Generic Employability Skills Centre for Developing and Evaluating Lifelong Learning (CDELL)

Aim To identify the scope that exists for regional and local interventions in the South West that will improve young peoples’ generic employability skills in areas of agreed priority need

Issues The generic employability skills needs of young people (aged 16-21) in the SW The extent to which these needs are being addressed by current policies, programmes and providers The scope for interventions to improve young people’s generic employability skills

Research Design Phase 1 – Desk research Phase 2 – Field research Phase 3 - Final report and Follow-up

Phase 1 – Desk Research Highlighted the strategic and policy framework within which the study sits Examined the ways in which the questions raised by this project have been addressed in previous work Refined the focus for the Phase 2 fieldwork

Phase 2 – Field Research 1 Semi-structured telephone interviews with employers, employees and providers Consultation workshop involving local and regional policy makers and practitioners

Final Report and Follow-up Carry project’s recommendations forward in action Establish the extent to which the project’s recommendations are being carried forward Identify any barriers to their implementation in the organisations involved.

Findings 1 The employers, employees and providers adopted holistic and integrated approaches to generic skills and knowledge, which included a wide variety of personal attributes and values. The employees attached less importance to personal attributes than did employers and providers.

Findings 2 In referring to skills and attributes, the respondents not only used different terms to refer to the same skill or personal attribute, but also gave different meanings to seemingly identical terms. Different employers valued and weighted employability skills and personal attributes quite differently.

Findings 3 Most of the employers and providers believed that there is a shortage of generic employability skills. The employers identified deficiencies with regard to personal attributes rather than to generic skills.

Findings 4 The employers provided relatively little support in the workplace for the development of generic skills. The employees had very limited understandings of the nature and importance of generic employability skills, and saw the acquisition and development of technical skills as the key to career progression.

Findings 5 Providers recognised that employability skills are more relevant to young people and employers if they see them as linked to the work context. Providers across the region are attempting to integrate the delivery of employability skills into vocational courses. However, there is considerable variation in the methods used to assess, teach and foster the development of employability skills.

Recommendations 1 Strategies need to be developed to vigorously promote the importance of generic skills to all relevant groups. These strategies should ensure that employers, employees and providers clearly understand what generic employability skills are, why these skills are important, and what the role of the different stakeholders is in fostering the development and maintenance of such skills.

Recommendations 2 Strategies need to be developed to form partnerships between providers and employers so that employability skills frameworks, which are appropriate in different sectors (and localities), can be devised. These frameworks need to reflect the range of skills that employers, employees and providers deem to be relevant.

Recommendations 3 Strategies need to be developed share good practice in the teaching, learning and assessment of generic employability skills. The key topics are: approaches to developing sector-specific employability skills frameworks; approaches to integrating the development of employability skills into vocational areas; and approaches to the assessment of employability skills.

Recommendations 4 Strategies need to be devised to increase the provision of on-going professional development for teachers, trainers and assessors

Consultation Workshop 1 Common language for generic skills Centres of excellence in generic skill development Support generic skills development through existing initiatives

Consultation Workshop 2 Work with employers to identify their generic/key skills needs Respect sector differences and take note of initiatives in sectors Encourage management cultures that emphasise skills development (as opposed to acquisition of qualifications)

Consultation Workshop 3 Encourage people to see generic skills as developing over time Develop structured work experience for school students Ultimate responsibility for generic skills development lies with the individual

Next Steps Carry the recommendations forward Monitor the implementation of the recommendations New project