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Memorandum
submitted by Sir Adrian Webb (GLOB 37) Sir Adrian Webb has had a long and
successful experience of leading at executive management level in public, not
for profit and education sectors. Currently he is a Non-Executive Director on
the National Assembly for Wales Executive Board. Most recently he has been a
Council Member of the National Council for Education and Learning Wales
(ELWA), a Member of HM Treasury Public Service Productivity Panel, and an
Associate of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit. He has recently retired as
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glamorgan. Academically, he specialised in social
and public policy, government, and public sector management and has authored
or joint authored nine books, seventeen monographs and occasional papers and
in excess of 70 chapters, journal articles, conference papers and reports. He was also a member of the Beecham
Review of Public Services in Wales and contributed to the final report of
that Review: "Beyond Boundaries". Sir Adrian is now leading the Welsh
Assembly Government's review of further education in Wales: The Independent
Review of the Mission and Purpose of Further Education in Wales in the
context of The Learning Country: Vision into Action (The Webb Review). The
Review is due to report to the Education and Lifelong Learning Minister of
the Welsh Assembly Government in autumn of 2007. Background Much of the skills agenda is a devolved
matter, but it is intimately related to non-devolved issues which influence
the performance of Wales as an economic entity and to areas of social policy
and service delivery (eg the role of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
in Wales). Moreover, the Leitch report on skills has created a UK agenda to
which Wales must respond and a set of structural proposals - a Skills
Commission and the changed role of SSCs - which impact on Wales. Skills, Economic Growth and
International Competitiveness It may seem
obvious that, to compete in a globalised economy, we need to invest heavily
in our skills base. Leitch asserted this relationship but added the warning
that, despite increased public investment, the UK lags behind its competitors
on skills. In relation to the 30 OECD countries the UK is: · 17th on low skills; · 20th on intermediate
skills; and · 11th in high level skills. He therefore argued for new and
demanding education and training targets. Leitch's view is supported by research (Coulombe,
S., Tremblay J-F. and Marchand S. 2004 p9) that suggests investment in
human capital is three times as important to economic growth over the long
run as investment in physical capital. This is true, but the relationship
between skills and economic performance is far from straight-forward. There
is a powerful contrary argument which has been developed over a number of
studies: cause and effect work the other way - individuals, and nations,
invest in education because they are prosperous and can afford to do so (Wolf
A 2004 ). Wolf goes on to criticise government for "...its
infatuation with education for growth" Wolf, A 2007). She claims
that the policy of "...ratcheting up the numbers of highly educated
workers..." to deliver economic growth is ineffective: "The Kremlin
under Leonid Brezhnev ordered and got plenty of tractors. They just didn't
work". (Wolf,A. 2007). What may seem to be an arcane academic
debate highlights fundamental policy issues: · should government invest more heavily
in education and training; · in what circumstances; · and can devolved and non-devolved
policies and processes mesh effectively to enable Wales to proper in a
sharply competitive global economy? Should Wales invest more heavily in
skills? In light of the academic work on the
determinants of economic growth, perhaps it is best to base policy on an
insurance principle: it cannot be wrong to back investment which may yield
good results if to fail to do so could lead to major lost opportunities. For
Wales, investment in education and skills may prove to be absolutely
essential in the face of rapid global economic change, and it may be the key
to making us attractive to inward and home grown enterprise investment. More specifically, it is manifestly
right to invest where employers face skills shortages that will not be
resolved without government intervention - whether these are generic and
long-standing or they arise from specific investment and growth
opportunities. The most fundamental issue raised by employers related to basic skills. Their concern is backed up by research evidence that demonstrate a correlation between the improvement in basic skills - literacy and numeracy - and increasing GDP (Columbe et al 2004 p41). Certainly, in a rapidly changing economic climate inculcating relevant generic skills such as adaptability for independent and self motivated learning will prepare learners for economically valuable futures. In this context the Opening Minds projects of the RSA are important.More advanced numeric skills are another case in point. What many employers seem to want is quantitative analytical skills which are now, and will increasingly be, the bedrock of high value added economic growth - in the service sector as much as in manufacturing and science. These skills have been dubbed "Techno-mathematical Literacies (TmL)": "we are using the term as a way of characterising mathematics as it exists in modern, increasingly IT-based workplaces ... the mathematics involved is much more than basic arithmetic ... we are convinced that the idea of literacy is really helpful. Individuals need to be able to understand and use mathematics as a language which will increasingly pervade the workplace through IT-based systems as much as conventional literacy pervaded working life in the last century. This language exists in the form of computer inputs and outputs that have to be composed and interpreted." (Hoyles,et al,2002). The importance of such skills may not mean, however, that we should simply push Maths harder at GCSE - that may be counter-productive. The authors conclude in respect of 14-19 education that it is vital for these skills to be inculcated in learners through other parts of the curriculum - and for the existing in-work population. There are also profound social reasons
for increased investment. One concerns social justice and the need to
counteract "market failure" as it affects the least powerful people
in society. Government investment should be used to even out inequalities in
opportunity - and plenty of those remain to be addressed. Another arises from
the more intangible outcomes of education and training. Additional years of
education and training are positively related to healthier life styles, lower
levels of criminal behaviour and greater social cohesion. Importantly, this
is especially true of "leisure learning" in the case of the least
well educated adults - adult and community learning is not a luxury,
especially if it is well targeted. A third, which is easily overlooked, is
that social skills are a key element in employability, social adaptability
