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The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has now carried out the third National Learner Satisfaction Survey (NLSS). For 2003-04, the survey is based on over 43,000 learners (a substantially larger number of learners than in earlier surveys) receiving tuition or training through further education, work based learning and adult and community learning providers. The survey elicited learners’ views of the quality of teaching, their overall satisfaction with their learning experience, and whether they would be likely to return to learning within three years on the basis of this experience. As with previous surveys, the results indicated high levels of satisfaction across the sector. The findings also reveal that more learners now get a ‘buzz’ from their learning, and more are reporting that their courses have ‘helped them in their jobs’. However, there is evidence that some learners remain only fairly satisfied and others, dissatisfied. The report proposes that the sector address shortcomings in learners’ experiences wherever possible, and improve the numbers found in the ‘very’ and ‘extremely’ satisfied group.

Related reports are indexed at TD/TNC 82.434 to TD/TNC 82.436. Show less

This document contains the Learning and Skills Council's (LSC's) priorities and key actions for 2006-07. The six priorities are: (1) ensure that all 14-19 year olds have access to high quality, relevant learning opportunities; (2) make learning truly demand-led so that it better meets the needs of employers, young people and adults; (3) transform the learning and skills sector through agenda for change; (4) strengthen the role of the LSC in economic development so that we provide the skills needed to help all individuals into jobs and lifelong employability; (5) improve the skills of the workers who are delivering public services; and (6) strengthen the capacity of the LSC to lead change nationally, regionally and locally. Show less

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has completed the third National Learner Satisfaction Survey (NLSS). For 2003-04, the survey is based on over 43,000 learners (a substantially larger number of learners than in earlier surveys) receiving tuition or training through further education, work based learning and adult and community learning providers. This report summarises the main findings of the 2003-04 survey for work based learning. The survey elicited learners' views of the quality of teaching, their overall satisfaction with their learning experience, and whether they would be likely to return to learning within three years on the basis of this experience. As with previous surveys, the results indicated high levels of satisfaction across the sector. The findings also reveal that more learners now get a 'buzz' from their learning, and more are reporting that their courses have 'helped them in their jobs'. However, there is evidence that some learners remain only fairly satisfied and others, dissatisfied. The report proposes that the sector address shortcomings in learners' experiences wherever possible, and improve the numbers found in the 'very' and 'extremely' satisfied group.

Related reports are indexed from TD/TNC 82.435 to TD/TNC 82.437. Show less

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) 'agenda for change' is a program of reform for further education (FE). It was developed in response to feedback on barriers to the reform of education for 14-19 year olds and the national skills strategy received during consultations with FE college principals during 2004. In 2005, the LSC updated college principals on emerging ideas for reform and feedback suggested broad support for these proposals. The agenda for change proposals are detailed in this prospectus. The program of change is organised around six themes: (1) creating colleges valued by employers as the partner of choice for developing the skills they need; (2) improving the quality of provision; (3) simplifying the funding methodology and allocation process, making it more transparent and responsive to changing needs; (4) identifying the data required for effective management and simplifying its collection; (5) improving the business excellence of the sector; and (6) working with colleges to secure their reputation as central to delivering the education and training needs of the UK. A detailed technical annex provides more information on how to implement the data strand objectives set out in the main body of the report. Show less

The 2004 National Employers Skills Survey (NESS) was commissioned by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), in partnership with the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), to provide detailed information on skills and workforce development issues facing employers in England to serve as a common basis to develop policy and assess the impact of skills initiatives. The survey included 27,000 employers across all sectors of business activity in England. This report is presented in three main sections: 'Skill shortages and other recruitment difficulties' explores the scale and nature of recruitment problems, focusing on the incidence, number, distribution and density of vacancies caused at least partially by a lack of skills, experience or qualifications among those applying; 'Skills gaps within the existing workforce' examines the incidence of skills gaps within the workforce, both in terms of the frequency with which employers have skills gaps and the proportion of staff described as lacking in proficiency, and explores the main causes of skills gaps and the skills that are described as lacking among the workforce in England; 'Training and workforce development' explores the extent, nature and volume of training and workforce development activity, including the proportion of establishments that provide on- and off-the-job training, the extent to which employers plan and budget for training, and the factors that influence training activity. The findings indicate: that skills deficiencies continue to affect about a quarter of the employers; evidence of a slight easing of skills problems for employers in terms of the number of staff lacking skills and the number of vacancies where skills shortages are experienced; skills deficiencies affect different size and sector of employer, and occupational group, very differently; and there have been significant increases in the proportion of employers with training plans.

