All things being equal? Equality and diversity in careers education,information, advice and guidance

In its education chapter, the Commission’s first Triennial Review of evidence on inequality, How Fair is Britain? Equality, Human Rights and Good Relations in 2010, found that educational attainment has been transformed in recent years. Around half of young people are now getting good qualifications at 16 (5+ A*-C GCSEs or equivalent including English and Maths) and, in 2008/09, 2.4 million students enrolled in higher education in the UK – a considerable change from a time when educational opportunities were only available to a minority of young people. However, the evidence shows that educational attainment continues to be strongly associated with socio-economic background. Stereotypical information and guidance can limit young people’s options and aspirations at an early age. Careers advice often reinforces traditional choices and young people have limited information on the pay advantages of nontraditional routes. Nearly one in four young people say that they have not had enough information to make choices for their future. This rises to just under a quarter of disabled young people

Towards a strategy for workplace learning: Report to HEFCE by CHERI and KPMG

The study, undertaken between March and November 2005 aimed to inform HEFCE thinking on developing a strategy for workplace learning by: exploring the nature, purposes and outcomes of workplace learning; considering workplace learning within the broader relationships between the worlds of work and learning; exploring emerging changes in higher education which may impact on workplace learning in the future; identifying structural issues that currently enable or inhibit workplace learning, and identify future opportunities

Collaborating and Coordinating with Employers

A 2009 research brief produced for the NTAR Leadership Center, a consortium led by the John H. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Founded in 2007 under a grant/contract with the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, the NTAR Leadership Center's mission is to build capacity and leadership at the federal, state, and local levels to enable change across workforce development and disability-specific systems that will increase employment and economic self-sufficiency for adults with disabilities. This brief examines the evolving relationship between disability employment initiatives and employers, and highlights the implications that these collaborations have for effectively formulating broad-scale promotion of disability workforce investment initiatives

Students with Disabilities in Dutch VET: An Exploratory Study

[Excerpt] The inclusion of persons with disabilities in general programmes of vocational training has been called for by the ILO in international labour standards over many years, including standards relating to Human Resources Development and disability-related standards. This call is taken up strongly in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which calls on States Parties to take appropriate steps to enable persons with disabilities to have effective access to general tertiary education, vocational and life-long learning without discrimination and on an equal basis with others, and to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to that effect. While many countries have expressed commitment to this vision of inclusive vocational training, progress has been limited, even in countries which have adopted policies to promote, and there has been limited analysis of the factors hindering the effective implementation of such policies. It was thus appropriate for the ILO to undertake this exploratory study, to seek to pinpoint elements of policy and practice that might need to be addressed, if these policies on inclusion are to make a difference to persons with disabilities seeking to develop their skills with a view to obtaining decent jobs. The issues identified in this study will hopefully contribute to the wider policy debate, particularly on the matter of instructor preparation for disability inclusion and on the impact of funding arrangements. It will also hopefully stimulate further research to establish whether the patterns identified here are general patterns to be found and tackled elsewhere

Developing a 'road map' to facilitate employers' role in engaging with the skills development agenda

The UK construction skills shortage problem remains highly topical. Despite academic research and industrial efforts to mitigate the problem, construction employers face increasing pressure to get the skilled workforce necessary to fulfil rising workloads in the UK. There is limited success in the recruitment of nontraditional labour, shift towards prefabrication and the employment of migrant labour. Following the Leitch (2006) report, employers will be expected to become more proactive in engaging with the skills development agenda in the future. Yet, the extant literature remains fairly opaque on how employers can achieve this effectively. The research project outlined in this paper attempts to examine the processes involved in engaging employers in the skills development agenda, with a view to develop a decision-support tool (a ‘road-map’) for employers in this respect. The proposed research approach is outlined in this paper, which includes mapping out of current policies and initiatives that are geared towards construction skills development, case studies to explore how employers are presently engaging in skills development and action research to test the prototype tool

WP3 Policy Mapping, Review and Analysis

This report presents the mapping, review and analysis of the most relevant LLL policies for young adults in Glasgow City Region and Aberdeen/ Aberdeenshire. The report first reviews the national Scottish LLL policies which influence the implementation of LLL for young adults in the two regions under study. This report provides findings and analysis to comply with the H2020 YOUNG_ADULLLT Research Project, Work Package 3 (WP3). We have used the requirements and guidance in the WP3 proposal to select two appropriate Functional Regions (FRs): The Glasgow City Region and Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire. These FRs provide a focus for the WP3 mapping but also frame the other data gathering for the YOUNG_ADULLLT project. The mapping has provided material to facilitate an understanding of the policy landscape, including the different policy sectors of the two FRs set in the national context. The mapping required the selection of three detailed examples of LLL/Skills policies with their associated material actions in each of the two FRs. Currently, we have mapped four in each FR. Our mapping reflects the distinctiveness of Scottish public policy in that national policies provide the main framework for regional and locally devolved enactment and associated actions

Strategic consultation on the FE workforce and Initial Teacher Education workforce for the Education & Training Foundation

A research project undertaken on behalf of the Education and Training Foundation exploring barriers to attracting candidates with higher qualifications and skills to the FE sector and to explores if ITE predominantly attracts people from a humanities background. The report suggests that people move into FE teaching through opportunity. The issue if dual professionalism is an important element of identity. Those becoming teacher educators tend to drift into the role. Discussions were focused less on the background of people but on the space they have to deliver a curriculum which includes pedagogy theory and the extent to which ITE need to have subject specialisms to prepare teachers for effective classroom practice.Education and Training Foundatio