Path: Home > News Headlines > January 2006 |
Page last updated 03 October 2006 |
Latest News: January 2006
|
|
|
Use menu to jump to full story:
|
Some file on this page are PDF files. ______________________________
Migration – the benefits and challenges for the UK
Over the next decade, there will not be enough young people entering the labour market to fill the jobs needed in the UK. It is estimated, therefore, that two-thirds of the vacancies will need to be filled by adults, including older people, those moving from benefits to work and by inward migration. A conference to be held in London on Wednesday - from the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) - will address the benefits and challenges that this inward migration presents to the UK economy and society.
The Migration – the Benefits and Challenges Conference will be held at Glaziers Hall, London Bridge on Wednesday 1st February 2006. It will examine the effects of increased global mobility, including the arrival in the UK of refugees and EU migrant workers and the benefits this can offer to the UK economy. The challenges – including identifying and providing for the specific needs of new and emerging communities, maintaining community cohesion and facilitating access to appropriate integration, employment and learning opportunities – will also be discussed.
Tony McNulty MP, Minister of State for Immigration and Citizenship at the Home Office, who will deliver a keynote address at the conference, said:
“Migration is important to the UK - students and migrant workers make a vital contribution to the UK economy. But we need to ensure that we let in migrants with the skills and talents to benefit Britain. The Government also recognises the importance of assisting refugees who have settled in the UK to develop their potential and harness their abilities allowing them to contribute to our society and our country's prosperity and I welcome the opportunity to speak at the NIACE conference during which these issues will be discussed.”
Speakers at the Conference alongside Tony McNulty MP will include experts from International Migration Division at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Education and Training providers, Local Authorities and the European Commission. Case studies from Sheffield and Lincolnshire will highlight the measures taken to identify and address the needs of both newcomers and local employers including the introduction of new vocational courses.
NIACE has recently completed a skills audit study with 600 asylum seekers in the East Midlands that revealed high levels of skills and qualifications and identified the main requirements for the integration of refugees into the UK labour market. This work was partly funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) EQUAL initiative. A new NIACE led ESF project - Progress GB - aimed at developing lifelong learning approaches to enable migrants and refugees to progress in the UK labour market will be launched at the Conference.
Sue Waddington, a NIACE Development Officer said:
“Refugees and migrants are settling in many regions of the UK and there is a need to consider new ways to overcome barriers to enable them to contribute to the local economy and the local community. We hope that this conference will provide evidence and identify the challenges and benefits of new patterns of migration.”
Source: NIACE Press Release: "Migration – the benefits and challenges for the UK " (PDF file) Released On 30/01/2006
_______________________________
Harder to reach, cheaper to teach?
The most recent parliamentary report into the UK government’s adult literacy and numeracy strategy (released today, January 24th) is a thoughtful contribution to public debate – despite being selectively reported in some initial media coverage.
The influential Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons examines the effectiveness of the national Skills for Life Strategy (available here). It contains a series of helpful recommendations but, worryingly, seems to assume that in future, the unit cost of providing basic skills will fall.
Most media coverage has been negative Literacy drive ‘waste of £6 billion’ (Daily Mail), Poor results from £6bn skills scheme (Guardian on-line) and Adult skills scheme ‘not working’ (BBC on-line) but the report itself is more balanced, noting that the initiative has met its targets.
As Edward Leigh MP, the Conservative chair of the committee said, “The ultimate success of Skills for Life will depend on the ‘hard to reach’ being persuaded of the benefits of gaining qualifications. To this end, it is a matter of grave concern that those with the greatest need have been getting the worst quality of teaching. The Department must also reduce the proportion of programme resources being used to enable recent school leavers to achieve the qualifications in English and maths they should have got at school.”
NIACE welcomes many of the Committee’s recommendations for improvement – although we believe it over-emphasises the role of qualifications and does not fully appreciate the complexity of assessing achievement. Tests are only one way of doing this and national tests can only ever assess some of the skills required. For instance, the important skills of oral communication and writing are not tested. It is also weak on considering the particular challenges around the provision of English for speakers of other languages.
The area of greatest concern is, however, in the implied assumption that remaining numbers of adults needing help with literacy, language and numeracy can be reached more cheaply. NIACE believes that far from being a ‘mopping up’ operation, the strategy to eradicate poor basic skills is still at an early stage. Sustained investment will be required both in customised programmes, outreach and staff development to attract those adults whose circumstances or motivation require a greater effort on the part of educators. There is also a long term professional development need which will take several years to take full effect. The majority of teachers are part-time and under qualified.
