Workplace Basic Skills: national policy obsession or a driver for growth? Karen Evans

1. Workplace Basic Skills: national policy obsession or a driver for growth? Karen Evans

2. Breaking new ground • Why has obtaining evidence about workplace basic skills learning become so important? • Convincing body of evidence on wage and employment effects of poor basic skills for individuals and positive payoffs from workplace learning generally, but… • Projections of value to the economy of improving workplace basic skills based on fragmentary and inadequate evidence • Virtually no evidence of the effects on individuals or businesses over time

3. The ESRC/NRDC project ‘Adult Basic Skills and Workplace Learning…. • aims to assess the effects on individuals and on organisations of engagement in workplace basic skills programmes. • is designed longitudinally to gain longer-term perspectives and deeper insights into both the trajectories of learners and the characteristics of the organisations and workplaces than are possible through short term evaluations.

4. Teaching and Learning in Workplace Literacy Programmes instrument design teacher perspectives teaching and learning models learner perspectives Workplace Environments work relationships distribution and deployment of skills job design employee networks support for education and training • Adult Learners • motivation and engagement • skills development • learning and career trajectory • view of the company • feelings of control • job satisfaction

5. Questions….. • What gets a workplace programme off the ground? • What sort of environment promotes success / ensures survival? • What happens to the learners which may be related to their learning experiences? • What happens to the company/organisation that may be related to the existence of the learning programme?

6. What we found on initial company visits As well as the dearth of well-founded evidence in the area • employers keen to know ‘what works’… • absence of pre-existing materials suitable for use in workplace programmes • rather low attendance and retention rates • positive attitudes towards programmes, both by employees and employers • Interesting comparative evidence from the US (NCSALL/Harvard-’after the grant is over…’)

7. and what we heard from some other stakeholders….. • Perceptions that LSC only interested in gains for individuals (ie qualifications gained) • Accountability measured and funding allocated only through qualifications gained - seen as a problem • No concept or methodology for measuring organisational gains, which may be of more interest to employers • Lack of credibility – perception that skills that make people better workers are not necessarily covered by official Skills for Life, and certainly not by the tests. -. Continued…..

8. plus ‘funding problems’ • Funding short-term and unreliable over time • Evidence now emerging in some areas of funding being absolutely unavailable, ie colleges can offer programmes but only if the employer pays for it (presumably because LSC budgets have run out) • Usually no funding for development/planning time for new projects.

9. What does our evidence say about who benefits and how?

10. Who are the learners? • Majority males • Over 35s, half 45 or over • almost half left school with no formal qualifications at all • most had parents who were not formally qualified in any way. • many report holding stable job in same workforce over many years • two-thirds have attended a formal training course at work over last 5 years

11. How are benefits seen by managers? • Many managers have emphasised general development rather ‘plugging’ immediate skill gaps • Motivation and retention of good employees are as important to productivity as immediate effects of better reading/writing skills • Spin-offs- confidence, interpersonal skills, better team working

12. Expected benefits from course, as seen by employees (%)

13. Job satisfaction and ‘organisational social capital’ • Most fairly satisfied with present employment • Satisfaction derived from relationships with colleagues, less so relationships with supervisors and managers • Most felt part of a team at work and valued at least to some extent by the employer • Just over a half had volunteered to do additional tasks in past few weeks • 43% found it easy or very easy for them to make suggestions for changes and improvements at work; but for 16 % this was hard or very hard to do.

14. Towards Identification of Learner Types ? (examples from STS Systems) • Sue: A motivated, aspirational adult ‘returner’ to learning with clear long-term goals as well as an enjoyment of learning for learning’s sake. • Paul: An ashamed and private learner, for whom avoidance tactics have been part of daily life over the long-term. • Victoria: A self-improving ‘released’ learner for whom work is a strong focus and for whom learning has had multiple effects, particularly in terms of increasingly effective interpersonal relationships in and out of work.

15. Organisational environment in Southern Transport Systems’ (case study) • Provision has to relate to large, multi-site organisation • Role of “key players” in ensuring success of adult basic skills initiative • Promotion of courses • Corporate strategy dictates the ultimate fate of the programmes

16. Getting workplace basic skills courses up and running…… • Problems with ‘the educational model’for many employers…. • Promotion and recruitment (e.g. overcoming fears or stigma) • Working patterns (e.g. time off work to attend classes at fixed times) • In-class difficulties (e.g. very mixed ability groups) • Funding (e.g. minimum number of learners necessary) • Company culture and learning environment (e.g. involvement of management)

17. Revisiting the ‘issues’… The ‘problems’ seem to stem from adoption of ‘the educational model’ with all its assumptions… But also evidence of benefits, successes and gains perceived and experienced – in the wider/longer term interests of the regional and national economy? How far and how wide do you look for and recognise benefit? What set of arrangements could effectively replace the ‘educational model’, AND deliver more benefits than those evidenced? Why can’t Workplace Basic Skills be a Policy Obsession AND a Driver for Growth?

18. Based at IOE Karen Evans Katerina Ananiadou Rachel Emslie-Henry Edmund Waite First point of contact for further information about the ESRC/NRDC project is Magdalen Meade, project administrator. Based at KCL Alison Wolf Liam Aspin m.meade@ioe.ac.uk Research team for ESRC/NRDC project