- Enterprise education - this issue, in particular the Determined to Succeed programme, emerged as a popular theme not just in the workshop, but in the conference plenary session. There was considerable positive praise for the initiative and for the benefits of business involvement, but concerns were also raised around the issue of future funding and the uncertainty this created.
- Red tape - some of the participants mentioned the issue of bureaucracy in schools. Views were expressed that such bureaucracy is crippling enthusiastic teachers and that freedom and flexibility were needed instead of red tape.
Although much of the discussion was around school related issues, some contributors to the discussion highlighted that around 75% of the workforce in 2020 was already in work and that the workers of the future were not just those currently in school. The need for policy and investment emphasis on improving the skills of the current workforce was therefore a priority.
Emerging Issues
The points above outline some of the key themes from the workshop, but they do not capture all of the content of the discussion. A great many issues were raised by participants across a broad range of areas. However, what is reflected above is the fact that a sizeable proportion of the discussion revolved around schools and school pupils. Soft skills, bureaucracy and Determined to Succeed aside, the debate also included reference to the appropriateness of targets for school education. Views were presented that there is a need for an emphasis on science and technology, as our future will be secured through the generation of ideas, an area where these subjects were deemed to play a key role. One participant felt that there was less application of resources to these subjects and pupils often had to choose a second option to study due to a lack of student numbers. This was highlighted as a problem for rural areas where schools could not work together to offer subjects.
Targets were also mentioned in reference to life skills (linking back to soft skills) and the view was put to the group that the metric you measure schools by should not just be about academic achievement. Achievement overall was put under the spotlight by one participant who felt that secondary education could be broadened out to the private sector as one means of addressing failures in delivery by Local Authorities. The participant felt that private sector involvement would introduce greater accountability and lead to improvements in quality. However, another participant contrasted this view with the belief that partnership was more important than privatisation. She felt that there was a need for business to see the education and training system responding to their needs, but that there was also an onus on employers to get involved in initiatives like Determined to Succeed.
Methods of assessing learning ability were raised by one participant who discussed how profiling techniques have been very effective for his organisation. He felt that currently in Scotland talent is being squandered and careers advice is pathetically inadequate. He stressed the view that in order for schools to properly assess pupils' potential, a national means of profiling young people needed to be established.
Though schools were a popular topic, the point was made more than once that the group also needed to recognise the importance of those already in work. Employability was discussed, with some participants emphasising that this was the responsibility of both individuals and employers. One participant suggested that there should be a dual process, with employability focussing on what the individual can do and employership being about the role of the employer.
Another focus for discussion was investment in training both by business and by government. One participant felt that businesses were getting the message that training was important and that there was a lot of training taking place across Scotland. It was stressed that not all of this was easy to measure as not all training led to qualifications. The participant emphasised his belief that voluntarism had worked and compulsion was unlikely to work in this area. Others made the point that training budgets were usually the first to be cut and that employers needed to recognise that their people were an appreciating asset and not a depreciating one. One business participant stressed that his organisation provided mentoring and training and did recognise the importance of investing in this area. Some participants felt that there was a need for greater collaboration between business, universities and colleges and in one case suggested that businesses could sponsor young people through their academic career.
The role of individuals also came to the fore around the subject of investment, with one participant stressing that the ILA model could be an important tool for leveraging three way investment. The participant felt that there was a need to incentivise investment by individuals and by businesses. Another view about individuals related to HE funding and the protection of Scotland's intellectual capital. It was suggested that HE could be totally publicly funded, but that students would then be obliged to work in the UK. If they chose to work elsewhere they would have to pay pack the cost of their tertiary education.
In a similar vein, one participant stressed that employees need to be committed to finishing their apprenticeships or training courses. He felt that employment contracts are grossly biased in favour of employees and that there needed to be a better balance.
The issue of migrant workers also featured in the discussion. One participant felt that migrant workers could make an important contribution to Scotland, but that a balance had to be struck between supporting migrant workers (through programmes like ESOL) and growing and developing the indigenous skills base. A group member from the construction industry felt that he often had no choice but to employ foreign labour as many young people were turned off the construction industry by their parents who felt that the jobs available weren't good enough. A contrasting view came from another construction representative who felt that there were many young people wanting to join the industry and many businesses using apprenticeships. He felt that there was a need to encourage more businesses to use apprenticeships and made the point that adult apprenticeships are also available.
Vocational qualifications received attention from one participant who stressed that they don't have enough gravitas and that there isn't enough funding support for the vocational assessment system. This participant also felt that CSR had a role to play both in the mainstream workplace and the education system and that many businesses could provide resources to support this aim.
Other issues raised during the discussion included the suitability of the Fresh Talent initiative, which was felt to offer too short a timescale to allow those who come through the programme to train and develop. Languages also featured and the view was presented that we need to recognise the importance of language skills and encourage more students to participate in programmes such as ERASMUS. It was suggested that improvements in language skills would lead to greater opportunities for Scots workers to experience work abroad.
Finally, a point was made around the consultation on lifelong learning issues in Scotland. The view was expressed that the consultation needed to focus on skills and not lots of separate strategies.
Grahame Smith,
Deputy General Secretary of the STUC