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Skills Dialogues constitute a series of consultations with all major industrial and business sectors in the UK, generating high quality authoritative skills assessments for each of these broad sectors. Their purpose is to improve the quality of information available on skills at sector level and to provide an effective means for national training organisations (NTOs) and employers to contribute to the planning and implementation of education and training provision in their sector. This report is the result of the Clothing, Textiles, Footwear and Leather, and Furniture, Furnishings and Interiors Skills Dialogue and provides an assessment of trends in employment and skill needs and associated issues in these industries. These industries have faced a difficult transformation over the past three decades as a result of overseas competition and technological change. The report provides overviews of these industries, examines issues related to the demand for, and supply of, skills, including employment change, occupational change, skill requirements, skills gaps and shortages, and summarises common skills issues. The report suggests that to maintain competitiveness, the industries will need to further enhance skills, particularly in management, marketing and technical expertise. Major skills issues common to these industries are: (1) changes to the skills mix resulting from the transition to a combination of UK and overseas production; (2) overall skills deficiencies exacerbated by lack of experience and of basic skills; (3) skills gaps particularly at management levels and for clerical, craft and plant and machine operatives; (4) the equal demand for soft skills and technical and information technology (IT) related skills; and (5) that recruitment and skills problems are responsible for business problems and delays in developing new products. Show less

SEMTA, the national Sector Skills Council for science, engineering and manufacturing technologies, launched a national initiative to ensure that all engineering employers and training providers have access to a common trainee feedback system designed to help raise standards and improve trainee satisfaction. The www.apprentice-feedback.com system is designed to capture and analyse the feedback from engineering apprentices in relation to their training provision. Two surveys, one for first year apprentices and one for those in the second, third and fourth years, were conducted during the pilot. The survey results indicate that overall, levels of satisfaction with initial engineering workshop training were high and the overall impressions of post-first-year trainees were generally favourable. The pilot showed that the feedback system ‘raises awareness of the need for improvement, encourages management action, opens a channel of communication with trainees and reveals important sector-wide trends’. This report outlines the structure and content of the National Trainee Feedback System and summarises the methods used to achieve its aims and objectives, how the partners contributed to the project, the outcomes of the project, and the feedback received from project partners and trainees. Show less

Skills Dialogues constitute a series of consultations with all major industrial and business sectors in the UK, generating high quality authoritative skills assessments for each of these broad sectors. Their purpose is to improve the quality of information available on skills at sector level and to provide an effective means for national training organisations (NTOs) and employers to contribute to the planning and implementation of education and training provision in their sector. This report is the result of the Tourism and Cultural Industries Skills Dialogue and provides an assessment of trends in employment and skill needs and associated issues in these industries. The ability of these industries to compete successfully on a global stage relies on raising service standards to meet rising customer expectations and choice. In the UK, competitive weakness is mainly a result of growing skills gaps and shortages. The report covers a number of sectors: hotels and catering; arts and entertainment; cultural, natural and built heritage; travel, tourism services and events; and sports and recreation, leisure parks and attractions. It examines in detail changing social patterns, employment patterns and economic drivers, employment trends, skills needs, and skills supply and skills gaps. Common skills needs for the sectors are identified. Skills gaps apply across the sectors in management skills, the need for multi-skilling whilst being a specialist, work readiness of graduates, adequate information and communications technology (ICT) skills, and customer care skills and positive service attitudes in front-of-house staff. The low level of training provision across the sectors is one of the most important reasons for the skills gaps. The report demonstrates the need for more investment in skills and training across the sectors to ensure the quality of products and services provided. Recommendations for future action are provided in the areas of: education and training, particularly in management skills, information technology (IT) skills and customer care skills; the development of the whole workforce including part-time, seasonal, transient, and freelance/casual workers; and support for small and medium-sized businesses in developing staff management skills, providing appropriate training to meet changing market needs, and improving the retention of their existing staff. Show less

