More, Different and Better

Skills matter for growth

Today’s guest blog, written by Tom Wilson, follows on from NIACE’s initial thoughts on the upcoming Spending Review and kick-starts a series exploring different perspectives from the further education sector. Tom Wilson is Director of unionlearn – the education, learning and skills organisation of the TUC – and a NIACE Board Member.

Skills matter more than ever, for both economic and personal growth. NIACE’s recent submission to the government’s spending review clearly sets out the evidence to back this up. The TUC and unionlearn endorse both the analysis and recommendations. Any further cut to learning and skills budgets is likely to prove a “double whammy” by hitting economic growth and a range of social outcomes.

While some research findings show that employer investment in skills has held up better during the economic downturn compared to previous recessions, the latest official data revealing the employee experience provide a different picture. According to the National Employer Skills Survey nearly half of the national workforce received no training in 2011 (compared with 37% before the recession began). A central challenge for government is to consider what it can do to boost the amount of money that employers spend and how they spend that money to best effect.

The stark reality is that many individuals will miss out if government spending falls further.  As the TUC highlighted in its Budget Submission earlier this year, we think the government is right to prioritise spending on apprenticeships and functional skills for adults who would miss out on any training if left to the vagaries of our highly deregulated labour market. Union learning reps, supported by Union Learning Fund, are playing a crucial role in supporting individuals and employers to access, and maximise the benefits, of those two funding streams.

Nevertheless, too many apprentices still face major barriers because of poor standards and low pay. One in five employers are breaking the law by paying less than the statutory minimum rate, hardly generous at £2.65 per hour. The Chancellor should send a clear message that this is unacceptable. Simultaneously he could immediately drive up the number of quality apprenticeship by giving a commitment that all parts of government will require companies bidding for public contracts to recruit a specific number of apprentices.

Other groups of young people engaged in learning, such as college students, also face huge disadvantages. Recent government research shows that 1 in 6 of these young people face significant financial barriers. The TUC has recommended that the government should review its previous decision to abolish the Education Maintenance Allowance and also address other inequalities, e.g. FE students aged 16-18 being ineligible for free school meals.

When it comes to adult learning, the NIACE submission makes a persuasive case for boosting spending and TUC/unionlearn endorses the central message.  But what I would add is the need for a culture change in how government takes forward some of the current planned reforms of skills policy.

This required culture change should incorporate the “social partnership”model used by other successful European economies. This involves co-operation between employers and employee representatives (usually unions) as the norm. All the evidence shows that this approach delivers higher levels of investment by employers and a greater quantity of high quality training opportunities for young people and adult employees.

To be fair, the government is currently piloting major changes to the skills regime that do potentially incorporate this approach. For example, under the Employer Ownership Pilot the government is testing out the impact of offering employers the opportunity to bid for direct access to public investment to design and deliver their own training solutions in partnership with other stakeholders, including unions. In round 2 of the pilot there is a welcome emphasis on supporting a more strategic approach by encouraging funding bids from industrial partnerships who take wider responsibility for skills development. This looks like a golden opportunity to build a new social partnership approach. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills – with lead responsibility for the pilot – is also encouraging this drive.

The TUC has also broadly welcomed Doug Richard’s recommendation that employers and unions should have a greater say in the development of high quality apprenticeship frameworks and standards through collaboration. Given the experience of other European countries it is essential that the Government looks to the “European model” when it takes forward the recommendations of the Richard Review.

Unionlearn is supporting unions so that they can engage in Industrial Partnerships linked to the Employer Ownership Pilot and the implementation of the Richard Review. Unions, in partnership with other stakeholders, will play a key role in driving up quality and employer investment as well as prioritising other key issues, especially the equality and diversity agenda. The Chancellor must continue to invest in skills – and so must employers.

Join the conversation on Twitter by following @NIACEhq or using #niaceSR

Caring has become a part of who I am

Today’s is the last guest blog in our series for National Carers Week. Louise, shares the challenges she has faced, as well as the rewards she has reaped, as a young adult carer .

Along with my mum, two sisters and brother, I care for my Dad, who has manic depression which forced him to medically retire after he had a breakdown. I was 9 years old and almost overnight became the main support for mum as well as a surrogate parent for my brother and sisters. My Dad’s condition and having the responsibilities of a carer have often conflicted with my school and work life.

