A new report warns that England’s occupational standards lack the agility to train up workers for the eight ‘growth-driving’ industries in the UK’s Industrial Strategy.
Occupational standards outline the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to be competent in particular job roles. Primarily used as a foundation for apprenticeships and other technical qualifications, they are also used by employers and educational institutions across a range of sectors.
Launched today, research from Learning and Work Institute (L&W), commissioned by Pearson (FTSE: PSON.L), the world’s lifelong learning company, finds that there are too many occupational standards in England and that they take too long to develop. This leads to overly specialised training that is difficult for workers to transfer between job roles, while new standards languishing in the pipeline can become overtaken by innovation. Other countries have fewer standards that can be developed more quickly, supporting people and employers to better adapt to changes in the world of work.
L&W contends that such a system is ill-equipped to sustain fast-paced change required in the likes of digital technologies and advanced manufacturing industries – so-called ‘IS-8’ sectors in the Industrial Strategy. The challenge, the report authors warn, is to create robust occupational standards that can stand the test of time and allow people to adapt to future change, but which also remain responsive enough to make the most of technological innovation.
Comparator countries are already modelling a rigorous, streamlined approach: while L&W identifies over 670 occupational standards in England, this contrasts with Switzerland’s streamlined 230 standards and Germany’s 330. While in England it takes up to two years or more to develop a new standard, in Germany standards are developed within one year. Switzerland, meanwhile, benefits from a fast-track procedure, enabling changes to be made to standards more quickly where needed.
L&W recommends that Skills England – the arms-length body responsible for occupational standards in England – learns from Germany and Switzerland’s examples and consider amalgamating and cutting standards where possible, benchmarking against other countries. It also calls for renewed efforts to include the voice of SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) in the development process to ensure relevance across employers of all sizes.
Stephen Evans, Chief Executive of Learning and Work Institute, said:
“Our research shows that England’s system of occupational standards is too unwieldy to keep pace with the UK’s ambitions for industry. We need fewer, broader occupational stands that equip workers for whole occupations, not just jobs, and the process for developing and updating these standards also needs a serious overhaul. The solutions are there for the taking: whether that means learning from Germany and applying fixed times to the development cycle, or perhaps by using big data to speed up the process.”
Donna Ford-Clarke, VP Vocational Qualifications and Portfolio at Pearson, said:
“It is crucial for the growth of our economy that technical education and skills development align more closely with real workforce demands, so learners are entering or progressing in the workforce with job ready skills. Occupational standards are the foundation of all technical qualifications in England and play a vital role in addressing skills shortages and supporting agile skills development. We welcome Skills England’s commitment to their improvement by using data and providing a common skills language. But it is clear more needs to be done to create a more efficient system which can produce future-facing standards that support portability across employers and occupations.”
