Search Results

In this paper, the authors summarise the Scottish skills policy trajectory from a simple focus on skills supply to a more complex debate around skills utilisation. Debate and activity in other countries, particularly Germany, Sweden, Finland and Australia, is also highlighted. Five key areas for debate are identified: (1) the need for conceptual clarity, i.e. what is meant by skills utilisation and what this means for employers; (2) the causal chain, i.e. links between business development, organisational development and the use of workforce skills within the workplace; (3) the policy to practice gap and ways to identify pragmatic policies; (4) developing the evidence base, i.e. deciding what's known and what needs to be known; and (5) involving the broader stakeholder group, i.e. identifying who needs to be involved to make skills utilisation work well. Show less

This paper examines shifts in skills policy in Scotland towards emphasising the importance of effective skills utilisation. Turning policy into practice, however, requires a better understanding than currently exists of skills utilisation in order to facilitate better measurement, evaluation and intervention. This paper aims to contribute to such an understanding. We suggest that effective skills utilisation comprises two distinct elements: the use of better skills and the better use of skills, with the former crucial to the development of a high skills economy and the latter crucial to realising existing untapped workforce potential. We further argue that skills utilisation is most likely where workers have the ability, motivation and opportunity to deploy their skills effectively. We conclude by advocating greater collaboration in skills utilisation practice and research between relevant stakeholders, drawing on European experiences and an approach - which we call ASPiRRE - that envelops actors, structures, protocols, responsibilities, resources and expertise in order to align distinct stakeholder interests and encourage innovative practice in skills deployment.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less