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Delivering Work Based Learning

5. CONSTRAINTS ON WORK BASED LEARNING

Purpose of Chapter

5.1 To this point, the report has focused on the benefits of work based learning. To understand why it is not more prevalent we need also to consider the barriers to employers and employees engaging in the process. A better appreciation of these can help design interventions which are more effective in raising participation in work based learning across the Scottish economy. This chapter concentrates on:

• the constraints on employers investing in work based learning
• the barriers for employees participating in work based learning
• factors that limit the accreditation of work based learning.

The next section briefly reviews some of the existing research literature.

Background Literature

Barriers to Work Based Learning

5.2 A number of studies, for example Machin and Vignoles (2001) and the Performance and Innovation Unit (2001), highlight a range of barriers which reduce employer and employee participation in work based learning. It is convenient to divide these up into barriers confronted by employers and employees.

Barriers for Employers

5.3 The main factors lowering employer investment in work based learning include the following:

• unlike other forms of investment, human capital does not provide collateral for loans and so is more difficult to finance
• it is difficult to secure reliable information on the financial returns from investing in skills
• employers fear that they will not capture the returns on work based learning because of the risk of their upskilled employees being poached or simply moving on
• large numbers of adults in work have low basic educational achievement which can be a difficult foundation upon which to build work based learning.

5.4 SMEs confront a range of additional barriers. NFER (2000) research found that barriers to the take-up of training in SMEs relate to their business culture and operating characteristics. Due to short-term business imperatives and slim profit margins, SMEs tend to provide only in-house training for immediate requirements. Additionally, many do not have the human resource management staff to introduce and manage work based learning.

Barriers for Employees

5.5 Employees confront a different range of barriers to participation in work based learning, including:

• low motivation resulting from a perception of limited benefits
• patchy information and guidance on the value and appropriateness of learning
• practical barriers such as transport and childcare where some of the learning is off the job and outside of normal working hours
• perceived differences in the value of vocational and academic training, with the vocational route seen as 'second best' by many
• employers simply failing to offer them the opportunity to participate in work based learning, particularly if they are in lower skilled occupational areas.

Barriers to Accreditation of Work Based Learning

5.6 Even where work based learning takes place, as we have seen it is not always accredited. There are additional barriers to accreditation.

Employers

5.7 A number of studies have identified the reasons for employer resistance to N/SVQs and to accreditation more generally.

• some jobs have skill levels which are too low to justify accreditation
• progression to Level 3 involves increased costs to the employer as training is more highly structured with a more substantial off-the-job element (Hogarth et al., 1998)
• the Skills Needs in Britain survey (DfEE, 1999) found dissatisfaction resulted mainly from a feeling that N/SVQs fail to cover all of the skills which the firm requires, and are 'too bureaucratic' with too much paperwork and overly technical language
• the literature indicates that small firms need to be encouraged and assisted to a greater extent to increase the work based learning they carry out which is formal and accredited. This is because they experience the above barriers more forcefully due to slimmer profit margins and the absence of dedicated human resource managers.

Employees

5.8 An NFER (1999) literature survey identified a number of barriers raised by employees to the take up of N/SVQs. These include:

• lack of choices in routes to be followed
• lack of fit to their individual training needs
• perceived lack of scope for progression
• lack of knowledge of the range of qualifications on offer.

However, as Callendar (1997) points out, many employees are not in a choice situation. The VQ goes with the job - or not as the case may be.

5.9 On a related issue, work based learning for young people has fairly high non-completion rates. A QPID (1999) report identified a range of problems.

• poor initial assessment and negative employer attitudes
• insufficient time to complete the vocational qualification
• a lack of support in the workplace.

Where N/SVQs originate in the workplace and are led by employers, completion rates are higher than for college programmes and government sponsored training schemes.

BARRIERS TO WORK BASED LEARNING

5.10 Using the surveys of Scottish employers and their employees carried out in 2000, some fresh evidence on the barriers to work based learning is presented below.

Employers

5.11 Almost 1 in 5 employers felt that they already provided as much work based learning as was necessary for their organisation and would therefore not consider an additional investment. Employer reluctance to support training is supported by the fact that 12% of employees surveyed had had a training request turned down by their employer in the previous 12 months. To identify the constraints in providing or supporting work based learning, employers were asked to cite the main reasons why they are unable to provide more work based learning for their employees.