Skills Dialogues constitute a series of consultations with all major industrial and business sectors in the UK, generating high quality authoritative skills assessments for each of these broad sectors. Their purpose is to improve the quality of information available on skills at sector level and to provide an effective means for national training organisations (NTOs) and employers to contribute to the planning and implementation of education and training provision in their sector. This report is the result of the Process Industries Skills Dialogue and provides an assessment of trends in employment and skill needs and associated issues in this sector. This group of industries covers ceramics, chemicals, downstream petroleum, extractives and minerals processing, glass, metals, offshore petroleum, paper, pharmaceuticals, polymers, refractories and building products, and surface coatings. These industries are essential elements of the supply chain for British industry and over recent years have undergone significant changes. Managing change is the main driver for investment in skills and the industry now has fewer, more highly skilled, employees. The key issues identified by the skills dialogue are: (1) recruitment; (2) management and leadership skills; (3) supporting process improvement and supply chain development; (4) safety, health and the environment; (5) using workplace qualifications; (6) basic and key skills; (7) new technology skills; and (8) choosing high quality learning provision. Show less

This report is a follow-up to an earlier study undertaken in 2000 that examined the wage returns to academic and vocational qualifications in the UK in the 1990s (indexed at TD/TNC 69.166). Data was drawn from the National Child Development Study (NCDS), the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), and the 1998 Labour Force Survey (LFS). This report extends the earlier work in a number of directions. The data from the LFS is used to disaggregate the estimated returns to detailed qualifications with a particular focus on changes in returns over time, by public and private sector, by age cohort and by highest school qualification. The report uses information on all qualifications held by each person rather than just the highest. This allows an estimation of the returns to each qualification on the basis of the earnings of all individuals who acquire them rather than just the individuals who acquire a particular qualification and progress no further. Key findings are that: (1) the returns to key academic qualifications are very similar for men and women; (2) men and women earn positive returns on Higher National Certificate/Higher National Diploma (HNC/HND) qualifications and BTEC or SCOTVEC National Certificate/Diploma (ONC/OND) qualifications, and professional, teaching and nursing qualifications; (3) there has been virtually no change in the estimated returns to most qualifications over the time period considered; (4) degrees and A levels yield a greater return in the private sector than in the public sector for men and similar returns across sectors for women; (5) the returns to most qualifications do not vary to any significant extent over the working lives of individuals; and (6) individuals who do not obtain any qualifications at school obtain positive returns to a wide range of qualifications. Show less

Skills Dialogues constitute a series of consultations with all major industrial and business sectors in the UK, generating high quality authoritative skills assessments for each of these broad sectors. Their purpose is to improve the quality of information available on skills at sector level and to provide an effective means for national training organisations (NTOs) and employers to contribute to the planning and implementation of education and training provision in their sector. This report is the result of the Financial Services Sector Skills Dialogue and provides an assessment of trends in employment and skill needs and associated issues in this sector. The main industries covered by this dialogue are banking and finance, insurance, professional services (financial intermediation) and professional services (accountancy). The first two chapters provide an executive summary and information about the dialogue process and the approach used for this sectoral dialogue. Chapter three discusses the context for the financial services sector and the key drivers of skill requirements and their potential labour market implications. Chapter four examines the demand for financial services skills and chapter five explores the supply of such skills. Chapter six considers the extent and nature of skill shortages within the sector based on the available evidence on recruitment difficulties and hard-to-fill vacancies and employer views about the proficiency of their workforce. The final chapter draws together the findings of the dialogue and proposes recommended actions to address areas of skill needs highlighted in the report. The key messages to emerge are: (a) the need for partnership to bring organisations together to address skills shortages in the sectors; (b) the need for comprehensive and accurate information on which to base future employment and skills projections; and (c) the need for clear and open dialogue and communication if a role is to be found for the public sector in supporting employers. Show less

The Increased Flexibility for 14-16 year olds Programme (IFP) was introduced in 2002 by the UK Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in order to ‘create enhanced vocational and work-related learning opportunities for 14-16 year olds who can benefit most’. Partnerships between schools and colleges and training providers were formed and two cohorts of Year 10 students began two-year vocational courses including National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs), other Vocational Qualifications (VQs) and new General Certificate in Secondary Education (GCSEs) in vocational subjects. The partnerships aimed to enhance student attainment, develop their skills, knowledge and social learning, and increase retention in education and training after 16. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) was commissioned by the DfES to conduct an evaluation of the first and second cohorts of IFP students. The evaluation aims to: assess the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of the implementation of the IFP, and identify those delivery models and implementation practices and strategies that appear to be most successful; evaluate the extent to which the IFP has fulfilled its national aims, objectives and targets; and assess the impact of vocational qualifications and new work-related learning opportunities on young peoples’ skills, knowledge, attitudes, attendance, attainment and post-16 progression. This report presents a profile of the partnerships between schools and colleges that were established to deliver the IFP to Year 10 students in 2003. It outlines the characteristics of the students who were participating and the qualifications they studied. This is the second cohort of students participating in IFP and comparisons with the first cohort are provided throughout the report.

