Covid-19 has drastically improved the momentum behind technological change in the UK, which could help produce the UK’s much needed productivity growth. However, it appears the UK labour market is not currently equipped with either the specialist or basic skills required to capitalise on this opportunity. Indeed, “some forecasts predict a significant shortage of ICT professionals” (OECD, 2016, p.7) with 39% of UK enterprises seeking ICT specialists reporting difficulties in filling vacancies (ibid, p.9). Therefore, Government should intervene to promote the acquisition of specialist ICT skills in order to address the deficit in the labour market. The UK also has one of the highest levels of daily office software usage at work: over 30% of all workers, of which over a third (10%) lack the necessary basic skills required to use the technology effectively – indicative of a productivity loss. If the UK is seeking to improve productivity to reduce the risks posed by the imminent economic recession caused by Covid-19, we need to address the lack of both specialist and basic digital skills in our workforce.
Government Intervention
A well-regarded approach for governments to meet the changing demands of labour markets is through ‘upskilling’ the workforce (Eichhorst and Rinne, 2017, p.6). Recently, the UK has acquired a policy focus on investment into education (Cantillon, 2011, p.439). Hence, I will focus on the use of education policy to ‘upskill’ the workforce. Although Government has already shown decisive action in this area, my recommendations are intended to increase the effectiveness of pre-existing policies. Within this scope, I have identified policies from the areas of education and training.
Education
A fundamental measure for upskilling the future workforce is to teach ICT skills, such as programming, in schools (Eichhorst and Rinne, 2017, p.7). In 2014, the National Curriculum was updated, stating that, at Key Stage 4: “all pupils must have the opportunity to study aspects of information technology and computer science at sufficient depth to allow them to progress to higher levels of study or to a professional career” (DfE, 2013, p.3). This amendment to the curriculum demonstrates the Government’s acknowledgement of the importance of these opportunities. However, academies are exempt from following the National Curriculum. In 2019/2020, over 4.4 million pupils attended academies, accounting for 77% of secondary school pupils (Gov.uk, 2020a). Therefore, currently, the Government is not sufficiently ensuring that the majority of the student population are given these technological learning opportunities that will allow them to progress into careers as ICT specialists. Therefore, in the same manner that Government is enforcing that, by 2020, all academies offer Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (see DfE, 2019a), I suggest that the Government extends this type of policy to include the teaching of ICT skills, such as programming. With more people attaining the correct training, we stand a higher chance of meeting the labour market demand for ICT specialists.
Vocational Training and Apprenticeships
There is a general consensus that the increased uptake of vocational training and apprenticeships also has a strong role to play in ‘upskilling’ the workforce (Eichhorst and Rinne, 2017, p.5); such as the Software Engineering Degree Apprenticeship, offered by Jaguar Land Rover (2020). These education programmes promote the acquisition of specific digital skills demanded by the labour market. In 2018, a pledge was made by Government that, by 2020, they would be investing nearly £2.5 billion p.a. in apprenticeships. This is a good start. However, this investment may not take full effect if we do not convince young people to partake in these schemes. In the UK, the number of people undertaking vocational training reduced to fewer than 35,000 (Gov.uk, 2020b) and 742,400 apprentices (Foley, 2020, p.4). Yet, in 2018/2019, a staggering 1,652,675 undergraduate students were enrolled in University (HESA, 2020). This imbalance between the various post-school routes is, in part, due to the fact that vocational training and apprenticeships are “undervalued by parents and students as a viable route into employment, particularly when compared to an academic education gained through university” (British Council, 2018). Hence, if we want to utilise vocational training and apprenticeships as a means to ‘upskill’ our workforce we must ensure that schools present their students with comprehensive information about vocational training and apprenticeships, alongside enrolment in higher education (Edge Foundation, 2015, p.6), increasing the probability of higher future participation rates.
References
(DfE) Department for Education, 2019a. Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education.
(DfE) Department for Education. 2013. Computing programmes of study: Key stages 3 and 4.
(OECD) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2016. Skills for a Digital World.
British Council, 2018. Providing career guidance to vocational education students – 2018: Improving the image of vocational education among students and parents [online] Available: https://www.britishcouncil.org/education/skills-employability/what-we-do/vocational-education-exchange-online-magazine/improving-vocational-education Accessed:07/12/2020
Cantillon, B., 2011. The paradox of the social investment state: growth, employment and poverty in the Lisbon era. Journal of European social policy, 21(5), pp.432-449.
Edge Foundation, 2015, The graduate labour market: an uncomfortable truth [pdf] Available: https://www.edge.co.uk/sites/default/files/documents/graduate_employment_an_uncomfortable_truth.pdf Accessed: 07/12/2020
Eichhorst, W. and Rinne, U. 2017. Digital challenges for the welfare state (No. 134). IZA Policy Paper.
Foley, N. 2020, Apprenticeship Statistics: Briefing Paper [pdf] Available at: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwialM7yq_PtAhUQecAKHUMcCyMQFjABegQIBRAC&url=httpsresearchbriefings.files.parliament.ukdocumentsSN06113SN06113.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1AHSCtyHxmQtALBKWpnljv
Gov.uk, 2020a, Schools, pupils and their characteristics: School Numbers [online] Available: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics Accessed: 08/12/2020
Gov.uk, 2020b, Major expansion of post-18 education and training to level up and prepare workers for post-COVID economy [online] Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-expansion-of-post-18-education-and-training-to-level-up-and-prepare-workers-for-post-covid-economy Accessed: 07/12/2020
HESA, 2020, Higher Education Student Statistics: UK, 2018/19 [online] Available: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/16-01-2020/sb255-higher-education-student-statistics Accessed: 07/12/2020
Jaguar Land Rover, 2020, Digital and Technology Solutions (DTS) Degree Apprenticeship. [online] Available: https://www.jaguarlandrovercareers.com/content/Digital-and-Technology-Solutions-Degree-Apprenticeship/ Accessed: 13/12/2020
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