Memorandum submitted by the Association
of School and College Leaders (ASCL)
A. INTRODUCTION
1. The Association of School and College
Leaders represents 13,000 members of the leadership teams of colleges,
maintained and independent schools throughout the UK.
2. ASCL college members in particular welcome
the opportunity afforded by the Education and Skills Committee's
inquiries into skills issues to provide evidence on how they can
contribute to meeting significant gaps identified by the Leitch
Review of Skills, Prosperity for all in the global economy.
B. MAKING THE
UK A WORLD
LEADER IN
SKILLS
3. ASCL supports Leitch's recommendations
to increase attainments in order to achieve world class skills
by 2020.
4. However, such ambitious targets as more
than trebling projected rates of improvement to achieve a total
of 7.4 million adult attainments in functional literacy and numeracy;
ensuring that 90% of the adult population are qualified to at
least Level 2, shifting the balance of intermediate skills from
Level 2 to Level 3 and committing to exceeding 40% of adults to
be qualified to Level 4 or more, will require enormous financial
investment and radical changes to the learning and skills infrastructure.
5. The report's estimate of an increase
of £1.5 billion to £2 billion per year in funding to
ensure the development of intermediate skills (at Level 3) and
the indication that UK spending on higher education should double
as a share of Gross Domestic Product indicates a general awareness
of funding requirements. ASCL members, who will be in the front
line of delivering these targets, seek reassurance that a clearly
formulated, transparent and equitable funding methodology will
be devised to ensure that resources are available to achieve them.
6. Funding to support adult learners should
be available to providers as adults progress through their training,
not simply devolved on successful completion. Retrospective funding
may affect training delivery adversely, pushing some providers
to make inappropriate decisions on time required for qualification
completion for individuals (now recognised as important through
the government's personalisation agenda) and creating unnecessary
strategic stress in a sector that already faces multiple challenges.
7. In recommending that employers and individuals
should pay for skills at Level 4, the Leitch Review does not explore
the implications for the government's higher education budget.
8. ASCL's unique representation of leaders
in schools and colleges means that it already supports Leitch's
recommendation that all young people should leave school with
a realistic platform of skills needed for the modern labour market.
The development of the new diplomas in school/college partnerships
is a strong focus for members at present.
9. ASCL commends Leitch's recommendation
that adults should update their skills in the workplace and college
members are already working flexibly through Train to Gain to
develop further partnerships with employers.
10. Whilst acknowledging the important role
to be played by the Government and employers in meeting targets,
ASCL is reluctant to see the education system directed into a
narrow, short term view of "employability" that may
not provide full acknowledgement of the wider benefits of a full
education at all levels. In order for the UK to remain globally
competitive individuals need to acquire a broad education as well
as specific skills.
11. High order abilities of analysis, synthesis,
independent thinking and creativity will contribute extensively
to future national success. Whilst welcoming the attention Leitch
gives to level 4 skills and above, ASCL members are concerned
that academic considerations at all levels should not be forgotten.
12. The emphasis given by Leitch to raising
individuals' aspirations and awareness, including the encouragement
to demand more support from their employers is commendable. In
order to develop these so that they can improve their skills,
individuals will need the confidence that a broad educational
base gives them.
C. A DEMAND-LED
SYSTEM
13. The recommendation that employers and
individuals should have a strong coherent voice in a simplified
demand-led funding system has implications for ASCL members. If
all public funding for adult vocational skills in England is to
be through Train to Gain and learner accounts by 2010, college
funding methodology will require yet another radical overhaul.
14. A consequence of a demand-led system
is for the LSC to become a funding rather than strategic body
and it will take time for LSC personnel to alter their working
practices, which have in recent times bordered on micro management
of providers.
15. Funding mechanisms that put effective
purchasing power in the hands of customers are supported by ASCL,
but it is concerned that further attention should be given to
funding for adults with learning difficulties and fears that this
may fall between the three stools of social services, healthcare
and education.
16. Any streamlining of systems to rationalise
the plethora of government led bodies dealing with the FE system
(as noted in Sir Andrew Foster's report) is welcomed by ASCL members.
The proposal to merge the UK-wide SSDA and NEP into a new organisation
is sensible.
17. The Commission for Employment and Skills
may find it difficult to depoliticise the skills agenda.
18. When selecting membership of the Commission,
acknowledgement should be given to the part played by SMEs in
contributing to the development of the economy and there will
not be sole reliance on the views of national employers' organisations
distant from the many small employers with whom colleges often
deal.
19. ASCL has long sought simplification
of the qualification system, though members believe that limiting
public funding to qualifications delivering economically valuable
skills may have unintended consequences. These will occur particularly
at the lower end of the qualifications spectrum, where many prospective
adult learners need a gentle, unpressured return to learning after
sometimes negative earlier experiences.
20. ASCL welcomes the opportunity for providers
to develop their own qualifications whilst working closely with
employers, in order to meet local needs. However, we are concerned
that this should not have a negative effect on the SSCs' work
to reduce qualifications. Close liaison and simple information
flow between colleges, employers and SSCs will be necessary; otherwise
the system will not be simplified.
