The Scottish Government

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Nurturing Wealth Creation

Skills base

A commitment to lifelong learning is essential to give Scottish manufacturers a competitive edge through the quality of their people.

The delivery of many of the initiatives in Created in Scotland, including the establishment of learndirect scotland and Futureskills Scotland , are welcomed.

This focus towards lifelong learning should continue, but the learning, skills and knowledge must be made more relevant to manufacturers.

Workplace relevance

Drawing on the recent work by Futureskills Scotland, Key Results from the Employers Survey, it was of particular concern that 37% of manufacturers who do not train quoted "no appropriate training available" as their reason for not doing so. This compared unfavourably with only 11% in all industries. To address this, training opportunities in both technical and trade skills, and in higher and further education, need to be more relevant to encourage take-up.

In this context, where appropriate, academic courses should include proper exposure to the work environment (including on-the-job training) and have practicality built in. In this context, recommendation 289 of the recently published report of the Scottish Parliament's Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee (ELLC) Report on Lifelong Learning, is strongly endorsed:

"We recommend that further and higher education institutions should develop more programmes, particularly at HNC, HND and first degree level, which use the workplace as part of the educational experience. In particular, technical/technician level courses based around HNC/D programmes, which link work experience with academic qualifications, should be developed."

It is also recognised that business needs to play a key role in the development of skills for different sectors. Sector Skills Councils also have an important part to play in liaising with business, industry and learning providers to ensure that learning opportunities remain relevant for learners and potential employers.

Modern Apprenticeships

The development of Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) as a valuable programme capable of delivering training and industry skills tailored to the needs of manufacturers, and an important mechanism for tackling skill shortages and staff retention within specific sectors, is to be welcomed.

The occupational SVQ at level 3 currently forms the core of the MA framework.

Whilst acknowledging the need to protect the MA brand, greater flexibility is required, including a framework with progression routes which allow entry at level 2 initially. This would encourage the take up of MAs within the manufacturing sector and better fit employer needs.

It is important to recognise that there can be significant differences in costs associated with the provision of different apprenticeship schemes which need to be adequately reflected in the funding.

Concern is also expressed regarding the apparent disparity between MA funding in comparison with other parts of the UK.

Although it is recognised that Scottish Enterprise is currently reviewing the funding of MA contributions which would include benchmarking with England and Wales, it is important that any disparity in funding contributions should be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Raising understanding of qualifications in Scotland

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is recognised as being an important aspect of the skills landscape.

SCQF embraces all the main qualifications in Scotland from schools to postgraduate and from work-based to academic. SCQF therefore has considerable potential for improving the effectiveness of skills investment by helping employers and employees:

• plan ongoing training and development by showing clear progression routes and the range of qualifications available;
• avoid costly training mistakes by providing a simple reference to check the level and credit value of a training package and give an overview of how it compares to others in terms of subject content, skills development and transferability; and
• gain credit for in-house training packages.

An aim of the framework in due course is to include all forms of assessed learning in the framework so that all learning can be given a level and a credit rating.

Core skills

Core skills, including soft skills such as team-working, are essential not only to contribute to the economic health of the country, but also to enable people to benefit from the increasing number of opportunities for lifelong learning being made available, particularly in the tertiary educational sector.

While recent moves to redress low levels of literacy and numeracy are welcomed, there should be no excuse for the primary and secondary education sectors failing to inculcate these basic skills.

Responsibility for ensuring adequate standards within primary and secondary education rests with the Scottish Executive, which must ensure that all residents of Scotland possess adequate literacy and numeracy skills.

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