NIACE Development Officer Chris Taylor commented:
“Language, literacy and numeracy for adults was a neglected area for so long that a massive catch-up job was needed. A whole new specialist teaching force has had to be trained.”
Alan Tuckett, the Director of NIACE noted:
“Quality provision costs money. Far from ‘not working’ Skills for Life has been a success in engaging more than three and a half million adults in learning, with over one million of these going on to achieve first qualifications”.
“The Committee’s report rightly highlights areas for improvement but as the challenge gets harder, we will need more rather than fewer resources.”
_______________________________
Raising aspirations, skills and achievements - learning enhances communities
Taking laptops and broadband into pubs in rural Shropshire, a ‘blooming marvellous’ garden festival in Easington, and a ‘food fortnight’ in King’s Lynn have been just some of the ideas used in 28 disadvantaged areas across the country to raise aspirations, skills and expectations through learning.
Testbed Learning Communities have helped people gain confidence and the skills needed to secure rewarding and sustainable jobs and help their children succeed at school. The approaches - alongside ideas for the future - will be exchanged at a conference Raising Aspirations; Sustaining Success, – organised by NIACE - to be held in London on Wednesday 18th January 2006.
Each of the Testbed Learning Communities were given the opportunity to decide how best to collaborate to raise skills levels and link learning across their community. These included: -
In Easington the creation of a family learning group which put on activities for parents including Share, a numeracy course. There was a dramatic fall to zero in the number of anti-social behaviour incidents involving parents and children - whose parents took part in the Share course - achieved a grade higher than predicted in SATs.
In Haringey the number of learners taking part in ICT and employability courses at the Selby Centre - a base for community organisations, social enterprises and businesses, many of them catering for refugees and asylum seekers – has tripled to 1,500 a day. It also provides work for over 450 people.
In Tower Hamlets significant numbers of people of all ages and backgrounds are visiting the Ideas Store in Crisp Street, taking part in courses, using computers and borrowing books and CDs. On average there are 1,200 users a day with 1,800 on Saturdays – double the number visiting the old library.
Phil Hope MP, Minister for Skills, who will deliver the keynote address at the Conference, said:
“Learning Communities have a vital role to play in tackling low adult aspirations and skills in areas which may have suffered decades of intergenerational deprivation. Complementing the work of their mainstream services they can help develop a community's skills base and contribute to meeting their region’s skills needs.”
He continued, "The Testbeds are carving out for themselves a vital role offering new models of local delivery, linking learning and skills activity with the wider cross government agenda on regeneration including health, housing and crime. The Barnsley testbed, for example, shows how all providers can be encouraged to come together to make better use of existing resources and improve progression pathways for adult learners."
Sue Meyer, NIACE Director for Policy and Programmes, said:
“We believe that it will be impossible for policymakers to ignore the messages from the Testbed Learning Communities about how to deliver sustainable partnerships that can really attract the hard to reach. We do need to learn from this set of initiatives and their success at involving and invigorating their communities.”
Source: NIACE Press Release: "Raising aspirations, skills and achievements - learning enhances communities" (PDF file) Released On 16/01/2006
_______________________________
Deadline for ALW nominations extended
The deadline for nominations for the Adult Learners' Week Awards in England has been extended to 20th January 2006. We have already had some fantastic accounts of how people have used learning to transform their lives, by learning for fun, to change career, or to catch up on skills missed earlier in life.
The Awards are a great way of celebrating the achievements of learners and, in doing so, motivating others to get involved. They're also important as a way of demonstrating the value of learning to opinion formers and decision makers and flying the flag for the significant impact that learning can have on people's lives.
There are prizes of learning vouchers available in all categories - for groups, families and individuals, and those who have learnt at or for work.
Download nomination forms here
_______________________________
Foster, funding and the future of adult learning – conference from NIACE
The future for adult learning is uncertain. Sir Andrew Foster’s recent report recognised the importance of further education but did not fully appreciate the role of colleges in widening participation and providing opportunities to adults other than those interested in basic skills and a first Level 2 qualification. A conference from NIACE to be held in Leicester on Friday 13th January 2006 will provide an opportunity to engage in discussions on the strategies adult educators should use at this crucial time for adult education.
