The SCQF – Delivering Skills & Growth to the Scottish Economy Jack Matthews CEO - Improve Ltd 9 February 2011

1. SCQF Partnership Forum The SCQF – Delivering Skills & Growth to the Scottish Economy Jack Matthews CEO - Improve Ltd 9 February 2011 improve ltd ground floor providence house2 innovation close heslington york YO10 5ZFtel 0845 6440448 fax 0845 6440449email info@improveltd.co.uk website www.improveltd.co.uk improve ltd c/o kraft foods ground floor confectionery place bishopthorpe road york YO23 1YE tel 01904 685274 fax 01904 685288 email info@improveltd.co.uk website www.improveltd.co.uk

2. 3 Questions • What benefits does SCQF bring to the Scottish economy? • What challenges can we expect from employers? • What difference would be made by engaging with the SCQF

3. From the employers perspective: • “What’s the SCQF anyway”? • “Qualifications are Dead – long live Accumulative Units”! • Its too academic! How can the SCQF help me get the people I need to grow my business? • How can the SCQF help a re-balance between academic and vocational routes & status • It’s too expensive , especially for SMEs

4. What benefits does the SCQF bring? • It enables the accreditation of formal and non-formal learning • allows the portability of qualifications across all sectors of the Scottish economy • It allows for recognition of wider learning • It helps individual learners build up a record of achievement and prevents duplication • It allows clear articulation and progression between and across sectors • It supports progression into and from training, Further and Higher Education

5. What challenges can we expect from employers? • There is still lack of awareness of the SCQF by (private sector) employers, particularly the use of the framework • How can we embed the framework more into businesses • How can we extend its usefulness, e.g. using framework levels in recruitment campaigns • Simplify the descriptors • There remains the issue of cost (of credit rating)

6. What difference would be made by engaging with the SCQF? • Build up the credibility of a recognised and viable alternative vocational based route • Provide the foundation for sectors/occupations/industries to introduce Continuous Personal Development • Increase the usage, usability and effectiveness of the Accumulative Unit/Credit based alternative • Add real credence to developing a Demand Led system of skills provision • Demonstrate the Return on Investment

7. What else can be done? • Extend work with the Alliance of SSCs on • Credit rating of employer training • Promotion of the use of SCQF – for sector route maps and qualification strategies • Contextualised guidance for employers • Expand the number of Credit Rating Bodies • SCQF? An accurate but not snappy title! • Recognise informal learning as inherent to the development of a skilled and knowledgeable society

8. And if we don’t do this • There are alternatives being developed • EQCF, Skills are becoming a Global commodity • Sector, Industry and Occupational Frameworks • QCF, Large employers have sites across the UK

9. The Vocational Route to Professional Recognition

10. SCQF - Delivering Skills and Growth to the Scottish Economy We are being watched! The international competition for skills is here! • India has set a target of creating a new Sector based vocational education & training system – 22 SSCs have already been identified & one of the first will be food & drink processing & manufacture • China is already looking to import European and American skills solutions into its manufacturing base e.g. through using the EQCF • Universities Scotland and Scotland’s Colleges are or becoming international in perspective. The future is not simply about an academic answer but a vocational one as well. How can SCQF be best utilised to support this at home and abroad? • A growing and healthy economy and society is dependent upon the skills and knowledge of its people