Education, Skills & Productivity – the role of careers provision
This briefing note has been prepared at the request of the Business, Innovation &
Skills (BIS) and Education Select Committees to feed into their joint invitational
seminar on ‘Education, Skills and Productivity’ held on 5th November 2015 in
Portcullis House, London. The aim of this briefing note is to stimulate discussion on
the degree of attention needed by Government and other key players to improve the
education and skills systems (up to the age of 19) in order to increase national labour
productivity. It provides a brief oversight and issues pertaining to the careers
landscape in England located within an economic productivity context: since jobs,
skills and growth are inextricably linked to our economy, businesses, families, as well
as individuals.
1. Meeting the productivity challenge
•
The UK workforce is well educated, by 2020 nearly half of the workforce will
be qualified to degree level above (overtaking the USA) and the number of
highly skilled jobs is growing more than any other EU statei. Yet our
productivity growth remains slow compared to other international competitorsii.
•
The inability to secure talent with the right skills and manage talent-related
costs keeps large, medium and small companies from being able to expand and
launch new products or services.
•
There is significant potential to improve, but it is very clear there are persistent
skills shortages that prevent business getting the skills they need.
•
The UKCES Employer Skills Surveyiii reported that skills shortage vacancies –
where vacancies cannot be filled due to a lack of applicants with suitable skills
or experience - increased by 60% from 2011 to 2013. These shortages cover
nearly a quarter of all vacancies and are concentrated in sectors critical to
growth such as manufacturing and business services.
•
It seems like every week there is a new study or evidence-based report
highlighting the difficulties faced by employers when it comes to skills
1 shortages or skills mismatch. For example, on the 28th October 2015, Azonobel
(the owner of Dulux paint) warned the UK is facing ‘a skills crunch’ that could
exacerbate the country’s housing shortageiv. The latest Royal Institute of
Chartered Surveyors’ UK Construction Survey shows that the country’s skills
shortage has reached its highest levels since the survey was launched 18 years
ago, with bricklayers and quantity surveyors in shortest supplyv. There are many
other major skill shortage examples from the National Health Service and the
Army. In the most recent survey of British firms that employ engineers and IT
staff by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), over half reported
that they could not find the employees they were looking for and 59% said that
the shortage would be “a threat to their business in the UK”. Engineering UK, a
lobby group, has issued dire warnings that Britain currently has a shortfall every
year of about 55,000 people with engineering skills. The mismatch of supply to
demand across the broader range of STEM subjects (science, technology,
engineering and mathematics) is just as badvi. Also, an ageing population means
we need to stimulate the younger generation to obtain important skills needed in
the labour market. Their knowledge and skills determine the future of our
society.
•
Skills shortages and skills mismatch are key challenges faced by many
economies. OECD empirical evidence (2011) shows that, in far too many cases,
a growing number of people are over-skilled for their current jobs, while others
are under-skilledvii. In countries such as Austria, Finland, Germany and
Switzerland careers education and guidance feature prominently in their
education systemsviii .
Key Issue: Who has oversight and responsibility in England for the whole
system from a future jobs and skills requirement for the UK economy
against the career aspirations, intentions, skills and qualifications that
young people are working towards?
2.
Labour market signals
•
Signals to young people (and parents) about the added-value of learning and
work are becoming more blurred and their sources of careers information are
2 often coming from distorted or unreliable sources of information, for example
TV and social media. Weighing up the cost benefits of higher education can be
difficult for some young people even though ‘in difficult conditions graduates
continue to experience better outcomes than non-graduates in both lifetime
earnings and employability (UUK, 2014)ix In stark contrast, there is significant
variation in the estimated wage premiums of apprentices depending on the
sector of employment. Choices are becoming more difficult.
Many young people (and parents) have concerns about the added-value returns
•
for their investments in learning and work, job quality and future salaries.
Destination data and high quality labour market intelligence (LMI) are
necessary, although this is not a sufficient condition to meet the objective of
enhancing individuals’ career decision-making. LMI, as any other type of
information, must be meaningful and resonate with individuals to be
transformed into knowledge. Indeed, it would be difficult to argue that there is
insufficient LMI at a national level – a myriad of open source data currently
exists and developments in ICT have ensured that much is easily accessible, for
example, ‘LMI for All’ (UKCES)x. Finding LMI that meets high quality
standards, which is easily accessible and meaningful for end users is a challenge
at a national and local level.
Key Issue: Who is responsible for providing high quality robust, real time,
reliable careers and labour market information that can be accessed by
schools, colleges, young people and parents?