The Foster, Funding and the Future of Adult Learning Conference will debate the current difficulties facing adult learning, the consequences of policies which disregard issues such as changing demography, and the findings of the NIACE-sponsored report Eight in Ten. Speakers at the Conference will include, Chris Hughes, Chair of Committee of Enquiry into Adult Learning in Colleges; Maggie Galliers, Principal of Leicester College; Marion Plant, Principal of North Warwickshire and Hinckley College; Donald Rae Assistant Chief Education Officer, Derbyshire County Council; and Carole Stott, Director of Credit Works.
Colin Flint, NIACE Associate Director of Further Education and Chair of the Foster, Funding and the Future of Adult Learning Conference, said:
“The narrow focus of current Government strategies does not meet the great range of needs of all adult learners. The effect of a projected million adult learners lost by 2007/08 has not been considered. Who will be listening to their voices?”
He continued, “This Conference will address the current concerns of those working in adult education and explore effective strategies that educators can take. This challenge could be met by partnerships and links being developed across the adult learning landscape so that learners of every age can be offered opportunities to learning and develop skills of all kinds. We are also anxious to hear what role those involved in adult education think NIACE should take in the months and years ahead.”
Source: NIACE Press Release: "Foster, funding and the future of adult learning" (PDF file) Released On 11/01/2006
_______________________________
A good time to bury bad news?
In the quiet period between Christmas and New Year, the Department for Education and Skills made public a damning evaluation of one of its flagship programmes to raise skill levels in the workforce. The report, by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, suggests that between 85 and 90 percent of the public funds spent up to 2004 on ‘Employer Training Pilots’ (shortly to be introduced nationally under the brand ‘Train to Gain’) paid for training that employers would have undertaken anyway with their own money.
The overall impact of the programme was said to be an increase in training of about half of one percentage point.
At a time when funding for other adult students has been cut by £50 million and the number of independent adult learners is expected to fall by up to a million as the result of course closures and fee increases, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) is urging the government to reconsider how well this particular instrument is proving in achieving the higher skill levels that it wishes to see.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) evaluation is a serious analysis of the Employer Training Pilots (ETP) that were introduced in the 2003 white paper 21st century skills: Realising our Potential and developed, with a national roll-out announced, in the 2005 Skills Strategy, Getting on in Business, Getting on at Work, reaffirmed in the Chancellor’s pre-budget report only last month
Spending on the ETP was £40million in year one and this was been followed by two further years of investment, and a trebling of the number of geographical local learning and skills council areas covered. The total cost of the programme to the taxpayer has been, prior to the planned national roll out, in the order of £200 million.
The programme has been part of the “demand-led” drive for skills investment by employers. The rationale is that this will increase the take up of training by firms and employing organisations for their low-skilled employees. Low skill is defined as those without a first, full Level 2 qualification, or requiring a qualification at level 1 or 2 in Literacy or Numeracy.
The report makes depressing reading. It indicates that the effect of the Employer Training Pilot on take up of training by employers for their employees is very small indeed. The average increase in training provision identified by the IFS is around 0.5%. This means that ETP is paying for training that employers would already have provided. IFS indicate that employers would have delivered at least 65% of this training without the intervention of the Employer Training Pilots.
Public funding displacing private investment is a concern at any time – but when colleges and local authority adult educators face budget cuts and learners face steep fee increases it is especially galling. And deadweight levels that IFS estimate to be in the order of 85-90 per cent are simply shocking.
It is almost unprecedented for ministers to write introductions to departmental research reports but on this occasion both skills minister Phil Hope and the Financial Secretary to the Treasury seek to defend the programme claiming that “An implication of the findings, however, might (our italics) be that ETP has freed resources that participating employers had allocated to training their low skilled staff for other things – such as funding more higher-level learning”. It must be hoped that they are right – but nothing in the evaluation suggests that measures have been taken to ensure that this will happen.
If it is the case that nine out of ten people reached by the initiative were already receiving training, the government must surely focus upon the measures it proposed for reaching the unengaged. The ministers say that things are getting better. The question is by how much?
Even when issues of deadweight are set aside, the programme appears unconvincing in terms of value for money. Pilot programmes are of course experimental and should not be criticised unduly for high unit costs – the point is that government should learn from the experience and the evidence. A net increase of just 11,000 new qualifications does not inspire confidence. This may have been beyond the remit of the IFS study – but the government needs urgently to explain how the national roll-out of the programme will deliver more impressive outcomes that are attuned to what employers need. Here the evaluation may be over-gloomy – the full level 2 qualifications that the initiative sought to promote are not the whole story and will not have captured the broader learning that may have taken place. Many employers have a sophisticated approach to skilling their workers in which formal qualification have a less important role than government might wish. It may be that assessing success simply in terms qualifications is too crude a measure. The sprint to Level 2 cannot be a substitute for a proper system of credit accumulation.
