In October last year the Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology jointly published the policy White Paper Post-16 Education and Skills, outlining the UK Government’s strategic direction for education and skills reform.
There has been a lot of analysis and comment about the implications of the White Paper in the sector, so this blog isn’t meant to be comprehensive or exhaustive. The goal is to unpack some of what’s on the horizon and provide 5 (hopefully useful) insights for universities.
1. Employability received an update
It feels like expectations of university courses are more firmly anchored in what both employers and employees need. The paper recognises that employers need people to have the skills and knowledge to thrive in their roles. And that most people, at some point, will want a paid role where they are given the best chance to do a great job and progress. A job could be a vocation, academia, or a professional career. It might be none of those.
In his Wonkhe article Martin Edmonson, CEO of the Graduate Futures Institute (formerly AGCAS), describes how ‘Careers and employability are now where strategy, regulation, and student experience collide’.
It feels like ‘employability’ is now more explicitly a pull factor (what are employers asking for), rather than a push factor (universities ‘delivering’ employable graduates).
This means that the views of employers become more consistently significant in terms of what is expected of the courses universities design and deliver. This includes demonstrating skills development in the course content from the outset, as well as measuring its impact in both graduate outcomes and national measures of skills gaps. It firmly frames employability as a shared endeavour between the student, the institution and future employers.
2. Demonstrable skills being equal to knowledge
A key message from the panel session at Wonkhe’s Festival of Higher Education with Gemma Marsh (Deputy CEO of Skills England), Antony Moss (PVC Education & Student Experience at LSBU), and Paul Ashwin (Professor of HE at Lancaster University) was that universities don’t ‘deliver’ employability, they co-create it. They also discussed how skills are being foregrounded but not at the expense of academic knowledge.
Designing courses with employers means understanding the core skills that are required in either any role, or specific to those specific professions. Also, helping people to articulate transferable skills and recognise them in job advertisements when they see them. It doesn’t mean losing academic rigour or focus, it is positioning skills as a complement to that.
3. The challenge of linear learning alongside learner led study
With the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) imminent – enabling bite sized, stackable, and timely study – courses will need to be designed differently in terms of structure and content, and provide evidence of incremental value in terms of both knowledge and skills. Some who engage in higher education won’t necessarily be ‘graduates’ straight away, or ever.
For many universities internal processes don’t tend to be in place to design, deliver, manage, or award bite sized or asynchronous units which can build to a degree. Designing the offer, and communicating it effectively, will require an understanding of the opportunities and barriers to consideration for different audiences.
4. Shared language as a foundation for change
To enter what’s been described as a shaping stage for the higher education market, and in order to collaborate effectively, there needs to be shared language throughout the ecosystem of schools, further education, higher education, and employers.
The multitude of course types, descriptions, durations and levels which are part of a myriad of pathways is currently complicated for delivery, funding, and importantly can be a barrier to equality of opportunity.
From the session with Edward Peck at The Festival of Higher Education, it was clear that change would, by necessity, be swift. He acknowledged that disagreement is inevitable, but also that it can be resolved, and should not stand in the way of progress. He noted that the OfS was learning how to be a regulator, and that universities are learning how to be regulated.
Consolidation of some of the structural elements of education (and communicating them clearly) will both be critical to successfully reshaping the education sector. Working towards greater alignment will be transformative, keeping core policy delivery on track when governments and government priorities bring about more change, and probably more qualifications.
5. Final thoughts, delivering courses with skills doesn’t need to be fragmented
While I was working at Sheffield Hallam University in the late 90s and early 2000s there was a plan to deliver the ‘Hallam Programme’. Forgive anything I’ve misremembered (it was a while ago!) but the thrust of it was that a spine of core skills modules would run through courses with skills embedded in academic courses by design. I remember thinking that it was a great idea.
As a first in family graduate starting my career working at a university in this period, I thought words like ‘skills’ and ‘vocational’ were positive ones. But, as polytechnics continued the transition into universities, this language was seen as a point of difference which was believed to make competing for students with established universities harder.
The thinking behind the ‘Hallam Programme’ feels relevant again now, an added value offer which was potentially efficient to deliver and communicate. Understanding what employers and employees consistently need to thrive, and what resonates with prospective students (and arguably their parents), are some essential components of the design of skills-based course content.
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