Pre-Budget hopes from UK Skills chief Simon Bartley

UK Skills is firmly committed to supporting a future thriving economy, by fostering the highest possible standards in skills. To empower us to achieve this the Budget needs to support three key values and policies in relation to vocational education and training: clarity, equity and engagement with demand.

Clarity
We are clear that the types of bureaucracy and “nice-to-haves” that emerge in a time of plenty have to give way to a determination to prioritise teaching, learning and achievement, and to remove unnecessary transaction costs. The hugely welcome onset of the Qualifications and Credit Framework gives scope to remove programmes that add little or no value to learners’ life and work opportunities, and to refocus those resources on progression.

It is high time for learners and other users of vocational education and training to know exactly what they are getting, and the relative value of their options. This time of financial constraint can be used to strip out the noise and confusion which appears endemic to the UK, but unnecessary for our more successful competitor economies.

Equity
Most learners enter vocational education and training from an unequal position relative to their academic peers; many set out with less favourable conditions in which to achieve. The low expectations that accompany this fact create human and financial waste, and the economics of education needs to embrace this.

To drive our future economy we need a new proxy for an initially qualified worker. This would mean introducing a minimum entitlement to learning up to a full Level 3 qualification. The fact that this would be a real stretch for many learners and teachers would give a salutary lesson in what is needed throughout the system in order to support both our economy and society. Constantly we meet young people who initially appear unpromising, only to marvel at their skills and maturity after just a few months of involvement with rigorous vocational training.

Engagement with demand
It is time for a new deal with employers, more directly focused on their needs, and less willing to let them off the hook, when it comes to learning for work and in work. In the absence of direct financial steers for work-related education and skills, a decisive culture change is needed, within businesses, to turn them into expansive work-learning environments that will grow their profits. The quality of business leadership and management in the UK does not compare well with that of our competitor nations, and our poor showing in the OECD tables reflects this.

The UK is replete with talent; such a pity that so much of it is untapped. Maybe the Budget can help?

Simon Bartley is chief executive of UK Skills, which champions learning through competitions and awards