Science and TechnologyWritten evidence submitted by the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership

Introduction

In Summer 2010 partnerships across the country submitted bids to Government to form regional LEPs. In October 2010, Government announced that Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent’s bid had been successful. This new business promotion partnership will provide a solid local focus for economic regeneration, representing local businesses in pushing for a better business deal for the area. Given the strong presence of engineering companies within Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, we believe that the collective views of our local employers in relation to engineering skills have particular weight.

Summary of the Main Points

The engineering skills base does not currently meet the need of our employers, and more needs to be done to increase the number of people studying technical and practical subjects. The lack of technical, practical and job specific skills is a particular problem for local employers.

Most engineering employers tend to have a workforce that includes people from both academic and vocational backgrounds.

There is a need to improve “employability” skills (management, team working and customer handling skills) to make sure that people are in the best position possible to take advantage of employment opportunities.

One unintended consequence of recent changes relating to engineering qualifications has been the down grading of highly relevant, vocational qualifications leading providers to replace competency based qualifications with more generalist awards which provide a less “hand-on” learning experience.

Until Chartered Engineers are afforded the same status as Doctors, Teachers and Lawyers then the engineering profession will continue to be perceived as a “second tier” profession and will not attract the most talented and able people.

Better information from government agencies relating to the quality of training/learning provision.

Recommendations

Increase the number of people studying for vocational qualifications in practical subjects, together with the introduction and expansion in the number of University Technical Colleges. Modest funding support would be able to foster partnership work in establishing 14–16 school and FE College links on a “day release” basis which could compliment the new technical colleges by offering another way to study for those unable to obtain a place at a UTC; students could then progress to further FE study or an apprenticeship with local engineering companies.

A clear progression route from apprenticeship to becoming a qualified engineer needs to be developed and explained to students, parents, IAG staff and teachers. Apprenticeship and career pathway’s information should be available and used in schools early enough to inform choices of the qualifications that need to gained for a career in engineering. This information could be developed by Sector Skills Councils/Awarding bodies or commissioned by UKCES.

Review the curriculum content of STEM subjects at levels 2 and 3 to strengthen the assessment of how knowledge is applied practically to solve “real world” problems and challenges. Schools should be encouraged to allow businesses to design and implement practical projects that link with the curriculum and help in enthusing pupils while enabling them to see the relevance of their studies. FE Colleges could help to design an engineering award scheme for schools based on the needs of local employers but development of this idea may need local development funding.

Develop Science and Mathematics teachers links with local engineering and science industries to make mainstream curriculum more relevant to manufacturing and engineering. Businesses need to be encouraged to offer “open days” or job shadowing for teachers and careers advice professionals to improve knowledge and understanding of the skills needs and the career prospects within the company and the sector.

The government should support and promote a bigger campaign to change the perception of engineering today held by parents, guardians, and teachers. A campaign that uses highly successful role models, designers and inventors especially in the world of digital technology, aerospace and automotive engineering and promotes how important people with these skills are to the country.

Local Enterprise Partnerships and other innovative local structures (Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Education Trust1) could involve providers in establishing local delivery partnerships when they are currently delivering poor training and learning.

Questions

1. Does the current engineering skills base meet the needs of employers? Do employers in the engineering sector prefer an academic or a vocational profile?

1.1 The current engineering skills base does not meet the needs of employers within Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. In a recent consultation with our local employers, many of which have some requirement of engineering type skills, around two fifths of respondents stated that they had job vacancies in the previous 12 months that they had found difficult to fill due to the quality of the candidates. Over three quarters of these respondents stated that this was due to candidates lacking the skills that they look for.

43% of employers have difficulty recruiting STEM skilled staff (CBI/EDI education and skills survey 2011). Employers report that due to the changed world finance situation they are now able to get an increasing amount of work competitively but may not have the skilled staff they need to complete it. A number of companies are now re-patriating from abroad eg JV Murcott, Tamworth.

The lack of technical, practical and job specific skills presents a particular problem for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire employers. Over three quarters of respondents that had hard-to-fill job vacancies in the previous 12 months stated that applicants lacked technical, practical or job specific skills.

During the recession some companies managed to fill their skills gaps from the pool of workers made redundant by companies downsizing or going out of business; this is no longer the case and employers want to see some growth in the skills base to alleviate concern that new investment like the Jaguar Land Rover plant at the i54 Business Park may cause movement of personnel creating more skill shortages.