The key findings report is available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 83.264. Show less

The National Employer Skills Survey (NESS) is the largest of its kind ever commissioned, and aims to investigate the extent, causes and implications of England's recruitment problems and skills gaps, and at the same time measure employers' training activities. The Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) commissioned reports from a number of Sector Skills Councils, and this report summarises the NESS 2003 for the Asset Skills Sector Skills Council. This sector covers the property, housing, cleaning and facilities management sub-sectors. NESS data was limited to two of these sub-sectors (real estate and industrial cleaning), and in total 3,268 interviews were conducted with establishments in this sector. Employers were asked about specific skills they require now and skills they expected to be required in three years time. Communication and customer handling skills are identified as being most important in administrative occupations, with only a minority indicating a need for IT skills, while in the case of elementary staff, employers highlighted very few skill requirements. The report also considers the extent of recruitment difficulties and skill gaps, and finds that: four per cent of establishments in the asset skills sector face hard-to-fill vacancies; 17 per cent of establishments suffer from internal skill gaps, with staff being regarded as less than fully proficient; the highest densities of vacancies lie within smaller firms; vacancies and skill gaps are spread fairly evenly across the sector, but the largest proportion of all vacancies are found amongst the sales and customer service staff and elementary staff; elementary staff account for 39 per cent of all jobs with a skills gap; the main causes of skill gaps are primarily perceived to be due to staff being recently recruited or having a lack of experience; and the main causes of hard-to-fill vacancies are a lack of interest in this type of work, and a low number of applicants with the required skills. Barriers to developing and maintaining a proficient team of staff in the asset skills sector are identified as including: lack of time for training for those with skill gaps; a lack of cover for training; and a lack of funds for training. The report also considers issues associated with employer engagement in developing their workforce. Show less

The aim of this review was to advise on the key challenges and opportunities facing further education (FE) colleges in the UK over the next five to 10 years and to suggest ways of maximising their future contribution. This report of the review sets out a vision for FE colleges, a set of values, and key recommendations for the realisation of this vision. Recommendations include: General Further Education Colleges (GFECs) and tertiary colleges should adopt improving employability and supplying economically valuable skills as their primary purpose; there must be a continued drive by colleges to improve quality and achieve excellence; self regulation should be the medium term goal; FE colleges should strive for long term, continuous improvements in teaching and learning based on best practice from across the sector; FE colleges must address more urgently provision which is failing, supported by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) and others; FE colleges should look at what more they need to do to improve their offer to employers both through their primary role in improving the pool of employability and skills and in response to specific employer needs; the Government should articulate a core role for FE colleges, in particular GFECs, in supplying economically valuable skills; and the Government, with the Association of Colleges (AoC) and FE colleges and other key stakeholders, should develop a clear and targeted workforce development plan within the next 12 months which is published and consulted on prior to implementation. The contents are: The vision; The platform for change; The achievement imperatives; Improving management and funding; Improving inspection and information, reducing the qualifications bureaucracy; Improving infrastructure; Implementation; Summary of recommendations. Included as appendices are: The FE landscape; A view from abroad; Overview of how we worked; Foster review: terms of reference; Glossary and qualification level indicator. Show less

The 2004 National Employers Skills Survey (NESS) was commissioned by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), in partnership with the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), to provide detailed information on skills and workforce development issues facing employers in England to serve as a common basis to develop policy and assess the impact of skills initiatives. The survey included 27,000 employers across all sectors of business activity in England. This report, which highlights key findings from the Survey, follows the same format as the main report. Following the introduction, the second section lists the key findings in a table with comparisons provided for 2001 and 2003. Section three details key findings in respect of skills shortages and other recruitment difficulties while the focus of section four is on skills gaps within the existing workforce. Section five covers training and workforce development. The findings indicate: that skills deficiencies continue to affect about a quarter of the employers; evidence of a slight easing of skills problems for employers in terms of the number of staff lacking skills and the number of vacancies where skills shortages are experienced; skills deficiencies affect different size and sector of employer, and occupational group, very differently; and there have been significant increases in the proportion of employers with training plans.

The main report is available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 83.265. Show less

This report is one of a series of resources from the project, The Disability Discrimination Act: taking the work forward 2003-05, managed by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) in partnership with NIACE and Skill, supported by the Disability Rights Commission and funded by the Learning and Skills Council.

National guidance ‘Disclosure, passing on of information and confidentiality; guidance for post-16 education providers on implementing the DDA Part 4’ was published in October 2003 and subsequently released to all post-16 education providers via local LSCs. The purpose of this report is to discuss how the sector has responded to this national guidance, the challenges that providers face in implementing the requirements of legislation and to provide some examples of practice in the sector. This report builds on, rather than repeats, the information contained in the national guidance, so you may find it useful to read this report in conjunction with the guidance document.

Published summary with additional information reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

'Skills in England 2004', the fourth annual national skills assessment produced by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), provides a synthesis of the latest evidence that is available on the demand for, and supply of, skills in England. Its main aims and objectives are to identify current and future skills problems and deficiencies. It is presented in four volumes: volume one contains the key messages and provides an overview of the research findings in the other three volumes; volume two, the main research report, contains information on the demand for, and supply of, skills as well as mismatches between demand and supply; and volumes three and four provide evidence related to industrial sector, and regional and local trends respectively. This document is the index to the four volumes.

The four volumes are indexed from TD/TNC 82.395 to TD/TNC 82.398. Show less