and stabilty in their own right - witness the argument that skills for
multi-cultural living are becoming increasingly important to personal and
national success in a country such as ours.( Feinstein, L , Hammond C, Woods,
L , Preston, J and Bynner J 2003) The Context for Successful Investment Unfocussed investment is inappropriate. Leitch argues that the essential means of providing focus is greatly to strengthen the employer voice. That must be right in terms of present and medium term skills needs and given the present nature of the economy. The caveats are that there must be mechanisms for anticipating, in so far as this is possible, the future skills needs of the economy as it changes - and if it is to become more competitive. The second arises from this: skills are not a free floating, autonomous, feature of an economy; they only come into play in so far as employers and the economy are geared to use them. The demand for skills is 'derived': it cannot be considered separately from other aspects of employers' strategies, with respect to product markets, work organisation and job design. This is why investment in skills is not necessarily a route to growth in and of itself. To increase the supply of skills will not necessarily bring about increases in productivity and economic growth, unless we also ensure that employers are able actually to utilise the skills available. Moreover, some attention needs to be paid to ensuring that there is a reasonable 'fit' between the levels and types of skills supplied and those utilised. These arguments are especially important in an economy such as that of Wales, where activity is substantially below even the UK average. But the Welsh economy shows signs of "low skill equilibrium". It will only need and be driven forward by better intermediate and high level skills in so far as it moves decisively beyond this plateau. Wales needs a successful coming together
of different areas of policy and of delivery. The distinctive Welsh vision
outlined in Making the Connections (Welsh Assembly Government, 2004)
and endorsed in the Beecham Report, Beyond Boundaries (Beecham, 2006)
emphasises collaborative approaches ands "managed networks" of
providers. Not all of this agenda can be achieved through better
collaboration across devolved activities-non devolved agencies are also key
(see below). Skills Needs and Vocational
Programmes Vocational routes are often still seen
as more appropriate for the less academically able. While the piloting of the
Special Diplomas within the Welsh Baccalaureate may go some way to rectifying
this, consideration also need to be given to the possible need for
redefining, re-branding and restructuring the vocational routes available in
Wales for learners from 14 onwards to provide high quality, robust and
prestigious vocational programmes offering seamless progression with relevant
and appropriate exit points at Level 3, Level 4/sub-degree, and degree level.
Giving a vocational route a high value
"brand image" also demands close planning and joint provision
between schools, colleges and universities and close engagement of employers
and employer groups. Successful vocational programmes inculcate a sense of
worth, purpose and status for young people. Effective delivery of such a vocational
route would be dependent upon the managed network within which it operates.
Key interrelated components within that system could be: · genuine cross-institutional delivery
through collaboration between post 14 providers; · effective partnerships between
providers and employers and employer bodies; · funding mechanisms that facilitated
cross-provider, collaborative learning delivery; and · impartial, learner focused,
non-institutionally biased careers and progression advice and support for
learners. Managed Networks would also support the
concept of economic clusters: linked industries, providers and government
agencies achieving critical mass, cost efficiency and "competitive
success". ("Clusters and the New Economics of Competition"
Porter, Harvard Business Review Dec 1998). More recently, this concept has
been cited as one of the factors for the success of Israel's high-tech
sector. ("Business as Usual" Devi, Financial Times Magazine,
April 2007.) Policies and processes: Devolved and
Non-devolved Much, but not all, of this terrain is
under the direction of the Welsh Assembly Government. Higher Education policy
is one example of how, in practice, apparently independent powers can be
shaped from without. The vocational education agenda might seem to argue for
an HE system that is heavily committed to higher level skills, often
delivered through collaborative effort. But the competitive nature of HE, and
the power of the research agenda in defining prestige, complicates matters.
By extension, the very notion of a Citizen/Collaborative approach to
policy-making and delivery is directly challenged by the emphasis on
competition driven by consumer choice that prevails in England. More immediately and directly, the Welsh
approach to skills and the engagement of employers must operate within the
machinery commended by Leitch. The ability of Sector Skills Councils to
articulate and champion the particular needs of the Welsh economy -
nationally and by region - will rest in substantial measure on the resources
they are given. Consideration needs to be given to how adequate these
resources are. To take a different example, one
possible alternative to the English emphasis on "raising the school
age", might be to offer a clear entitlement, rather than to think in
terms of a compulsory minimum age. An entitlement could theoretically take
the form of a guarantee of education/training or work-based training - to a
defined minimum age. This would make most sense if there were to be close
interaction between such policies and those of the Department for Work and
Pensions (DWP). Such areas of interaction between devolved and non-devolved
systems will continue to pose challenges - possibly limitations - to how
Wales seeks to position itself in a globalised economy. 10 May 2007 References Coulombe, S., Tremblay J-F. and Marchand
S. (2004), Coulombe, Tremblay, and Marchand - 2004. "Literacy
Scores, Human Capital and Growth across 14 OECD countries"- Statistics
Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Ottawa Hoyles, C., Wolf, A., Molyneux-Hodgson,
S. and Kent, P. (2002), Mathematical Skills in the Workplace. London: The Science, Technology and Mathematics
Council. Leon Feinstein, Cathie Hammond, Laura
Woods, John Preston and John Bynner 2003'The contribution of adult
learning to health and social capital', Wider Benefits of. Learning
Research Report No.8, London: Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of
Learning Wolf A 2003 "Education and
Economic Performance: Simplistic Theories and their Policy
Consequence", Oxford Review
of Economic Policy, Vol. 20, no2, Wolf A 2007 "A Matter of
Degree" , World Business -INSEAD) Welsh Assembly Government, 2004 Making
the Connections Beecham J, Webb A, Morgan G, 2006 Beyond
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