3. Young people
•
Our education landscape requires young people to make early subject choice
decisions (some from 13 years old upwards) and the raising of the
participation age from 16 to 18 years old in 2015 signals further challenges for
this current generation of school pupils, parents and teachers.
•
There is also evidence that children begin to eliminate their least favoured
career options between the ages of 9 and 13xi. By those ages it is argued that
they will have abandoned the ‘fantasy’ associated with the very young and
started to become more aware of potential constraints on their occupational
3 choice. Researchers at King’s College London investigated young people’s
science and career aspirations aged 10-14 and found that most young people
and parents were not aware that science can lead to diverse post-16 routesxii.
•
Research findings (2013) indicate that a higher level of employer contacts for
older school pupils does, on average, give them advantages in early adulthood
in relation to employment outcomes and earnings over their broadly matched
peers without such engagement with employersxiii. A common concern of
employers is generally young people’s lack of experience of the world of
work. Different policies have emerged to address this issue. For example, in
Scotland this is being addressed through the employer-led development of a
Certificate of Work Readiness – providing 190 hours of work experiences for
a young personxiv . In London and further afield, the drive towards at least 100
hours experience of the world of work by the age of 16 has captured the
imagination of young people, teachers and employersxv.
•
John Cridland (Director General, CBI)1 has stated “skills shortage starts in the
classroom” with earlier interventions needed to ensure vocational options are
fully considered alongside other routes to learning and workxvi . In current (and
future) labour markets’ individuals will continue to experience new patterns of
work, with changing behaviours expectations affecting the way we do things
and how we respond. This has enormous implications for schools and colleges
and their curriculum leadership, design and delivery in helping students to
look ahead and prepare themselves for a very different world.
Key Issue: What policy incentives or levers can be used most effectively to
drive up accessibility and quality in careers support services for young
people, particularly those most vulnerable in our society?
4.
The careers system: the role of government and other key providers
Recently, there has been a lot attention on the need to improve careers and enterprise
opportunities for young people. A proliferation of initiatives has emerged at a local
and national levelxvii . The current system is not working properly. The evidence is
compelling: over the last three years a plethora of reports from employer, education,
4 trade union and careers sector bodies (as well as the Education Select Committee
findingsxviii and the National Careers Council’s two reports commissioned by
Government (op.cit)) reaffirm the urgent need for improved careers provision for
young people. The process of rebuilding and re-engineering careers provision for
young people has been slow, with false starts and setbacks. There exists a crowded,
confused and complex landscape, with a multiplicity of disjointed careers initiatives.
The all-age National Careers Service has remained a predominantly adult careers
service, with online rather than face-to-face careers support aimed at young people,
unless in exceptional circumstances. The overall budget provided by government
departments has remained broadly static (circa £106m). A £20m government-funded
investment for careers and enterprise for young people, announced in early December
2014, set out plans for a new independent careers and enterprise company to coordinate activity but not to provide face-to-face impartial and independent careers
advice. On 6th November 2015, it was announced that Jobcentre Plus will launch in all
schools by March 2017xix. The government said trials will begin across Birmingham
in November, before the initiative is extended to a further nine pathfinder areas before
the end of the current academic year in July 2016. It will then be introduced to all
schools by March 2017. A letter written by Conservative peer Baroness Evans reveals
that the initiative, which she said will aim to deliver “independent, high-quality and
impartial careers advice”, is not intended to be universally available to all students.
Instead it will be focused on helping young people deemed to be at risk of dropping
out of education and not getting a job.
In this crowded and complex landscape, Government must be clear on the actual
problem it is trying to solve. We should ask ourselves whether or not the attention
given by Government to date is sufficient to mend a fragmented system (are we
pointing in the right direction)? Should cities simply get on with it and create/shape
their own careers offer for young people? Alternatively, should more schools cluster
with a local college to find their own ways of maximising their limited and shared
careers resources? Some evidence is emerging that LEPs and City Deals are starting
to step up to find their own local solutions. To what extent can a largely unregulated
careers provider market in England deliver in the public interest? Lessons from the
5 Netherlands who have adopted a similar approach show marketisation of career
guidance leads to an impoverished supply of services, both in the quantitative as well
as in the qualitative sense (Hughes & Meijiers, 2014)xx. This can also reduce
innovation and significantly narrow the ‘careers offer’ to young people.
Careers provision is a public as well as a private good. If we want to keep more young
people switched on to learning; encourage them not to close down opportunities too
early; broaden horizons and challenge inaccurate assumptions; and create relevant
experiences and exposure to the world of work, including techniques for career
adaptability and resilience, then more needs to be done. The historical evolution of a
careers service and profession constantly up-rooted by successive governments now
requires apolitical cross-party agreement to stabilise education and career systems.