21. The recommendation for the new responsibilities
to be allocated to the SSCs will require an evaluation of their
relationship with the QCA.
D. EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT
IN SKILLS
22. ASCL is pleased to note that the Leitch
Review recognises that small organisations should benefit from
the SSC Leadership and Management programme in future.
23. Whilst supporting the concept of employer
pledges to bring all employees to Level 2 skills, ASCL notes that
this is initially to be voluntary. The Leitch Review puts much
faith in employers to be proactive in supporting employees to
develop skills. By stating that the government will introduce
a statutory requirement on employers to provide workplace training
for individuals up to Level 2 if pledges do not lead to activity,
we detect a less rigorous approach to enforcing policy with employers
than has hitherto been applied to colleges.
24. We believe that limiting the employer
commitment to Level 2 is too low and should like to see the government
put further pressure on employers to take responsibility for training
their workforce up to higher levels, including apprenticeships.
At present, it is often only as a result of pressure from individuals
or trade unions that many employers act to raise the qualification
standards of their workforce.
25. Small employers will have most problems
in providing workplace training and the government should recognise
this through incentives.
26. Whilst recognising the value of the
suggestion that HE targets should be widened to encompass both
young people and adults via workplace delivery, ASCL considers
that a dramatic improvement of engagement between HE and employers
will require equally dramatically improved commitment and effort
from both sides if it is to occur.
E. EMBEDDING
A CULTURE
OF LEARNING
27. ASCL supports the intention to raise
awareness and aspirations among adults in society and considers
that a new universal careers service for England, combining separate
existing sources under a single brand name is a good idea.
28. The success of the Swedish Skills Health
Check encourages an optimistic view of the service. However, ASCL
is concerned that the focus on skills in the review should also
encompass the wider educational aspirations of individuals, and
allow for the development of confidence and other qualities that
will provide the right learning culture.
29. The recognition that careers advice
should be delivered flexibly and incentives for local centres
to engage the hard-to-reach are realistic recommendations.
30. The organisation of learner accounts
will need especial attention if they are to maintain their credibility
as the sole source of government funding for adult further education.
Historically, these were subject to maladministration and were
not easily accessible in a timely or convenient manner for those
who should have benefited most from them. Particular care should
be taken in establishing this service on a firm and sustainable
basis.
31. Both Train to Gain and learner accounts
will need to prove themselves as sufficiently robust mechanisms
before becoming exclusive systems for providing adult skills funding.
32. ASCL welcomes the establishment of a
Skills Development Fund to meet immediate financial needs of learners
in a flexible manner.
F. INTEGRATING
EMPLOYMENT AND
SKILLS
33. A new universal adult careers service
should support a focus on gaining higher qualifications. ASCL
is pleased to note the recognition that different approaches are
required to contact and support different individuals.
34. The introduction of an integrated objective
for measuring employment and pay prospects clearly delineates
the purpose of the new services to be introduced. Soft data should
be utilised alongside statistics when designing this measure,
to allow recognition for the qualities other than skills that
constitute successful employment.
35. Whilst colleges are accustomed to receiving
funding based partly on success rates, ASCL is concerned that
this trend may be increased to the detriment of planned provision.
Colleges are "skills providers", but they also have
a far wider remit, built on individual missions designed to meet
the needs of their local communities as well as national agendas.
36. The requirement for colleges to track
job prospects and pay progression of a proportion of former learners
may be unrealistic. Some universities may do this successfully,
but colleges will be dealing mainly with a different constituency
of learners at lower levels of attainment and will face greater
difficulties in maintaining contact. There is also a danger that
this will generate a whole new suite of bureaucratic measures.
37. Flexible approaches to the licensing
of Employer Skills Boards, acknowledging the need to maintain
local focus, seem realistic.
G. GENERAL CONCLUDING
POINTS
38. ASCL's members come from England, Northern
Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are some concerns that many
of the skills recommendations are based on English systems and
may therefore not fit well with the devolved administrations.
It is not clear that there has been an examination of the impact
on other parts of the UK of establishing new systems in England.
39. The Leitch Review's focus on demand
led learning means that Regional Development Agencies and local
government organisations are not allocated a significant role
in the recommendations. There will need to be an adjustment and
realignment of relationships and responsibilities for these and
other agencies in developing the strategies outlined here.
40. The Education and Skills Committee may
wish to consider the impact of the skills recommendations on the
personalisation agenda being advocated by the government. The
DfES is currently consulting on this and it would be a backward
step if the improvements noted in Personalising Further Education:
Developing a Vision were to be succeeded by impersonally delivered
Skills Health Check processes or lost in bureaucratic communications.
41. ASCL approves and supports the agenda
to provide education and training for young people up to the age
of 18 without the necessity to alter the school leaving age. This
acknowledges the variety of routes that can be followed to improve
qualification levels.
42. Leitch does not fully consider the implications
of his recommendations on an aging workforce. Further consideration
of how older workers are to be engaged in training is required.
43. ASCL welcomes that the Education and
Skills Committee is providing an opportunity for consideration
of the skills agenda and this opportunity to express the views
of its members. ASCL is happy to offer its further assistance
this inquiry into the extremely important topic of skills development
for future national economic prosperity.
January 2007
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