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Skills shortage behind almost a quarter of unfilled vacancies, says UKCES survey

Nearly a quarter of vacancies in the UK have gone unfilled because of a shortage of much-needed skills, the chief executive of UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) has revealed.

Michael Davis (pictured) gave the Skills Summit in Central London a preview of the Employer Skills Survey 2013 findings in which 22 per cent of the 655,000 vacancies in the UK remained untaken because employers could not find workers with the right skills.

And skills shortage vacancies nearly doubled from 2009, from 63,100 to 124,800.

He told delegates that the survey, officially published today, presented “a mixed picture [with] positive trends, but also significant challenges”.

“On the one hand, the number of job vacancies are up and in England have returned to pre-recession levels,” he said.

“On the other, skills-shortage vacancies are growing faster than vacancies.”

Jobs in skilled trades, management, professional roles, caring, leisure and machine operating were most affected.

The report said: “There appears to have been an increased difficulty finding appropriate oral and written communication, literacy and numeracy skills [compared to the findings of the last survey, in 2011].”

The UKCES Employer Skills Survey interviewed over 90,000 employers between March and July 2013. They reported a total of 559,600 job vacancies in England — up 45 per cent per cent from 2009.

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said: “Employers in some sectors report persistent skills shortages which is why I have been working hard to design a skills system that is rigorous in the training it provides and responsive to the needs of employers.

“With a record number of people in jobs as our economy continues to grow we must have a skilled workforce equipped to work in a modern economy and compete effectively in the global race.”

The survey found that the number of job vacancies in England had returned to pre-recession levels. However, so-called “skills shortage vacancies” — where businesses cannot find recruits with the skills required — were growing twice as fast.

The survey interviewed more 90,000 employers between March and July last year. They reported a total of 559,600 job vacancies in England – up 45 per cent per cent from 2009. However, skills shortage vacancies nearly doubled over the same period, increasing from 63,100 to 124,800.

Overall, skills shortage vacancies now account for more than one in five of all vacancies (22 per cent) up from one in six (16 per cent) in 2009.

A further finding of the survey was that the number of establishments providing training for staff was back to pre-recession levels, although the amount spent on training had decreased from £1,680 per employee in 2011 to £1,590 in 2013.

Douglas McCormick, a UKCES Commissioner and managing director of the UK rail business at Atkins, a design, engineering and project management consultancy, said: “While the rise in the number of vacancies is a good sign that the economy is recovering, there’s a real possibility that businesses might not be able to make the most of the upturn because they don’t have the right people.

“This shows that businesses need to start thinking about planning their talent pipeline now – not waiting until they are unable to fulfil contracts because of a lack of skilled staff.

“Worryingly, these figures show that the percentage of staff in the UK receiving training from their employer hasn’t changed significantly for a decade.

“There are also signs that some employers might be trying to solve their skills problems by choosing to recruit highly-skilled and qualified staff to do very basic jobs.

“Under-using people’s skills like this risks a bored and demotivated workforce. By providing high-quality and job-specific training, businesses can make sure they have the skilled workforce they need, as well as inspiring loyalty and keeping their staff motivated.”

Read edition 91 of FE Week for more of Mr Davis’s comments from the Skills Summit and his views on the results of the Employer Skills Survey.

What can Ofsted learn from its own complaints system?

Last week, ex-NCG (Newcastle College Group) chief executive Jackie Fisher spoke exclusively to FE Week about her notorious 2012 Ofsted inspection.

FE-Week-E90-p6-Ofsted — Ofsted’s London HQ. Inset from top left: last week’s *FE Week* article, Colin Forrest, Mike Cooper and Carolyn Medlin

She explained why she booted the education watchdog out of the college mid-inspection before calling for the Ofsted complaints-handling procedure to become more transparent.

Here, Policy Consortium trio Colin Forrest, Mike Cooper and Carolyn Medlin look deeper into the Ofsted complaints issue.

Over the past six months, we’ve written about how well or otherwise Ofsted supports improvement in the FE sector, as it claims — and how it might improve its own approaches.

And last week’s FE Week article, although centred on NCG and its former chief, was underpinned by revealing insights into Ofsted’s published inspection complaints system.

In short, there were 35 formal (‘Steps 2 and 3’) complaints from September 2012 to mid-November 2013 — 29 ‘Step 2’ complaints. That’s around 12 per cent of approximately 250 inspections undertaken over that time — 13 of those (around 5 per cent) were upheld. At least one produced a significant uplift of grades from ‘requires improvement’.

