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The Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) commissioned the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) at the Loughborough University to examine the concept of ‘employment sustainability’ in order to facilitate the design, assessment and evaluation of labour market policies. The research comprised three main elements: a literature review; qualitative interviews with key agents and policy actors; and an examination of existing data sets. This report seeks to help the development of policies designed to achieve the Government’s goal of employment sustainability. The sections of the report are: Defining employment sustainability; Measuring employment sustainability; Factors associated with employment sustainability; Issue in the design of policy; Policies to promote employment sustainability; Policy opportunities and limitations.

A more detailed report of this study is published in ‘Staying at work: thinking about a new policy agenda’ indexed at TD/TNC 67.433. Show less

The National Skills Task Force has been established by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to assist him in developing a National Skills Agenda. The Task Force was asked to provide advice on the nature, extent and pattern of skill needs and shortages, including associated recruitment difficulties, how these are likely to change and what can be done to ease such problems. This paper is one of a series that has been commissioned to review and evaluate existing literature in a number of skills-related areas.

This paper examines the provision of post-compulsory education and training (PCET) particularly as it relates to vocational qualifications for young people. The author maintains that working through the many options and routes is a daunting task and that the provision is 'fragmented and incoherent, with a number of competing pathways of varying status and value' (Evans et al, 1997). She identifies five key questions which need to be addressed by policy-makers. Do vocational qualifications act as a barrier to young people's participation in vocational education and training? How credible are vocational qualifications and vocational courses in the eyes of young people and employers? How might vocational qualifications and vocational courses be improved and strengthened? How are vocational qualifications and vocational courses viewed by education and training providers? How do vocational qualifications and vocational courses relate to their academic counterparts and how might that relationship be improved? Unwin looks at all the options that 16 year-olds face at the end of compulsory schooling and highlights a plethora of apprenticeships, traineeships and other initiatives. Destination patterns are analysed and the strengths and weaknesses of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) are examined. She presents a range of conclusions to support the young people themselves, the providers of training and the employers, and makes ten policy recommendations to simplify and coordinate the PCET process.

Other research reports in this series are indexed from TD/TNC 62.633 to TD/TNC 62.636 and from TD/TNC 62.638 to TD/TNC 62.651. Show less

This report sets out the findings of a study on the form and nature of the work-based training provided for young people in employment. The main aim was to contribute to the understanding of the sorts of activities that constitute work-based training for young people in employment. The study was undertaken in two parts. The first was a literature review and the second was a fieldwork stage, revolving around a series of employer-based case studies. The report is divided into three sections. One chapter looks at where the young people are employed and establishes the link between recruitment and training, which underpins the employers' recruitment strategies. The next chapter examines the approaches to training young people that were adopted by the case study employers, the form and nature of the training they provided and their practices for recording and accrediting training. The skills that young people develop as a result of their learning experiences and the reason why employers provide the training that they do are also covered. The key findings are summarised with the conclusion that the training that is provided for young people tends to reflect the employer's overall resourcing strategy. Show less

The National Skills Task Force was established in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1998 to develop a National Skills Agenda to ensure that the workforce had the necessary skills to maintain high levels of employment, to compete in the global marketplace, and to provide learning and employment opportunities for all individuals. This document from the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, sets out the Department for Education and Employment's (DfEE's) plans to act on the recommendations of the National Skills Task Force to realise the skill development required for economic success. The plan aims to strengthen the link between learning and employment, create excellence in vocational learning, provide second chance learning opportunities for adults, ensure equal opportunities for both men and women in job searching and skill development, and engage employers in the skills agenda.

The White Paper on enterprise, skills and innovation 'Opportunity for all in a world of change', is indexed at TD/IRD 88.20. Show less

The National Skills Task Force has been established by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to assist him in developing a National Skills Agenda. The Task Force was asked to provide advice on the nature, extent and pattern of skill needs and shortages, including associated recruitment difficulties, how these are likely to change and what can be done to ease such problems. This paper is one of a series that has been commissioned to review and evaluate existing literature in a number of skills-related areas.

