Meeting the education and skills needs of the economy

ENGLAND – New legislation to help deal with the country’s long-term economic and social needs, was published recently by skills secretary John Denham and children’s secretary Ed Balls.

The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill provides the first complete overhaul of Apprenticeships legislation for nearly 200 years.

The new legislation will put apprenticeships on a statutory basis, establish the entitlement to an apprenticeship place for every suitably qualified young person who wants one and will ensure a good quality apprenticeship for apprentices and employers alike.

It will help to meet ministers’ ambitions that one in five young people will undertake an apprenticeship by 2020, building on the startling transformation in numbers starting an apprenticeship in the last decade – rising from just 65,000 in 1997 to a quarter of a million this year, with overall government investment soon to top £1bn (NZ$2.9 billion) annually.

The legislation also gives all employees the right to request training during their working lives and puts in place a stronger, more accountable and effective infrastructure to oversee further education and training.

Local authorities will take on responsibility for securing education and training for all 16 to 19-year-olds, to create a single, joined up offer for all children and young people from 0 to 19, while the new Skills Funding Agency will oversee a new demand-led approach to education and training provision for adults, better tailored to the needs of businesses and learners themselves.

And it also includes new measures to build on the huge improvement in school standards over the last decade – including putting in place lighter touch inspections for successful schools; stronger powers to intervene where schools need more support; further equipping schools to take on poor behaviour; and strengthening the school work force by establishing a new School Support Staff Negotiating Body.

For babies and young children, the Bill will place new duties on local authorities to ensure that they ensure that sufficient Sure Start Children’s Centres are provided to meet local needs.

“Everyone deserves the best chance to reach their potential throughout their lives. This new Bill will put in place new rights so that at whatever stage you are in life, you can continue to improve your skills and get training, to improve your career prospects,” said Mr Denham.

“We need to equip the country to meet the economic and social needs now and in the long-term,” said Mr Balls.

“It is vital we build a motivated, highly skilled work force to take us through the current challenging economic times and build a secure, prosperous future.

“We have invested in and transformed skills training and on-the-job training in the last decade – but giving every young person who wants one the right to an apprenticeship will allow young people to fulfil their working potential and allow us to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

“There have been undeniable huge improvements in school standards over the last decade – but I have always been clear that we have more to do until we have the world-class education system.

Some of the other key measures of the Bill are:

• Requiring schools to provide information, advice and guidance on apprenticeships where they consider this would be in the best interests of pupils.

• Strengthening Children’s Trusts by putting Children’s Trust Boards on a statutory footing and extending the duty to co-operate to promote children’s well-being to include all maintained schools, Academies, Six Form Colleges, FE colleges and Jobcentre Plus.

• Extending the powers schools and colleges currently have to search for weapons to cover alcohol, drugs and stolen items.

• Enabling Ofsted to publish a new health check statement for schools which will reward successful schools by paving the way for a move from a three year to a five or six year inspection cycle, and enable attention to be focused on schools more in need of support.

• Placing responsibility for securing education for young people in juvenile custody with local authorities to align more closely the education that young offenders receive while in custody with that available in the mainstream;

• Giving all employees the right to request time away from their core duties for training which will improve the employee’s effectiveness at work and the performance of the employer’s business.