Skills for Sustainable Growth

The Government is continuing to push forward its agenda on developing a nation of skilful workers in order to deliver a skills system that is able to respond to the needs of individuals, communities and an increasingly dynamic economy.

In the recently published paper – Skills for Sustainable Growth, the department for Business Innovation and Skills alongside the department for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning has specifically addressed ideas for the better promotion of enterprise education in further education institutions and throughout the training system.

In order to capture the views of Businesses, educators, local authorities, individuals and unions the Government instigated a 12 week consultation process that would address how to further simplify the skills system, what areas of public investment in skills could be reduced and where could private investment be increased and what are the main constraints on changing the balance between public and private investment and how could these be overcome?

The general response from the groups consulted raised the following points:

Many learners mentioned other, non-college based learning they had attended, and spoke positively about learning undertaken in schools, adult education centres, music libraries, church halls and community centres.

There were lots of ideas about how to promote enterprise education in further education colleges and throughout the skills system more generally. The majority of respondents think that enterprise education is central to Government’s ambitions for private sector growth and as a key part of what they think ambitions for the ‘Big Society’ should be – namely that in a context where Government does less, there is an increased need for the private and voluntary not-for-profit sector to innovate, develop and deliver services that individuals and communities want. These ideas can be summarised as follows.

There is a view that enterprise education in colleges and in the wider skills system should be delivered by people with real hands on experience of running a business. Some respondents highlight the need for colleges and providers to forge stronger links with businesses and that enterprise education should not be theoretical but should rather comprise the application of key skills needed to plan for and sustain a business.
Many respondents state the importance of good information, advice and guidance to school-aged children and those in colleges so that they are made aware of opportunities that exist around starting their own business. Some respondents feel there is too much of a focus placed in careers guidance at school on academic routes.

Other ideas put forward include the integration of enterprise into Apprenticeship frameworks and integration of communication, presentation and personal effectiveness skills into all academic and vocational routes. Some highlighted the potential value of integrating enterprise education into leadership and management training.

To read the report in full follow this link www.bis.gov.uk.