Engineering employers tell us that they need both an academic and a vocational profile as they add the different skill sets that are required if companies are to be innovative and produce reliable products and services at a profit. Most engineering employers tend to have a workforce that includes people from both academic and vocational backgrounds.

Graduate engineers have more of a research based and computer modelling approach initially whereas vocational route engineers have a better understanding of working with materials and production processes. Companies are now valuing the vocational route more highly to help meet their current business needs. To be competitive employers need engineers that can optimise processes and the use of technology. The wide range of jobs found in major employers can require very different types of skills, and therefore a particular focus on academic or vocational qualifications should be avoided.

Leek College in Staffordshire has frequent contact with local engineering companies. A common view from local employers is that they require elements of both academic and vocational skills and knowledge. A good level of mathematical understanding and confident written and verbal communication skills are often cited as qualities missing from applicants.

Vocational skills are also valued. Over the past six years students progressing from the “day release” 14–16 school link programme in mechanical engineering have progressed to college then gained sought after apprenticeships in a local world class engineering company. By the age of 17 these students have spent three years experiencing training within an industry standard engineering workshop taught by skilled practitioners with recent substantial industrial experience. By the time they progress to the apprenticeship route they are “work ready”, and have experience of key engineering processes.

The importance of employability skills should also not be understated. Employers would like engineering education to contain generic skills so that employees are equipped with additional skills to the specific technical and engineering science skills. These include communication skills, problem solving, decision making, analytical skills, and customer service. These softer types of skills are what most employers deem as necessary to make somebody “work ready”.

Employers need to and should be encouraged to design their own training programmes to meet their company requirements. This would help employers to articulate their training needs to the FE colleges and training providers.

A view is that FE courses are good in meeting the needs for basic and generic engineering skills but often do not meet the specific training needs of individual companies. Decisions made in the past by FE colleges to withdraw from engineering provision are now proving to be difficult and expensive to reverse.

In-company training activity is varied: half of small engineering firms do not provide any training to their employees; and engineering employees at higher levels are more likely to receive training from their employers. The main barriers perceived by employers to providing more training are cost and access. Employers may need support in developing in-house training areas.

Staffordshire has some good practice regarding improved in-house training facilities and employers taking more ownership in the design and delivery of their apprenticeship programmes eg KMF in Newcastle under Lyme operate a successful programme working in a managing agent model as alone they would not have met the Skills Funding Agency’s minimum apprenticeship contract value.

Engineering in Staffordshire has many contrasts in terms of size, sector and occupation patterns. Different engineering sectors are subject to different pressures, which in turn have implications for skills. Analyses of overall trends can mask important differences. Important key skills issues for engineering at a local level will vary according to the company therefore increasing the difficulty of meeting skills needs as a one size fits all approach may not work.

While the supply of engineering qualified people has been growing, there is still a failure in attracting enough quality young people studying engineering, partly due to: a poor image, a declining interest in taking Maths and physics at “A” level, continuing low take-up by women on engineering courses, attractions of alternative options (especially studying IT), more encouragement given to young people to stay on at school than follow vocational routes which involve workplace training.

Although a number of changes have been introduced to improve engineering education more could be done to improve work placement opportunities. However, an issue identified as having a negative effect on the quality of higher education is the difficulty many universities face in recruiting young engineering staff.

This has clear implications for publicly funded education and training and for providers. However, the industry itself needs to respond—for example, by improving work placement opportunities, by improving in-company training (particularly in small firms) and by continuing to work on improving the attractiveness of the industry.

Better information is needed from government agencies relating to the quality of training/learning provision can have a lag of 12 months plus, therefore up to date information regarding poor quality provision is not available.

2. What impact will recent changes relating to engineering qualifications in England have on the uptake of technical subjects and the skills base needed by the engineering sector?

The wholesale “downgrading” of the value of vocational qualifications addresses the issue of schools manipulating their league table standing through “enriching” the curriculum with vocational qualifications of dubious merit. However, one unintended consequence has been the down grading of highly relevant, vocational qualifications leading providers to replace competency based qualifications with more generalist awards which provide a less “hand-on” learning experience. Colleges changing highly successful level 1 Performing Engineering Operations Qualification for Edexcel Diplomas, which has more classroom based learning, is proving to be less engaging for the 14–16 age group.

A number of UTCs (JCB Academy) had based their curriculum around delivering the engineering diploma and a number of other schools were teaching the BTEC first certificate and diploma; for some this will not be the case from September 2012 and they will not be replacing them with other specific engineering based courses.

In order for schools to continue to support students the particular tarif for any particular qualification is paramount especially now that schools must use their own core funding to pay the College for delivery.

