Most significant analysis of development & training needs of Learning & Development Providers ever done published by ETF

Pioneering FE Sector Learning and Development Providers report from ETF sets out the evidence base for investment in workforce development.

Further training on organisational performance including leadership, management and governance training is needed to take the Further Education (FE) and Training sector forward, is the primary conclusion of the pioneering analysis of the training needs for Learning and Development Providers (LDPs) in the sector.

Published by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) today (13 Dec), the new findings in the Training Needs in the Further Education Sector: Learning and Development Providers report reflects the perspectives of 282 institutions and 45 individual practitioners – including teachers, trainers, leaders and assessors, delivering post-16 learning activities.

It provides the most significant analysis of the development and training needs of the Learning and Development Providers (LDPs) workforce in the FE sector ever done. The experiences of LDPs, who are training providers that do not receive funding from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), were found to be considerably different to Independent Training Providers (ITPs), who are in receipt of ESFA funding, and other providers such as Colleges and Local Authorities.

Initiated by the ETF, the LDPs report is a subsidiary report from a major survey of training needs in the FE sector, the Training Needs Analysis released by ETF in April 2018. It has been supported by all the key sector membership bodies and trade unions in the sector, and the Department for Education itself.

The report’s purpose is to provide intelligence that can support policy-makers and the sector in making informed investment decisions to support the workforce, to meet the challenges and opportunities that the technical education reforms, including T levels, will bring over the next three years.

The key conclusion (see Appendix 1 for the five most significant findings) found that LDPs are usually smaller than other training providers, including ITPs, with a more ethnically diverse workforce, but usually had a national rather than a local scope. Staff in LDPs receive some of the highest levels of training in the FE sector, and training costs are also some of the highest partly – this may be because they don’t have staff inhouse to deliver this training. The training delivered to LDPs was well received, with a higher proportion of institutions feeling it had met all the needs of staff in comparison with other parts of the FE sector. However, compared to others in the sector, fewer staff felt the training they had received was of value. Staff in LDPs wanted more training on organisational performance including leadership, management and governance training in future, however, LDPs at an institutional level were happy with their training plans and didn’t need support in this area.

Charlynne Pullen, Head of Data and Evaluation at the Education and Training Foundation, said:

“The findings from the research into the under-represented Learning and Development Providers help us better understand the training needs of the whole FE sector, including those organisations that don’t currently receive public funding. This report will enable organisations across the sector to develop training which is tailored to the needs of these and other providers.

“At ETF, we play a key role in providing data and research about the whole FE sector. This research adds to our 2018 Spring series of robust and independent research, that ensures practitioners, providers and policy makers have access to high-quality and reliable data to support their decision-making.” 

The research, which took place in 2017/18, was commissioned, conducted and part-funded by the ETF – the sector’s workforce development body and home of comprehensive, independent and impartial workforce data research. Overall the ETF surveyed 2,366 individual respondents and 763 learning providers (including the Learning Development Providers and their workforce) and undertook 50 in-depth discussions with senior representatives of FE sector organisations in Autumn and Winter 2017/18.

Alongside the release of the Training Needs in the Further Education Sector: Learning and Development Providers report, four individual subsidiary reports for the Training Needs Analysis are also now available for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), Digital Skills, Mental Health Training and Middle Managers. All the reports from the research can be read and downloaded on the ETF website at www.et-foundation.co.uk.

The ETF commissioned BMG Research to undertake the research.