FOCUS FEATURE
DEVELOPING THE SKILLS YOU NEED Focusing on
meeting our need for skills
By Ian Greenaway (pictured), Chair of the East Midlands HS2 Skills and Supply Chain Board
We often hear that businesses find it difficult to recruit candidates, particularly those for technical and managerial roles. We also frequently hear that young people leaving
schools, colleges and even universities are not “work ready” when they apply for their first job. Why is it we find that we have an oversupply of some
skills and an undersupply of others? These questions are the same as a decade or more ago
so why haven’t the issues been addressed? And are the perceptions real or just imagined? Is it the role of Government to ensure that people with
the required skills are available to meet the future needs of UK plc? Should we, as businesses, be doing more to develop our
existing employees to meet our current and future skills needs, rather than relying on someone else to do it for us? What are the implications for skills requirements because
of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the fourth industrial revolution? We are told that many current jobs, both skilled and unskilled, will be displaced by technology. How do we prepare our youngsters for the world of work
when half of the jobs that will exist in 20-30 years’ time do not exist today? So many questions but are they being satisfactorily addressed by Government or business?
GOVERNMENT STRATEGIES – ARE THEY JOINED UP? In 2017 the Government published its Industrial Strategy Green Paper, which includes the following: • Investing in science, research and innovation • Developing skills – we must help people and businesses to thrive by: ensuring everyone has the basic skills needed in a modern economy; building a new system of technical education to benefit the half of young people who do not go to university; boosting STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) skills, digital skills and numeracy; and by raising skill levels in lagging areas
• Supporting businesses to start and grow – we must ensure that businesses across the UK can access the finance and management skills they need to grow; and we must create the right conditions for companies to invest for the long term
So why is it that the Government’s Education Strategy
does not appear to be aligned with the Industrial Strategy and what are the results of that misalignment? Is this misalignment the reason why businesses think
that young people leaving the education system are all too frequently not “work ready”? Education and business can be considered as a supply chain where employers are the customer and educational
58 business network April 2019 Students need to be exposed to new technology as much as possible
establishments are the suppliers. In business, success depends on collaboration, communication and coordination in a supply chain so why do we not communicate better with our potential suppliers of people to ensure that our future employees have the desired skills and attributes? The Chamber has taken a leading role to bring the
worlds of business and schools closer together, an example being the Schools Forum. We know that our schools are under pressure to meet academic performance targets, but if the targets mean that young people are leaving school without the skills and attributes required for business, we should challenge Government to revise the measures.
ARE THINGS IMPROVING? Overall, I think the messages the business community have been giving to Government over the past decade are now finally being acted upon. There are signs that the Government recognises the disconnect that exists between the worlds of education and business and the need for them to be more closely aligned. Firstly, in 2018, the Government published its long-
awaited Government Careers Strategy. The Guidance for schools on the strategy states that they will be required to achieve the following (Gatsby) Benchmarks by the end of 2020. • Every school and college should have an embedded programme of career education and guidance that is known by students, parents, teachers, governors and employers
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