It’s not clear what the full spectrum of ‘successful outcomes’ to complaints has been, but that may include other grade changes, or significant changes to report narratives (without change to grades or judgements).

There is no indication of the scale of informal ‘Step 1’ concerns about processes. This proportion of complaints upheld might be seen as relatively minor, and thus acceptable.

Nevertheless, the context of an inspectorate making more and more stringent demands on providers suggests improvement is required here from Ofsted. And it’s so important to get this right.

Apart from damage to reputations, funding may be at stake, since grade three and four providers may be excluded from some provision and growth.

Inspections, of course, can cover only part of a provider’s activity — but findings can be seen as applying across the organisation.

It was good to read that Ofsted has reviewed its complaints process

One particularly contentious aspect is that reports are published to fixed timescales, even if the process is subject to an appeal or complaint.

The stated procedure suggests this is non-negotiable, apart from in (unspecified) ‘exceptional circumstances’. Anecdotally, this is characterised as “Learners and employers have a right to know the truth!”

Ofsted does allow up to 48 hours for an accuracy check, but that is not a test of the findings’ validity. It allows no debate on judgements or grades, since it focuses on spellings, learner numbers, and so on. There may also be other factors, including the implications of short-notice inspections.

The compressed window for dialogue between lead inspector and provider limits potential for sharing information and adjustments to the expertise available within the inspection team. It also compromises opportunities for the provider’s input into the pre-inspection briefing. This may increase the potential for more complaints.

It was good to read that Ofsted has reviewed its complaints process. However, the role of providers (and other ‘consumers’ of inspectorate outputs) isn’t clear in that review. That is crucial, to reduce dissonance between improvement approaches which the inspectorate looks for in providers and their treatment of complaints.

Consultancy for Free was the title of an excellent short publication setting out simply and clearly the case for FE providers to make serious, thoughtful use of open, well-constructed, responsive complaints systems — and to generate real improvement from that.

Perhaps Ofsted ought to take those strategic messages about transparency and accountability very seriously in implementing its review?

Ken’s writes children’s stories after finishing computer course aged 80

Grandfather-of-two Ken Hall would daydream about becoming a children’s author while working as an engineer in the rough and ready setting of a Sunderland docks.

His hopes for a different life were thwarted by the lack of a typewriter and the fact he struggled with handwriting.

But, having retired and returned to the classroom at the age of 78, Ken, now aged 89, mastered the word processor and so began his journey to a new career.

He said: “I have a saying that people who believe that they are too old to read a children’s fairy story are very old indeed.

“People who believe they are too old to learn new skills are also very old indeed, and I was glad to be able to show that college is not just a place for young people.

“The college courses I completed helped me turn what was a hobby and a lifelong ambition into a reality.”

Ken took a level one computer course at Sunderland College, where he was taught how to use Microsoft packages, including Word, and the internet.

He progressed to a level two computer studies course, which he completed before his 81st birthday. And the Sunderland pensioner has been busy ever since, typing up short stories, novels and poems, which are mostly for children.

Some of the first people to hear Ken’s stories were children from Hill View Infant School, in Sunderland, said his 53-year-old daughter, Kris, an information technology college lecturer.

She said: “He had some of his stories made into books for family and friends to read, which he would go in and read to the local school kids, who really loved them. My mum, Mavis [79], also took some to a primary school in Broadway, Worcestershire, and a family friend took them overseas to a school in Australia.

“The head teachers from both schools sent him letters saying how much the children liked the stories, so we thought he was onto something.”

Ken, who spent most of his working life as an engineer at TW Greenwell dry dock, in Sunderland, has now completed two novels, eight shorter children’s stories, and many poems.

Kris said: “The stories are brilliant. The first one was a short-story called Willie and Patch about a boy and his dog. That ended up as the first chapter of a much longer adventure story, called the Sword and the Shield. Another of his books for people of any age, called the Fairest Rose, is about a young woman who was trapped in Germany at the outbreak of the Second World War and became a spy for the British and Americans.

“Those who have been lucky enough to read proof-copies of the book haven’t been able to put it down.”

Ken, who also keeps busy through keeping pigeons, returned to the college recently to thank his lecturers. He said: “I never thought that, in my 70s and 80s, I would be able to learn new skills, but it has been great.”

His work is currently being poof-read and Ken plans to get his stories published on Kindle through amazon.co.uk and through lulu.com for printed books. Grandson Christopher, 30, has also designed a website — www.kenhallbooks.co.uk — to publicise his work.

