A dual mandate for adult vocational education: a consultation paper

This paper sets out what the [UK] Government has done since 2010 to promote a quality system of vocational education and training for adult learners and explains how the government has positioned skills as a core component of industrial strategy, introducing the concept of a dual mandate for adult vocational education. The paper analyses how and why England’s performance on higher level vocational education is weaker than many of its comparator nations and sets out the challenge that this poses to productivity. It also highlights higher level skills shortages in some of the sectors identified in the Industrial Strategy as critical to growth. It describes how the government has approached three key themes associated with higher level vocational education under the core themes of: funding; institution building; and the ownership and development of qualifications, standards and curricula. It identifies options for further development and poses a series of questions designed to develop thinking on the three themes stated. It focuses on the second part of the dual mandate: the importance of adult and vocational education’s role in ensuring that individuals are given a second chance to gain the fundamental skills required for life and work. The implications of the dual mandate for adult further education colleges are examined, against a background of wider change in the way in which the Government funds education for adults, and the Government’s wider strategy of empowering local places to make decisions on economic development.

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