Transcript Structure of presentation

Workplace Basic Skills: national policy
obsession or a driver for growth?
Karen Evans
Breaking new ground
• Why has obtaining evidence about workplace basic
skills learning become so important?
• Convincing body of evidence on wage and
employment effects of poor basic skills for individuals
and positive payoffs from workplace learning
generally, but…
• Projections of value to the economy of improving
workplace basic skills based on fragmentary and
inadequate evidence
• Virtually no evidence of the effects on individuals or
businesses over time
The ESRC/NRDC project ‘Adult Basic
Skills and Workplace Learning….
• aims to assess the effects on individuals and
on organisations of engagement in workplace
basic skills programmes.
• is designed longitudinally to gain longer-term
perspectives and deeper insights into both
the trajectories of learners and the
characteristics of the organisations and
workplaces than are possible through short
term evaluations.
Teaching and Learning in
Workplace Literacy
Programmes
instrument design
teacher perspectives
teaching and learning models
learner perspectives
Workplace Environments
work relationships
distribution and deployment of skills
job design
employee networks
support for education and training
Adult Learners
motivation and engagement
skills development
learning and career trajectory
view of the company
feelings of control
job satisfaction
Questions…..
• What gets a workplace programme off the ground?
• What sort of environment promotes success / ensures
survival?
• What happens to the learners which may be related to
their learning experiences?
• What happens to the company/organisation that may
be related to the existence of the learning programme?
What we found on
initial company visits
As well as the dearth of well-founded evidence in the area
• employers keen to know ‘what works’…
• absence of pre-existing materials suitable for use in
workplace programmes
• rather low attendance and retention rates
• positive attitudes towards programmes, both by employees
and employers
• Interesting comparative evidence from the US
(NCSALL/Harvard-’after the grant is over…’)
and what we heard from some
other stakeholders…..
• Perceptions that LSC only interested in gains for
individuals (ie qualifications gained)
• Accountability measured and funding allocated only
through qualifications gained - seen as a problem
• No concept or methodology for measuring
organisational gains, which may be of more interest to
employers
• Lack of credibility – perception that skills that make
people better workers are not necessarily covered by
official Skills for Life, and certainly not by the tests.
-. Continued…..
plus ‘funding problems’
•
Funding short-term and unreliable over time
•
Evidence now emerging in some areas of funding
being absolutely unavailable, ie colleges can offer
programmes but only if the employer pays for it
(presumably because LSC budgets have run out)
• Usually no funding for development/planning time for
new projects.
What does our evidence say
about who benefits and how?
Who are the learners?
• Majority males
• Over 35s, half 45 or over
• almost half left school with no formal
qualifications at all
• most had parents who were not formally
qualified in any way.
• many report holding stable job in same
workforce over many years
• two-thirds have attended a formal training
course at work over last 5 years
How are benefits seen by
managers?
• Many managers have emphasised general
development rather ‘plugging’ immediate skill
gaps
• Motivation and retention of good employees are as
important to productivity as immediate effects of
better reading/writing skills
• Spin-offs- confidence, interpersonal skills, better
team working
Expected benefits from course, as seen
by employees (%)
50
45
work more interesting
earn more money
40
35
30
current job-skills
chances promotion
25
20
15
10
5
0
chances better job
enables learning new
skills
good for meeting new
people
other
Job satisfaction and
‘organisational social capital’
• Most fairly satisfied with present employment
• Satisfaction derived from relationships with colleagues,
less so relationships with supervisors and managers
• Most felt part of a team at work and valued at least to some
extent by the employer
• Just over a half had volunteered to do additional tasks in
past few weeks
• 43% found it easy or very easy for them to make
suggestions for changes and improvements at work; but for
16 % this was hard or very hard to do.
Towards Identification of Learner
Types ? (examples from STS Systems)
• Sue: A motivated, aspirational adult ‘returner’ to
learning with clear long-term goals as well as an
enjoyment of learning for learning’s sake.
• Paul: An ashamed and private learner, for whom
avoidance tactics have been part of daily life over the
long-term.
• Victoria: A self-improving ‘released’ learner for whom
work is a strong focus and for whom learning has
had multiple effects, particularly in terms of
increasingly effective interpersonal relationships in
and out of work.
Organisational environment in
Southern Transport Systems’ (case
study)
• Provision has to relate to large, multi-site
organisation
• Role of “key players” in ensuring success of adult
basic skills initiative
• Promotion of courses
• Corporate strategy dictates the ultimate fate of the
programmes
Getting workplace basic skills courses
up and running……
• Problems with ‘the educational model’for
many employers….
• Promotion and recruitment (e.g. overcoming fears or
stigma)
• Working patterns (e.g. time off work to attend classes at
fixed times)
• In-class difficulties (e.g. very mixed ability groups)
• Funding (e.g. minimum number of learners necessary)
• Company culture and learning environment
(e.g. involvement of management)
Revisiting the ‘issues’…
The ‘problems’ seem to stem from adoption of ‘the
educational model’ with all its assumptions…
But also evidence of benefits, successes and gains
perceived and experienced – in the wider/longer
term interests of the regional and national
economy?
How far and how wide do you look for and recognise
benefit?
What set of arrangements could effectively replace the
‘educational model’, AND deliver more benefits than
those evidenced?
Why can’t Workplace Basic Skills be a Policy Obsession
AND a Driver for Growth?
Research team for ESRC/NRDC
project
•
•
•
•
•
Based at IOE
Karen Evans
Katerina Ananiadou
Rachel Emslie-Henry
Edmund Waite
• First point of contact for
further information about
the ESRC/NRDC project is
Magdalen Meade, project
administrator.
• Based at KCL
• Alison Wolf
• Liam Aspin
• [email protected]