Throughout my school life I found it difficult to juggle homework and deadlines with other commitments. I often felt that although some teachers knew about my situation they often either ignored it or didn’t understand how this affected homework/coursework and when I tried to explain, it would be brushed away. A teacher once asked, “How can your Dad’s condition stop you from completing this [work]?”

Well, sir, the answer I never gave, as I scurried back to my seat stressed and shocked at this. When I went home each day it wasn’t always to sit on the sofa and watch TV, play games or find endless reasons not to do homework. It was to help my mum with cooking, tidying and finances (try understanding a mortgage at 13), to entertain and distract my younger brother and sister so they didn’t stress my dad out, to help my other sister with homework because mum was busy, to do something small and trivial for dad which would turn into a big thing for him if I didn’t it. Because, sir, I spent my evenings walking on egg shells in case anything shook my dad’s mental stability. Because I’m a carer!

My GCSEs and time in Sixth Form doing my A levels was one of the hardest – I constantly struggled with work, revision and applying for university. In the end I chose not to go to University because I couldn’t just up and leave my caring duties. Although I found the pressure hard to deal with it’s not all doom and gloom. I count myself fortunate to have had a really good group of friends who helped me a lot, also attending Young Carers and now Young Adult Carers is a great way for me to talk to others who know what it was like as well as having time to relax.

Having grown up in such a pressurised environment, I have learnt a lot about myself and the ways of dealing with stress, I often find myself remaining level-headed when others are losing theirs. In fact caring has very much become a part of who I am.

Employers and teachers should recognise the needs of carers

Continuing a series of guest blogs for National Carers Week, young adult carer, Matt, tells us what he thinks employers and schools can do to better support people with caring responsibilities.

As an 18 year old, I’ve been a carer for my younger brother since a young age. He’s now 16, so has been a huge part of my life for a long time. Hence, I’ve grown up with it, and it’s made me who I am today. I feel that being a carer has probably shaped my personality – without this experience, I would have been a very different person.

It’s the same with my mother, who passed away when I was very young. There is nothing I can do about either of these situations, I just have to adapt to them and deal with them as best as I can. Sure, there will be tears along the way, but making them both proud of me is my biggest aim. I do not have any ‘regrets’, as such, but just use my past as motivation to do well for my family, and do what my mother would have been proud of me for.

I enjoy caring for my brother – it’s not easy, but I like being a helping hand and I feel the experiences will benefit me in life greatly. It’s not something all of my friends are familiar with. My closest ones do know, and they don’t treat me any differently. I don’t choose not to tell people because I’m afraid of their reaction or what they’d think of me, I have learnt that the ones who accept you for who you are and try their best to understand your situation are the ‘real friends’. However, I do feel some people’s attitude towards carers needs to change. I’ve been one of the lucky ones, but when I hear of employers telling staff, who are carers to “keep their private lives out of the workplace”, I feel disgusted.

Employers should know about their employees’ needs and commitments, and that includes caring. Working carers will have different needs to other staff, that may include needing to leave early or at short notice. Employers should then be able to respect this and help the situation. I feel that carers should be able to put this on application forms, but only if they feel the need to. It is important their needs are respected and their caring role put among the priorities. It is an employer’s duty to ensure the wellbeing of their staff at work, and this is a fundamental part of that duty of care.

I feel schools could benefit from something similar. I have, again, been one of the lucky ones. Whenever a teacher or member of staff knew about my caring role, they had always been very supportive and encouraging. However, this is not always the case. Teachers, of all people, should conduct themselves in a certain manner, and that includes being respectful and setting an example.

They need to know that one cannot simply “forget” about their caring role whilst at school. It is a 24/7 responsibility. Hence, it would be useful if staff were able to know about who is a carer within the school, but the information must remain confidential. Then, they are able to deal with and prepare for the individual in the correct way. Just because someone is a carer, it doesn’t mean their school work should be affected, and it is a teacher’s role to help them with this. As I have stated, I have experienced nothing but support, respect and admiration from teachers, and I feel this should be the case for every single young adult carer.

Celebrating the importance of dads reading with their children

This week is Fathers’ Story Week, celebrating the power and importance of fathers and male carers reading with their children. We know that children whose dads share books with them do better at school. We also know that fathers and male carers in families who value learning can hugely improve their children’s life chances. 

The NIACE-led Family Learning Inquiry, which will report in October, has gathered evidence from families, practitioners and researchers to show the value of sharing books and taking a family-focused approach to learning. 

There is also evidence from the reading and writing charity, Booktrust, which shows the importance of reading to children from birth. 