5.12 Table 5.1 summarises the responses of employers to the question on the constraints on supporting more work based learning:

• the most significant barrier to employers is that of losing staff time off the job when they participate in training, raised by 40% of respondents
• the cost of course fees and the need to pay for staff cover are major issues for around 1 in 5 employers
• limited money set aside for training within the organisation was the next most frequently cited response, at 14%

5.13 Pressures on time and resources are the most frequently raised issues in relation to the provision of work based learning. The lack of relevant external funding and of information on available training opportunities were not considered key constraints by employers.

5.14 On the issue of information, employers use a number of different sources when trying to find out about training of potential value to them. The most frequently used sources of information are:

• colleges (42%)
• training providers (25%)
• Local Enterprise Companies (24%)
• Employment Service (20%)
• professional/trade journals (16%)
• Scottish Enterprise or Highlands and Islands Enterprise (16%)
• local authorities (16%)
• NTOs (12%).

5.15 Clearly employers are exploiting a wide range of information sources, principally organisations that are providing training directly or public sector agencies which can help fund the training. Employers do not appear to make particularly heavy use of NTOs.

Table 5.1: Constraints on Providing More Work Based Learning for Employees (%)

Source: Survey of Employers

Note: '-' represents a value of less than 0.5

5.16 There are some variations in perceived constraints by different type of employer.

• typically smaller employers, with less than 100 employees, were more likely to focus on the constraints of staff time off the job, staff time required to co-ordinate training and course fees than their larger counterparts
• manufacturing employers were almost twice as likely as those in financial and business services to quote staff time off the job as the main constraint on training. This may simply reflect the more integrated nature of production processes in the manufacturing context.

Employees

5.17 The vast majority of employees think that employers should support them to do more work based learning. For example, 93% of employees feel that if their employers provide more support on work based learning, it would help them in their current job, and a further 80% think that it would make them of more use to their organisation in the longer term. However, as shown in Table 5.2, employees are inhibited both by barriers that they put up themselves and by constraints that are placed on them by the employers.

• the most frequently cited barrier, by 1 in 5 employees, is that employers are not prepared to give employees time off the job to undertake work based learning
• 12% of employees are constrained by the amount of time outside of work that they would have to dedicate to study
• 1 in 10 employees said that employers provide them with only limited opportunities to participate in work based learning
• 8% would not be prepared to contribute to the cost of training out of their own pocket
• lack of information on training was a more important barrier for employees than their employers, mentioned as a barrier by 19% and as the main barrier by 7%.

5.18 Employees use a number of different sources of information on work based learning opportunities. The most frequently used sources of information are:

• colleges (46%)
• line managers (39%)
• human resource managers (27%)
• work colleagues (25%)
• local newspapers (23%)
• company literature/newsletter/noticeboards (21%)
• training providers (19%)
• internet (19%)
• department or site manager (13%)
• Employment Service (11%)
• friends and family (10%).

Approaching colleges directly was the most frequently used method. Various sources of information within the workplace such as line managers, site managers and the human resource department are also important to employees. Work colleagues are a source of information for around a quarter of employees. LearnDirect Scotland was a source of information for only 2% of employees - but at the time of the survey it was at the very early stages of developing and delivering its service.

Table 5.2: Constraints on Undertaking More Work Based Learning (%)

Source: Survey of Employees

5.19 There were significant variations in response by age and sector.

• a quarter of employees aged between 25 and 44 found their main constraint was employers unwilling to give them time off the job as opposed to only 14% of the under 25s and 11% of the over 45s
• 12% of employees working in primary industries, manufacturing and construction and 11% of those in retail and hospitality claimed their main constraint was that they already had the skills training would provide, but only 6% of those in business and finance and public administration, education and health saw this as the main constraint.

5.20 There is some evidence of poor communication flows between employers and their employees on work based learning:

• only 44% of employees had ever been asked about the type of training that they needed to make them more effective in their job. There is some variation by age, with younger workers less likely to have been asked about the type of training that they needed
• only 37% of employees had ever been asked about the type of training that they needed to take on new tasks.

5.21 Some employers have developed an approach to work based learning which involves the workforce more in the process. This kind of approach addresses a number of the key constraints mentioned in the employee survey. The box below shows how one company has tried to create this.

5.22 The survey demonstrated instances where employees were offered training by their employers but choose not to take it up. 1 in 10 employees had turned down a work based learning opportunity presented to them by their current employer. The most important reasons given by employees for turning down these opportunities were that:

• they did not consider it relevant to their job (27%)
• too much study was required outside of working hours (17%)
• they would have had to undertake the training outside of working hours (17%)
• they already had the skills that the training would provide (17%)
• there was a need to travel away from home to participate in training (8%)
• they had to pay some of the costs out of their own pocket (4%).