Training does need to reflect the needs of industry as well as individual aspiration and one way this occurs is acknowledged in the IFS report. In some sectors, (in construction, in health and social care and in financial services), there is regulation. Workers have to have evidence, through a licence to practice, of competence in their job. This regulation means that employers must train. Rather than putting more public money into paying employers to do what they would do anyway, the government may need to consider extending such “licence to practice” arrangements. In this way employees will get the skills they need to do their jobs and employers will be able to demonstrate that they are investing in developing a skilled workforce able to provide high quality products and services.
Much of the government’s public sector reform programme stresses empowerment, choice and personalisation – but not where adult learning is concerned. The Employer Training Programme pilots were meant to be a publicly-funded offer to enable employers to choose the type of training to fit their business needs and to enable employers who did not train to do so. It now looks that it has simply paid for them to continue to train at the same levels as before. There is no element of choice for employees to choose the type of skills training they need to get the jobs they desire and this is emerging as a serious weakness of the skills strategy.
NIACE wants to see effective public support to stimulate employers’ demand for workforce education and training. We believe that this should involve an element of conditionality so that larger firms especially can only draw down public funding for level 2 training if they can demonstrate explicitly that this supplements rather than displaces their own investment .
NIACE also urges the government to maintain the momentum for a coherent credit accumulation system that acknowledges incremental progress towards full qualifications and also an active review of the balance between the directive and permissive tools through which it wishes to realise the goals of its skills strategy.
Alastair Thomson, Senior Policy Officer, NIACE
The Institute of Fiscal Studies’ evaluation is available from http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR694.pdf - [PDF file]
_______________________________
New year, new you – Sign Up Now to learning
Every January people hope the start of a new year will lead to a better and more fulfilling life. As part of its national Sign Up Now campaign, NIACE says you can transform your life by taking up learning.
Well-known comedian Lenny Henry, who is currently studying English Literature at the Open University, has given his backing to the Sign Up Now Campaign. He said:
"It's amazing what learning can do. It helps you to realise your potential and encourages you to achieve. Your personal, social and financial situations benefit as well. It can improve your health and it could transform your life. You don't realise until you try and the New Year is a great time to sign up to a course and find out your true potential."
Sign Up Now - which runs from 9th – 15th January 2006 – encourages adults to think about the positive influence learning can have on their lives. Details about a whole range of different courses – from archaeology to zoology - will be available at local colleges and adult education centres, or by calling the free learning advice line, learndirect, on 0800 100 900.
Elizabeth Martin, from the Isle of Wight and an Adult Learners’ Week Award Winner from 2005, said:
“To learn a new skill, no matter how small, gives an individual a 'wow' factor that you never seem to attain elsewhere. Anyone given the choice of paddling in a stagnant pond or a meandering stream would choose the stream if given enough support and encouragement."
Another award winner, Stephanie Pedley, from South Shields, said:
“Going back to education has broadened my horizons to say the very least. I have reached a stage in my life that I would never have dreamed of."
Rachel Thomson, Senior Campaigns Officer at NIACE, said:
“The start of the new year is the perfect time to take stock of your life, to challenge yourself to reach ambitions and achieve something you’ll feel really proud of. Learning is a great way to improve your career, your health and your self-confidence. What’s more it’s never too late - learning can transform your life at any age and any stage.”
She continued, “Whatever the reason why you want to learn - for your career, your social life or simply because of sheer enthusiasm - learning can open many doors for you. To find out what's on offer where you are, call learndirect free on 0800 100 900. That call could get 2006 off to the best possible start.”
Source: NIACE Press Release: "New year, new you – Sign Up Now to learning" (PDF file) Released On 03/01/2006
_______________________________
Influencing Public Policy / Advocacy
Conferences & Training Courses Section:Online Survey: This is your opportunity to let us know how we are meeting your needs with respect to continuing professional development and how we can help you further. Complete the online survey.
Publications Section:
Campaigns & Promotions
Projects / Research
Information Services
Miscellaneous
|
________________________________
| Archives |