Other reports from the evaluation are indexed at TD/TNC 77.125, TD/TNC 80.651 and TD/TNC 80.678. Show less

In December 2004, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) commissioned a mapping of qualifications and training developments across the children and young people's (CYP) workforce. The aims of the research were: to support the creation of a qualifications framework and structure for career progression opportunities for members of the CYP workforce; to map the qualifications and existing training and development provision that is available; to provide information on the current take up of key qualifications and training provision that is available both nationally and locally; and to identify specific variations and gaps in qualifications and training provision and the funding streams available to support individual members of the workforce. The project covered all major occupational groups within the children's workforce, nationally available and approved qualifications from levels one to eight together with a mapping of the detailed content of significant qualifications against the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge. The research was organised in two related strands: the collection data about qualifications and training; and the exploratory development of the workforce through contextualising studies. This report is an executive summary of the entire project. It contains information about the overall research aims and objectives, information which contextualised the project, and research methodology including how relevant stakeholders were consulted during the design and implementation stages of the project. The report details key findings and summarises the recommendations made in each of five reports, which contain more detailed discussion of the key aspects of the project.

This report is one of six, each with a different theme. The reports are indexed from TD/TNC 85.226 to TD/TNC 85.231. Show less

Skills Dialogues constitute a series of consultations with all major industrial and business sectors in the UK, generating high quality authoritative skills assessments for each of these broad sectors. Their purpose is to improve the quality of information available on skills at sector level and to provide an effective means for national training organisations (NTOs) and employers to contribute to the planning and implementation of education and training provision in their sector. This report is the result of the Media and Creative Industries Skills Dialogue and provides an assessment of trends in employment and skill needs and associated issues in this sector. This dialogue covers the audio-visual industry (including broadcast, film, video and interactive media), design, photo-imaging, print and graphic communication, and publishing (covering books, journals, newspapers, magazines and electronic information services). The industries in this sector share several common interests related to new technological developments but differ widely in size, scope and characteristics. Each of the industries reported the existence of hard-to-fill vacancies. Key drivers influencing future skill needs are economic forces, changing patterns of demand, and changing patterns of doing business. A number of common concerns that exist to differing extents across each of the sectors were identified. These are: (1) attracting the workforce needed; (2) influencing education provision; (3) attracting the best talent: (4) workforce development; (5) emerging skill issues; (6) managing a small firm, freelance and casualised workforce; and (7) involvement in government initiatives. These concerns are discussed in the report and initial suggestions are made as to further action. Show less

The 'Science and innovation investment framework 2004-2014' sets out a long-term strategy to develop and maintain a supply of scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians (STEM) to support the science base in the UK. As part of this framework, the STEM cross-cutting program, jointly managed by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was established to examine the range of initiatives that currently support this agenda and to identify ways to enhance the effectiveness of government funding in two areas: the flow of qualified people into the STEM workforce; and STEM literacy in the population. The program identified the need to improve the delivery of STEM initiatives so that the STEM system could be made more coherent. The work of the program has concentrated on where the most significant impact can be made through enhanced delivery for learners and learning providers, and the coordination of STEM through a simple core delivery network. This report documents actions to achieve these aims. The actions are underpinned by three principles: (1) STEM support should be available to all learners and learning providers so it will be necessary to build on and coordinate existing delivery networks to enable them to support the variety of needs; (2) there is a need for greater coordination of the many providers of professional development and enhancement activities to achieve more coherent delivery, but without losing diversity of choice; and (3) there are clear economies of scale in providing many of these resources at a level above that of local authority and local Learning and Skills Council (LSC) so some provision will be needed at national, regional and local levels. Show less