Finding a way to reduce fractures in the system rather than create new ones is
paramount.
Dr Deirdre Hughes, OBE
Principal Research Fellow,
University of Warwick, Institute for Employment Research
Email: deirdre.hughes@warwick.ac.uk
Tel: 07533 545057
Visit: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/
6 References
i
Bosworth, D.L. (2014) UK Skill Levels & International Competitiveness, 2013, University of
Warwick, Institute for Employment Research (IER) on behalf of the UK Commission for
Employment & Skills. Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/349939/14082
ii
OECD (2015) OECD Economic Surveys, United Kingdom, Paris: Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development. Available at: http://www.keepeek.com/DigitalAsset-Management/oecd/economics/oecd-economic-surveys-united-kingdom2015_eco_surveys-gbr-2015-en#page1
iii
UKCES (2013) Employers Skills Survey. London: UK Commission for Employment and
Skills. Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/327492/eviden
ce-report-81-ukces-employer-skills-survey-13-full-report-final.pdf
iv
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/28/uk-tradesmen-shortfall-could-inflamehousing-shortage-warns-dulux
v
http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/market-analysis/rics-uk-construction-market-survey/
vi
http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21648003-lack-skilled-workers-and-managersdrags-country-down-mind-gap
vii
OECD (2011) Right for the Job: Over-Qualified or Under-Skilled? Paris: Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development. Available at:
http://www.oecd.org/employment/emp/EMO%202011%20Chap%204%20ENG.pdf
viii
Vuorinen, R., & Watts, A. (Eds.). (2012). Lifelong Guidance Policy Development: a
European Resource Kit. Jyväskylä; Brüssel: University of Jyväskylä, Finnish Institute for
Educational Research; European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network. ELGPN Tools;, No. 1.
Available at: http://www.elgpn.eu/publications/elgpn-tools-no1-resource-kit
ix
Universities UK (2014) Patterns and trends in UK higher education. Available at:
http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Documents/2014/PatternsAndTrendsInUKH
igherEducation2014.pdf
7 x
http://www.lmiforall.org.uk
xi
Gottfredson, L. S. (2002). ‘Gottfredson’s theory of circumscription, compromise, and self
creation’ In D. Brown (Ed.), Career choice and development (4th ed., pp. 85-148). San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Cited in Gutman and Akerman (2008), Determinants of aspirations,
Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning, Research Report 17. IoE.
xii
King’s College London (2015) Aspires: Young people’s science and career aspirations,
age 10 -14. London: Department of Education and Professional Studies. Available at:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/education/research/aspires/ASPIRES-final-reportDecember-2013.pdf
xiii
Mann, A. and Percy, C. (2013). Employer engagement in British secondary education:
wage earning outcomes experienced by young adults. Journal of Education and Work.
Available at: http://www.educationandemployers.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/06/mann_percy_journal_of_education_and_work_2013.pdf
xiv
Skills Development Scotland (2015) Joined Up for Jobs, Glasgow. Available at:
http://www.joinedupforjobs.org.uk/media/129576/sds_certificate_of_work_readiness.pdf
xv
Hughes, D. (2015) London Ambitions: Reshaping a careers offer for all young Londoners
on behalf of the London Enterprise Panel, Greater London Authority and London Councils,
June 2015. Available at:
https://lep.london/sites/default/files/documents/publication/London%20Ambitions%20Career
s%20Offer.pdf
xvi
Cridland, J. (2015) Skills shortage starts in the classroom, London. Available at:
http://business-reporter.co.uk/2015/11/03/skills-shortage-starts-in-the-classroom-says-cbisjohn-cridland/
xvii
Hughes, D. (2014). Taking Action: Achieving a Culture Change in Careers Provision ,
London: National Careers Council Second Report to Government, London: England,
September 2014 and D. & Chambers, N. (2014). An Aspirational Nation: Achieving a Culture
Change in Careers Provision, London: National Careers Council First Report to Government.
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/the-national-careers-council
xviii
House of Commons Education Select Committee (2013) Career Guidance for Young
People: The impact of the new duty on schools, Seventh Report of Session 2012-2013,
London: Parliament.
xix
http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/1154651/jobcentre-plus-to-launch-in-all-schools-bymarch-2017
xx
Hughes, D., Meijers, F. Kuijpers, M. (2014). Testing Times: careers market policies and
practices in England and The Netherlands. British Journal for Guidance and
Counselling, London: Routledge Online Access 8/8/2014.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03069885.2014.940280#.VEkBcEuaZfM 8