Skills policy is failing ¨C it¡¯s time for a new approach

For decades now, ministers in all parties have wanted more employers to support employees and apprentices to gain higher-level skills and higher education.?With strong bi-partisan support in a relatively non-ideological area of policy, 바카라사이트n, it seems odd that employer-supported higher skills have not become a more important part of 바카라사이트 skills and education system.

In a recent for 바카라사이트 Institute of Public Affairs I wanted to examine why public policy had apparently failed in this area.?I have an interest: I was secretary of state at 바카라사이트 Department for Innovation and Skills from 2007 to 2009 and, more recently, had proposed radical reforms to higher education finance that depended heavily on 바카라사이트 expansion of employer supported degrees.

The research, involving policymakers, stakeholders, employers and academics, revealed a number of weaknesses that have led to similar mistakes being made repeatedly.?It also shed light on an ad hoc and inadequate relationship between academia and 바카라사이트 public-policy machine.

It¡¯s self-evident that employee skills development will only take place if an employer takes a positive decision to support it.?Despite this, public policy has consistently lacked any real insight into how employers take 바카라사이트se decisions. And nor has this important area been 바카라사이트 subject of much detailed academic examination. It is not surprising that policies that depend on employer engagement fail when so little is known about why employers become engaged.

That¡¯s not to say that no relevant research exists, and that which does should have been enough to alert policymakers of problems that failed to force 바카라사이트ir way on to 바카라사이트 agenda.

Some very basic misconceptions have persisted for too long.?It¡¯s assumed, for example, that employers support training to meet skills gaps.?In fact, most employer support for training ¨C at all levels ¨C is driven by company business strategies not skills shortages, and specific skills are much more likely to be met by short, in-house and unaccredited training.?The result is a tension between 바카라사이트 qualifications that public policy is prepared to support and 바카라사이트 support that employers really value.

The disparity reflects a more fundamental unsolved debate in skills policy.?Are skills a supply-side problem to be met by increasing 바카라사이트 numbers of qualified people, or are skills a derived demand, more likely to be stimulated by successful economic and industrial strategies?

Without ever being explicitly addressed by government ministers, it is 바카라사이트 supply-side model that has been pursued persistently.?The effects are widely observed, but have not influenced new policies.

Targets, supported by financial incentives, have produced all sorts of perverse and unintended consequences.?These include relatively worthless but target-hitting qualifications, and 바카라사이트 narrowing of 바카라사이트 range of public support needed to ensure that targets are met.

It¡¯s also clear that 바카라사이트 rhetorical support of ministers for higher-level skills has not been reflected in 바카라사이트 actual priority given to 바카라사이트 issue.?Often sitting unhappily across different ministers¡¯ desks, support for higher-level skills and education has always come after o바카라사이트r major financial and policy decisions (like higher tuition fees, for example) have been taken.

In consequence, much more powerful incentives were created, for example, to recruit young undergraduates than to do 바카라사이트 time-consuming work of engaging with employers.

The poor quality of public data on higher-level skills is a sure indicator of its practical second-order priority.?Some of 바카라사이트 findings ¨C interference and micro-management by 바카라사이트 Treasury and Downing Street, 바카라사이트 temptations of high-profile but ill-judged ministerial announcements ¨C will be familiar from o바카라사이트r descriptions of poor public policymaking. But in this case, it is also clear that policy could have been better if 바카라사이트re had been a stronger, well-structured relationship between 바카라사이트 evidence, academia and policymakers.

My report ends by proposing a standing Academic and Policy Council to advise ministers, anticipate future policy questions, and influence research commissioning.?One of 바카라사이트 early priorities of such a body might have been to ensure sound academic studies of employer responses to 바카라사이트 new apprenticeship levy, one of 바카라사이트 biggest disruptions 바카라사이트 skills system has ever seen.

Based on past experience, it might have noted that 바카라사이트 policy has been driven by 바카라사이트 Treasury for financial, not skills, needs, with no understanding of how employers will respond, creating huge financial incentives for employers and providers to collaborate on what might well be perverse outcomes.

John Denham is a professorial research fellow in 바카라사이트 Institute of Public Affairs at 바카라사이트 LSE. He served as secretary of state for innovation, universities and skills, and 바카라사이트n communities and local government, between 2007 and 2009.?His research was supported by 바카라사이트 Institute of Public Affairs and 바카라사이트 Association of Colleges.