Wednesday, 10 March 2010 07:03

The pressure on the public finances is throwing down some tough challenges to everyone involved in further education and skills. At the same time, the recession has made little difference in the demand in our sector for provider services, such as training and employment placement, which remains as strong as ever.

The current public service requirement of delivering more for less has certainly been applied to the FE system. Colleges have responded fantastically well to the challenges while independent providers too are showing tremendous capacity to deliver value for money for both employers, learners and the taxpayer.

Independent providers, essentially private and third sector training organisations, are by nature employer focused. They offer work based learning to businesses in the form of apprenticeships, Train to Gain, Entry to Employment for the NEET group and basic employability skills. An increasing number of them are also involved in the delivery of welfare to work programmes such as Flexible New Deal.

The quality of delivery by the established providers has significantly improved in recent years. For example, independent providers are responsible for approximately 65% of apprenticeships and successful completion rates in the programme have risen to 70%. This compares with the best of anywhere in Europe.

Breaking down gender barriers with Apprenticeships

Providers are also working to break down traditional gender barriers within apprenticeships. Take, for example, Michaela Barber who wasn’t sure what she wanted to do after completing her A/S levels except that she didn’t want an office job. She is now in the midst of an Advanced Apprenticeship in Electrical / Electronic Engineering Maintenance with Southern Water under the supervision of a vocational coach from the VT Group who assesses her progress as she works through the different modules.

Commenting on her experience, Michaela says: "I’m really pleased to have chosen this career. At the outset I hadn’t realised just how involved it is. Working in electrics and electronics is extremely interesting and there’s an enormous amount to learn. It’s never boring, as I do a wide range of different jobs and I travel to different sites to meet the needs of Southern Water. My expectations of this career were high, but I have to say that my experiences have exceeded those initial expectations. There will always be new things to learn as technology moves forward."

Members of the Association of Learning Providers are reporting that there is no shortage of demand for apprenticeships from young people like Michaela. The challenge in this recession is to find enough employers who are willing to offer places. One solution has been to encourage the growth of group training associations (GTAs) and apprenticeship training agencies (ATAs) where groups of small businesses gain access to apprenticeship training when a small business on its own would have difficulty offering places to young people. Last year the Government invested an extra £7 million to make it easier to offer apprenticeships in this way.

Bottom line benefits from Train to Gain for employers

The Train to Gain programme has had its share of critics but a recent Ofsted report redressed the balance in terms of identifying the positive impact that the employer-facing programme has made. Ofsted found that Train to Gain continues to improve employees’ knowledge and understanding, as well as their motivation and self-esteem. Aspects of provision had improved, such as the development of employees’ technical and practical skills and the involvement of employers in their employees’ training. The findings also referred to employers often being impressed by providers’ responsiveness and flexibility in making arrangements for training and assessment.

As far as the bottom line is concerned, research from the Institute of Fiscal Studies revealed that 66% of employers considered that Train to Gain had improved their long term competitiveness. According to Ofsted, over three quarters of the employers visited for its 2007/08 survey identified benefits such as reduced staff turnover, the value of employees’ additional skills, successful tendering of contracts because of the existence of a qualified workforce, improved customer service and other demonstrable financial savings.

Overall, over 1.4 million Train to Gain courses have been started since the scheme was launched in April 2006 and over 850,000 people so far have gained a qualification. In 2008-09, 543,100 qualifications were completed and independent providers have played a key role in that success.

Tackling unemployment

Independent providers are also making a significant impact in helping to reduce unemployment. Many of them are teaching employability skills to young people and the adult jobless to increase the chances of gaining sustainable employment as Britain seeks to emerge from the recession. Some of the same providers are acting as contractors for the Flexible New Deal programme, working in partnership with Jobcentre Plus to find people jobs with local employers.

Providers believe that they can continue making a major difference by for example being in the vanguard of the expansion of apprenticeships. They remain convinced too that a demand-led skills system is key to delivering a valued service for employers.

Paul Warner is director of employment and skills at the Association of Learning Providers and member of the Further Education Reputation Strategy Group