Exploring Workplace Learning and the Skills Plan (2016)

1. Exploring Workplace Learning and the Skills Plan (2016) Norman Crowther National Official Post 16 Education

2. The 100 year problem • ‘It is over a hundred years since the first report was produced which highlighted the failures of technical education in the UK, and since the Second World War there have been very many attempts to reform the system. These have all been unsuccessful because they tinkered with technical education, and failed to learn from the successful systems in other countries.’ David Sainsbury, Foreword to the Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education, 2016

3. The Evidence for Change • Wolf Report (2011): failure of short courses and vocational qualifications to improve employability outcomes. • OECD: longer courses combined with English and Maths had success in other economies. (Skills beyond school Brief, 2015) • CAVTL (2013): ‘line of sight to work’ encouraged to be cornerstone of successful vocational education and training.

4. The proposal of the Skills Plan (2016) • Provide technical education routes that are delivered via apprenticeships or ‘T Levels’. • Overseen by Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (an employer led body) • Underpinning levers are: • Total Qualification Time (Ofqual, 2015) • End point assessments (Ofqual, 2015) • High quality work placements (for T Levels) or apprenticeships.

5. But... • there may be problems…. • Is the Skills Plan more than just post 16 ‘qualification reform’? (Raffe and Howieson,; and • Is an employer-led skills strategy a part of the solution? • What does success look like and where do we find it?

6. For example,...the culture of workplace learning? • A common workplace training model is the 70:20:10 ‘Jennings’ model • 70% informal learning • 20% visible learning and support (mentoring) • 10% qualifications. • AND.....

7. And the employer response of ‘I don’t know’.... • 32% of employers don’t know how many employees participated in L&D • rising to 42% of public sector employers who don’t know • and for large organisations 58% don’t know • CIPD Policy report, Investing in productivity: Unlocking ambition, September 2015

8. The missing pieces of the 100 year old jigsaw? • ‘There is a challenge in developing the kind of systematic work-based learning that is characteristic of the strongest VET systems.’ pp 3/4 Skills Beyond School Brief, (2014) OECD • A clear line of sight to work is critical because vocational learners must be able to see why they are learning what they are learning, understand what the development of occupational expertise is all about, and experience the job in its context. (CAVTL, It’s about work, 2013)

9. Models and evidence? • What is a high quality work placement? • What are the current practices around workplace learning and culture that would facilitate such placements? • What roles are there in the workplace to support placements? • How do FE practitioners relate to workplace learning cultures? (Do they need to?)

10. Successful Systems? • What ‘skills’ do successful systems facilitate? • What evidence is there that skills utilisation is something employers actually want? • How do such skills, dispositions, abilities, competences arise in successful systems? • How do we integrate formal and informal learning modes? Culture (HR v TU)? Workplace learning focus? Qualification focus (again)? • How do we define and differentiate the need for an apprenticeship, as opposed to a T level or even workplace training?

11. Thank you for listening. Enjoy your discussions!