This paper considers issues relating to the measurement of skill for national statistical purposes, drawing on research leading to the revision of the national occupational classification for the United Kingdom (UK), SOC90. (Note: the revised classification will be referred to as SOC2000.) It aims to provide advice on the measurement of skill and the monitoring of change and to explain how the revised classification will affect the analysis of skill change and lead to a re-examination of forecasting of occupational structure. During the two-year revision process, perceived inadequacies were identified and the paper notes the major problems of definition that arose. Following the introduction, Section 2 presents a brief history of occupational classification in the UK. Section 3 describes the conceptual basis of the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). Section 4 looks at problems with SOC90 and the constraints placed on the process. Section 5 briefly discusses the major processes of labour market change which shaped the revision. Section 6 identifies the sources and methods that were used in investigating occupational change. Section 7 presents an outline of the major changes to be introduced within SOC2000. Section 8 presents the authors' conclusions, in which they point out the difficulties caused by the speed of change in both skill areas and work organisation, but also maintain that this will be a better tool for the measurement of skill and for job-matching purposes.

Other research reports in this series are indexed from TD/TNC 62.633 to TD/TNC 62.650. Show less

The National Skills Task Force was set up to ensure that Britain has the skills needed to ensure high levels of employment, be competitive in the global marketplace and provide opportunities for all. This final report brings together the themes and recommendations of the three interim reports. Proposals for a national skills agenda are presented in three areas: policy actions to improve the supply side of education and training; an approach to managing the system so that employment needs and learning strategies match; and a set of targets and measures to monitor and improve progress. Chapter 1 outlines the vision for a National Skills Agenda; Chapter 2 summarises the findings and is an assessment of the main skills gaps and shortages; Chapter 3 presents the features of a new post-16 education and training system; Chapter 4 examines a strategy for stimulating demand and managing the system; and Chapter 5 looks at the way forward in terms of priorities, targets, roles and responsibilities. The publication also contains five annexes detailing terms of reference, membership of the Task Force, publications list and definitions.

Other reports of the National Skills Task Force are indexed from TD/TNC 62.653 to TD/TNC 62.655 and at TD/TNC 62.657 and an initial response to the final report is indexed at TD/TNC 62.658. Show less

The National Skills Task Force was set up to ensure that Britain has the skills needed to ensure high levels of employment, be competitive in the global marketplace and provide opportunities for all. It presents a vision for modernising Britain's education and training system. This publication reports on the first three months' work of the Task Force, which which will provide advice on skills needs and shortages, practical measures to raise the level of sustainable employment, what changes are needed in the long term and how they can be met, and how to ensure that the education and training system responds appropriately to the identified needs.

Other reports of the National Skills Task Force are indexed from TD/TNC 62.654 to TD/TNC 62.657 and an initial response to the final report is indexed at TD/TNC 62.658. Show less

Young people who do badly in their GCSE examinations at age 16 present two challenges for social policy. The first is to minimise the numbers getting poor results while maintaining credible academic standards in examinations. The second is to mitigate the consequences of poor results by providing opportunities for low achievers to improve their qualifications. It is the second of the challenges that this report addresses. It aims to inform the policy debate on how best to provide for these young people through a detailed study of a cohort of low achievers who reached the end of their compulsory schooling in 1995. This report is not about the causes of low achievement. It is about the recent trends in low achievement, and about how the routes low achievers took after age sixteen differed from those taken by young people with better examination results. The report tracks the low achievers' progress after age sixteen over two and a half years, looking at their educational participation, work-based training, employment, any further qualifications that are gained and their satisfaction with the way that things worked out for them. Show less

This report describes the characteristics of the unemployed from the Family and Working Lives Survey (FWLS). The intention was to analyse the characteristics of the unemployed to begin to answer some questions. How does an individual's unemployment history interact with other aspects of personal history and with general economic events? How does the labour market status of partners interact when one of them becomes unemployed? What is the effect of benefit receipt on re-employment probabilities? What are the effects of training on various types of re-employment probabilities following unemployment? What are the destinations of the long-term unemployed? What are the job search methods of the unemployed? This report identifies the most important determinants of the duration and incidence of individual unemployment and how these compare and contrast. Show less

Employee Development Schemes (EDSs) which have been in existence in the United Kingdom (UK) since 1989 have two essential features: (1) opportunities to voluntarily engage in learning activities which are wider than those required by the employer; and (2) support from the employer, usually in the form of cash entitlements to spend on learning activities. The overall aim of this research project was to identify the effect of EDSs on individual attitudes and commitment to learning and this report describes the findings of the project. The structure of the report is as follows: section one contains the executive summary; section two introduces the project covering the background, research objectives and methodology; section three presents the main findings and discusses the overall attitudes to, and experience of, learning, individual differences and how they relate to EDS based learning; and the last section presents six case studies. Also included are three appendices: (1) Respondent letter and self completion recruitment sheet; (2) Respondent profile; (3) Detailed topic guides. Show less