Some aspects of the English Baccalaureate will be welcomed by engineering employers, particularly the emphasis upon raising the standard of Mathematics English and Science. Confidence in these subjects is fundamental and underpins the successful acquisition of engineering skills.

Schools are also offering triple science and the English Baccalaureate which has the effect of reducing the ability to offer more subjects to give breadth of experience. Increasing the numbers taking triple science appears to be a positive move, allowing pupils to experience physics and chemistry in more depth but students do not then get the opportunity to see how science is applied. This is one reason for the current lack of STEM skilled people at the right level for employers.

Another aspect for work in STEM industries is the extent core subjects such as Maths and Science GCSE and ‘A’ Level encourage students to develop an understanding of how the theoretical knowledge gained is applied within industry.

Funding through the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) can help develop innovative partnerships. In 2010–11 the Engineering Change in Staffordshire Moorlands project, which in 2010–11 brought schools, Staffordshire University, Leek College and local engineering employers together to raise awareness of engineering as a career route.

The relationship between the implementation of the QCF and changes to the funding methodology is an issue. QCF introduced greater flexibility and opportunities to customise provision more closely to employer needs. However, this flexibility is constrained by what appears to be arbitrary funding values being assigned to qualifications eg the level 2 Performing Engineering Operations guided learning hours reduced from 2011–12 from 540 to 214. Flexibility has not increased through picking and mixing units within a single qualification. A situation now exists where a range of qualifications are delivered to cover all the competencies required by employers. Changes have become a driver for curriculum design not employer or individual need. Flexibilities offered within the new UKCES “Employer Ownership of Skills” pilots should be extended.

3. How do the approaches taken by the Devolved Administrations to produce a technically skilled workforce differ to the current approach in England? What are the strengths/weakness of the different approaches?

3.1 We are not aware of how different approaches taken by the Devolved Administrations have necessarily been more effective, and we would suspect that similar systemic challenges are faced across the UK.

4. Could the Government and others do more to raise the status of technical subjects?

43% of employers have difficulty recruiting STEM skilled staff (CBI/EDI education and skills survey 2011). Employers report that due to the changed world finance situation they are now able to get an increasing amount of work competitively but may not have the skilled staff they need to complete it. A number of companies are now re-patriating from abroad eg JV Murcott, Tamworth.

Vocational education has often suffered from being viewed unfavorably and any reforms should not exacerbate the vocational/academic divide.

Some employers would like to see schools encouraging more students to follow engineering vocational routes, after completion of Maths and Science academic qualifications, which would involve workplace training. This should be viewed by students and parents as high status learning with clear routes to higher education, high earnings and good job prospects.

A clear progression route from apprenticeship to becoming a qualified engineer needs to be developed and explained to young people, parents, IAG staff and teachers.

IAG advisers sometimes hold a stereotypical view that if you are not academically bright you can become an engineer. Support and encouragement should be given to employers to encourage more working with schools in setting projects that relate to their business and give a real insight to the company or the sector.

More specific action should be taken to encourage and incentivise young people to follow a Science route at School, College and University with capital grant money targeted to create STEM Centres of Excellence at a district level co-designed by educationalists and local employers. The current position of Design & Technology and the National curriculum review needs to be made clearer. Leading engineers such as James Dyson and Sir Jonathan Ive (a Staffordshire pupil for a number of years) support the place of Design & Technology but it is recognised that the subject does need to change.

Young people may not have an accurate understanding of employment and career progression in Engineering and High Value Manufacturing. Statistics show people earn some of the best salaries in engineering and manufacturing compared to many other degree study areas. Starting salaries are 16% higher than average, research by BIS shows that the undergraduate premium for someone with two “A” levels is 33% higher if they study engineering. The problem is how many GCSE and “A” level students know that and more importantly the staff giving them independent careers advice and guidance?

5. What more should be done to attract and retain a more diverse technically skilled workforce?

We are concerned that engineering is not always promoted as a worthwhile, challenging and exciting career option, and advocate that it feature more prominently in the provision of careers advice at schools. Worryingly, a recent report by Engineering UK found that 21% of teachers would not recommend engineering as a suitable career to their students.

Until Chartered Engineers are afforded the same status as Doctors, Teachers and Lawyers then the engineering profession will continue to be perceived as a “second tier” profession and will not attract and retain the most talented and able people to remain globally competitive as a nation.

It remains important to challenge stereotypes and encourage more females and ethnic minorities into the sector; employers believe that this needs to be done at an early stage.

June 2012