Lack of relevance to the job was cited by twice as many under 25s (40%) as over 45s as the main reason why they had turned down a training opportunity.

Employee Focus Group Feedback

5.23 Asking in the focus groups what prevented individuals from participating in work based learning, or more of it, elicited a wide range of responses.

• most frequently, the reason given was a lack of access to learning opportunities
• cost was frequently cited as a barrier where individuals would have to pay for some or all of the course fees. A smaller number said that the employer did not have sufficient funding to pay for employee training:

'It seems that the lower paid staff have to pay for their own training but higher paid staff get their training paid for'

• limited or absent local provision was often stated to be a barrier, most frequently in the more rural areas where the barrier became travel time and costs
• some felt training was not relevant for their job, because the low level of skills required in the job made training unnecessary.

Barriers to Providing Accredited Work Based Learning

5.24 The previous section focused on barriers to participation in work based learning. Given that work based learning is taking place, the follow-up questions are:

• is it being accredited?
• if not, why not?

This is discussed below, distinguishing between the barriers experienced by employers and employees.

Constraints on Employers

5.25 Employers were asked to identify the main reasons why they did not provide more accredited work based learning for their employees. As shown in Table 5.3, responses were fairly evenly distributed with no single issue standing out. The most important constraint, reported by 17% of employers, was the lack of accreditation appropriate for the work based learning relevant to their organisation. Pressure on time and resources were again important factors, cited by 15% and 13% respectively. A lack of interest in accredited training from staff also featured strongly.

5.26 There was some variation by employer size, sector and IiP status.

• although only 5% of employers in manufacturing cited lack of relevant accredited training as the main constraint, this rose to 23% for employers in finance and business services
• financial costs of accreditation were of least concern to business and finance employers, mentioned as the main constraint by only 9% compared to 16% of employers in public administration, education and health
• the main constraint for employers with IiP recognition (16%) and a commitment to IiP (22%) was a lack of interest in accredited training from their staff compared with only 10% of non recognised employers
• 22% of employers with less than 25 employees saw the main constraint as lack of accredited training relevant to their organisation, almost double the average response from the employers as a whole. It is not clear whether this reflects an accurate perception, the more limited capacity of the smallest employers to access information sources effectively or less active marketing of accredited training. It highlights a clear opportunity for improving the uptake of accredited work based learning among the smallest employers.

Table 5.3: Constraints on More Accredited Work Based Learning for Employees (%)

Source: Survey of Employers

Note: '-' represents a value of less than 0.5

5.27 The example in the box illustrates an approach which tries to overcome some of the barriers brought up by employers to providing accredited training. It offers assessment and accreditation on line, and so economises on staff time. It also links employers to a network of training providers which provides them with information and support.

The Planet project was born out of the E-Net initiative. It provides computerised remote assessment and verification. Through use of an electronic portfolio trainees record their progress toward a vocational qualification. Skills can be demonstrated by camera and video. Oriel assessors provide support via a telephone video link. The project aims to offer a simplified training and qualification procedure.

The benefits of the programmes for employers are that they:

• save cost and employee time through on-line assessment
• dispense with paperwork.

NTO Feedback on Constraints Faced by Employers

5.28 A wide range of NTOs were interviewed as part of the research process. NTOs acknowledged that employers often lack knowledge of available accredited work based learning, and conceded that they experience difficulty in communicating information to SMEs as resources to do this are limited and the marketing budget is small. Some rely on websites which require employers to be proactive and skilled in searching for accredited work based learning opportunities.

5.29 NTOs identified a range of costs and disadvantages that may inhibit employers from supporting accredited work based learning:

• cost is the main constraint, in terms of course fees and assessment costs
• the different levels of funding available across Local Enterprise Company areas can be confusing for employers
• lack of employer awareness of SVQs, often perceived as of lower value and status than academic qualifications
• the level of bureaucracy involved in the delivery of accredited training, a particular problem for SMEs
• SVQs are typically 'not written in plain English'
• employer fears that qualified staff will be 'poached'

Many of the above points simply underline the results of the employer survey, although fear of poaching was rarely mentioned by the employers.

Constraints for Employees

5.30 69% of employees indicated that they would like to do more work based learning that would also lead to a qualification. They were then asked whether or not they would be prepared to undertake accredited training if all or most of the studying to get the qualification had to be undertaken outside of working hours.

• 63% of employees felt that this would make no difference to whether or not they would undertake the training
• 31% thought it would make them less likely to do the training
• only 7% felt that it would definitely stop them doing the training.

It would appear that on the whole employees do not view the need to carry out studying outside of work hours as a major barrier to participating in accredited work based learning.

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