Beyond employer engagement and skills supply: building conditions for partnership working and skills co-production in the English context

Abstract

Education providers and employers working together to prepare young people and adults for employment is internationally accepted as a key factor in effective technical and vocational education. In the English context, however, we argue that two related orthodoxies have prevailed-'employer engagement' and 'skills supply'-in which education providers have striven to gain employer involvement in their programmes and meet their skills needs. The effectiveness of these twin orthodoxies has been limited by the 'New Low Skills Equilibrium' (NLSE) involving a symbiosis of weaknesses on both the education and employer sides. The article draws on findings of a two-year research and development programme in East London which explored the process of education-employer partnership working to support inclusive growth in key economic sectors. The research suggested that this aim was best supported by processes of 'co-production' that actively involved both partners in attempting to address features of the NLSE. The research also pointed to constraining factors. The article concludes by identifying the conditions required for the realisation of co-production approaches that include the development of new collaborative structures-High Progression and Skills Networks (HPSNs)-involving a wide range of social partners at the local and regional levels.

Knowledge in VET curricula and power in society and labour market : Policy and practice: demands-based and employer-driven Swedish higher vocational education

“…Employer involvement is widely recognised, in both practice and policy as well as in research, as a key factor in effective vocational training (e.g., Bolli, Caves, Renold, & Buergi, 2018;Hodgson, Spours, Smith, & Jeanes, 2019). Within industries where employers find it difficult to identify candidates with appropriate training, industryschool partnerships are giving rise to new opportunities for both students and employers (e.g., Flynn, Pillay, & Watters, 2016;Lakes, 2012;McGurk & Meredith, 2018).…”

“…Köpsén, 2020a) the focus is on cooperation between school and employers in the practices of education provision. Therefor research on different aspects of employer involvement plays the biggest part in this article (e.g., Bolli et al, 2018;Emmenegger et al, 2019;Hodgson et al, 2019;Huddleston & Laczik, 2018;McGurk & Meredith, 2018;Pillay et al, 2014;Polesel et al, 2017;Rusten & Hermelin, 2017).…”

Broken Links in the Workforce Development System: The Social-Human Development Need for Assessing Psychological Self-Sufficiency

“…Similarly in the United Kingdom, particularly in England, a demand-driven paradigm is used with greater attempts to match the needs of employers-the labor demand-with the expressed and identified skill competencies needed that are requisite for occupations in diverse industry sectors (Payne, 2008). This has been problematic with education providers having to play the role of employer engagement and skills supply to the taste of employers (Hodgson, Spours, Smith, & Jeanes, 2019). To be sure, there are positive roles for employers to play in the public employment services (Bartik, 2001;Clymer, 2003;Green & Galetto, 2005).…”

Network Form Development To Implement Life-Long Education

“…Almost all the achievements in the manufacturing sector are based on the results of joint activities of scientists and practitioners from different corporations and countries. In this regard, the integration of educational and production activities in high-tech sectors of the economy becomes extremely necessary, and a variety of educational programs is designed to provide training for specialists, combining the interests of the individual, society, and the innovative economy (Hodgson et al, 2019;Nurutdinova, 2012). Thus, https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2020.10.03.110 Corresponding Author: A. I. Nazarov Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the conference eISSN: 2357-1330 932 while preserving its essence, education is being transformed both with the aim of solving fundamentally new problems facing it, and with the aim of finding effective teaching methods and technologies.…”