Do you know of any FE and skills learners older than Ken? Email campus@feweek.co.uk to let us know.

Commis Chef Catherine takes a break from putting on the Ritz

There was nothing half-baked about the good advice an award-winning former catering student gave to the next generation of learners at Gateshead College.

Catherine Smith, who was Gateshead College Student of the Year in 2013, secured the role of pastry commis chef at London’s prestigious Ritz Hotel after passing a level two course in professional cookery in June last year.

The 29-year-old showed current catering students how to make tasty pastry treats during her return to the college. The learners also quizzed her on preparation and cooking techniques, food hygiene, and key attributes needed to impress employers in the hospitality and catering industry.

She said: “It’s amazing to be able to go back to college. If I can help just one person to get a job in these difficult economic times, it will have been worthwhile.”

Fast-tracked into the heart of government

Young people on the Civil Service’s fast-track apprenticeship scheme met Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude.

The minister met existing apprentices at the Cabinet Office, in Whitehall, London, during an event to publicise plans to double the number of places on the scheme, which gives 18 to 21-year-olds the chance to work at the heart of government.

The scheme was introduced last year, when 100 18 to 21-year-olds were placed in departments to learn on the job.

This year, the government claims it will offer 200 permanent posts to school-leavers from September.

The aim is to eventually increase the figure to 500, which would match the number of university graduates taken on each year through the Civil Service’s graduate fast-stream scheme.

Mr Maude said: “The apprenticeship scheme will sit alongside our popular graduate scheme ensuring we draw the widest pool of talent into the Civil Service.”

History lesson from Shadow Education Secretary

A group of students learned about the troubled history of South Africa’s second largest city from Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt.

The keen historian spoke to more than 20 learners from Stoke-on-Trent College and Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College about Cape Town, where black and white communities were divided by apartheid from 1948 until Nelson Mandela was elected as South Africa’s president in 1994.

The Stoke-on-Trent Central MP’s talk helped prepare them for a trip to South Africa next month, which will include visits to schools and an Aids orphanage in Cape Town, plus the prison on nearby Robben Island where the late Mr Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in captivity before he was released in 1990.

Calvin Austin, learner involvement co-ordinater at the college said: “Tristram’s talk helped the students understand the historical context of the country they are set to visit.”

Memorial fund helps paint bright future for artist Tom

A art student has been awarded £500 from a fund set up in memory of a talented Nottinghamshire artist.

Tom Trueman, aged 18, who is studying for a foundation diploma in art and design at New College Nottingham, submitted a range of his paintings to prove his promise as an artist, when applying for a grant from the Joan Oliver Fund, which is distributed through the Nottinghamshire Community Foundation.

He impressed Brian Oliver, who set up the fund to help young artists in memory of wife Joan, who died six years ago, and was given £500 to help progress his career.
Tom said: “I feel very privileged to receive the fund, it means I will be able to continue doing what I love.

“Hopefully with time and practise I can start selling my artwork. It’s not about a hobby or a career, it really is a way of life for me.”

Seeds of wisdom shared by top florist

Award-winning florist Joseph Massie shared his seeds of wisdom with students of Hugh BairdCollege.

Mr Massie won five consecutive gold medals for floral design and four best in show awards at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show between 2009 and 2013.

He held a masterclass with level one, two and three floristry students at the Liverpool-based college, to help them prepare for the regional heats of the RHS’s young florist of the year competition taking place next month. He showed them how to create a floral collar, made from a variety of flowers including lilacs, orchids and chincherinchees.

Mr Massie said: “The standard of work the students produced exceeded my expectations. They have shown incredible creativity and a real flair for the art of floral design.”

Jermain delighted to be on will.i.am’s team for The Voice

A former Sir George Monoux College student has been selected to be part of R&B star will.i.am’s team on BBC talent show the Voice.

Jermain Jackman, aged 19, who gained top grades in BTec music at the East London-based college, sang And I Am Telling You by Jennifer Hudson to impress the coaches.

Jermain’s admiration for will.i.am inspired him to audition for the Voice.

He said: “He is one of my favourite artists, so when he was the only coach to turn around for me it felt like fate.”

Louisa Kennedy, course leader of creative performing arts at the college, said: “Jermain is a very motivated young man and an excellent role model for young people. We are all so proud of him.”

Jermain completed his BTec in July last year, but was presented with the college’s Music Student of the Year Award and the Rising Star Award earlier this month.