What has stood out for us though has been the stories from our Adult Learners’ Week award winners who regularly reveal how they missed out on being read to as a child, but they are determined that this won’t happen to their kids. One that really stands out for me is Paul from Stockport.

Paul’s struggle to cope with reading and spelling had an effect on his education and he left school with no GCSEs. In 2009, he decided to return to education as he wanted to improve his life. Having grown up in a disruptive environment with no home support for his education, Paul wanted a career where he could help people overcome addictions and other difficulties.

Paul enrolled at Aquinas College and initially took GCSEs in Psychology and Maths, having been offered support to help with his dyslexia. A job opportunity arose and Paul was successful, making the change from a fabricator to a Support Worker in a drug and alcohol treatment centre. He worked full-time and studied at evening classes, passing an English GCSE and an NVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care. Paul is now at university studying Psychology.

What’s most encouraging about Paul’s story is how it was his determination that his children wouldn’t have the childhood he had that gave him the impetus to get a better life. What is most heart-warming is seeing the pleasure he gets from reading to his children.

If you are a dad, carer, granddad, uncle or brother READ to a child this week – SHARE a book with them, DISCUSS a book over the dinner table, TELL a story, TALK ABOUT their favourite author. Or get them to read a story to you.

Proper awareness of what carers do could improve our lives

In the first of a series of guest blogs for National Carers Week, Louise shares the challenges she has faced growing up as a carer and what she thinks could make a real difference to others in the same situation.

Being a carer from a young age obviously made school hard with the constant worry of what might be happening at home. Before my Dad’s MS got too serious my family (my dad, mum and two older brothers) and I struggled to cope with his illness as we didn’t have any help. Often being the first home after school I would find my Dad in difficult situations – from having fallen over, to having not made it to the toilet in time. Looking back I think I was scared of that, so I’d find reasons to come home late for fear of not knowing what I would find – but I’d then have to deal with the guilt and worry in case something had happened.

At school only one teacher knew about my situation, as I felt that if too many knew, I would be seen or treated differently. On a few occasions I walked out of school, risking getting into trouble in order to go home and check on my Dad. As I got older and his health deteriorated he was moved into a care home and allowed an electric wheelchair to help his day-to-day life. Although this was great, as it allowed him some independence, often I would get calls whilst at school saying he was missing. I would then leave school to trace the path I knew he would be taking back home, across lots of busy main roads, which obviously made me worry about the worst!

While studying for my GCSEs and A levels there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding whether my Dad would continue to live at the care home where we knew he was happy. This was the greatest dilemma for me as a young adult carer – I knew that if he was moved he would be unhappy, so I had a constant battle with my conscience. My heart would tell me he should be at home, but common sense would tell me we had tried it before and it had torn my family apart – this was one of the worst feelings imaginable.

I achieved good GCSEs and A levels and I know I tried as hard as I could, but, of course, with the constant worry for my family, it does make me wonder if I could have done better. I’m now 19 and have been working full-time in London for nearly two years now. My Dad is still in a care home but has been through serious illness twice in the last few years and on both occasions my family and I were told he might not pull through – but thankfully he did! I think I’ve come to accept now that it will always be like that, with the constant fear of that phone call saying he’s in hospital again and having to spend days at his bedside not knowing what is going to happen. I’m lucky that most people I work with have been supportive, but on one occasion I was given compassionate leave only to be asked to make up the time upon my return – needless to say I refused and left that job a month later!

I believe so strongly that proper awareness of what carers do and what it actually means to be a young adult carer could improve our lives. Looking back at how hard I found it all, I hope that in the future more will be done for young adult carers and their families. It upsets me knowing that there are so many other young people dealing with what I have and that they have no idea what support is out there for them, but also that many services aimed at supporting young and young adult carers are at risk of closure due to lack of funding. Support groups can go a long way and although it’s going to be hard getting someone to admit they feel vulnerable and need help, more still needs to be done. Simple ideas like designated support staff in schools for carers to go to if they need help/advice, or a card to allow them out of class to make a phone call, are really important – something this simple can give a young adult carer the confidence and motivation they need to go to school without worry.

Lastly and also for me personally, the most important support I received was from the young carers service – if I hadn’t had Carers Bromley’s support for the last ten years, I’m in no doubt that I wouldn’t be where I am now. Just knowing where you can turn in confidence when you feel like your world is falling apart makes all the difference.