Lifelong Learning UK
Lifelong Learning UK Regional Contact:
Liz Bevins, Regional Manager NE England
Lifelong Learning UK
4th Floor
36 Park Row
Leeds
LS1 5JL
M: 07921 291341
E: lizbevins@lifelonglearninguk.org
http://www.lifelonglearninguk.org
Learning and Skills Council Contact: hilary.porter@lsc.gov.uk
Click here for the Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK) North East Fact Sheet
Overview of the Sector in the North East
Lifelong Learning is the SSC responsible for the professional development of staff working in lifelong learning across the following five constituencies:
- Community learning and development (staff working in the Adult and community Lifelong Learning Sector, both paid employees and volunteers)
- Further Education (24 FE colleges)
- Higher Education – 6 universities
- Libraries Archives and Information Services - NEMLAC
- Work based learning (work based learning providers funded by Government Agencies) (Race)
The strategic significance of the Lifelong Learning SSC cannot be underestimated. It is the cornerstone of UK-wide policy to widen participation in education and training, to promote social inclusion and to increase prosperity. An increased participation in lifelong learning has the potential to enhance economic productivity and global competitiveness. (Race)
The proportion of non-white employees in the NE (4%) is low when compared with England as a whole (8%).
As with England (58%) as a whole, employees within the sector in the NE (60%) are predominantly female.
The sector is has a high level of qualifications – in England 78% of the workforce are qualified to NVQ 3+ or equivalent (RFS 2005) In the North East the proportion of workforce with NVQ3+ or equivalent is higher at 86%. (Regional Sector Overview 2005)
Almost half (48%) of the NE workforce is aged 45 years and over (England 51%).
Key issues facing the sector now and in the future
Challenges
- Improving the skills of the workforce across the footprint to enable them to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse clientele.
- Ageing workforce profile (Race)
- Government targets around staff qualifications (Race)
- Funding (Race)
- Capacity to deliver the training requirements for the skills agenda (Race)
Opportunities
- Lifelong Learning is at the heart of the Government’s aims for social inclusion and for a competitive knowledge based economy (Race)
- Learning is the business of this sector so provides a major opportunity to work with other SSCs on the workforce development plans (Race)
- LLUK is both a supply and demand sector so is in a unique position. (Race)
- LLUK is currently developing a credit framework of qualifications across the footprint to increase opportunities for mobility within the sector (Race)
Employment Issues in the North East
Current and forecast recruitment demand (either for growth or replacement)
There are 667,976 (2.9%) workers in England’s Lifelong Learning workforce, the North East’s share being 29,940 (2.8%). Growth is forecasted at 7% between 2002 and 2014. (Regional Fact Sheet: NE 2005)
Workforce remodelling in schools and the drive to train and qualify administration staff, learning mentors, lunchtime supervisors, site supervisors, etc. puts strain on the ‘learning supply’. Take up is expected to be very high especially where there are mandatory requirements for a qualification. (Dialogue 2004)
In the FE sub sector where around 45% of management posts in FE are identified as difficult to fill with terms and conditions often acting as a barrier. A major issue for NE colleges is to recruit staff with recent industrial experience to assist in delivering the ‘employer engagement agenda’, engineering, science, IT and construction. (Dialogue 2004)
Recruitment difficulties and causes
LLUK Research Team is currently working on this information. Information about FE and HE should be ready within the next four weeks. It will be broken down into regional data. (Race)
- Pay levels and lack of parity with other sectors, e.g. schools staff (Race)
- Finding appropriately qualified staff (Race)
- An ageing workforce (Race)
Retention issues
A retention issue in HE is excessive retention amongst permanent academic staff, which can lead to difficulties in promoting/retaining younger staff. (Race)
Attracting people into the sector
Skill requirements of new recruits
Workforce Development in the North East
Skills shortages/gaps in existing workforce and latent skills issues
Future skills demand
- Leadership and management skills
- Skills for life training
- ICT Skills for learning and e skills
- Initial teacher training
- Standards and skills for community Development Work
Prioritisation of skills issues within the industries
Learning and Skills Infrastructure in the North East
A lack of suitable courses was less likely to be a barrier to employers in the NE (17%) than for England as a whole (22%). (Regional Fact Sheet: NE 2005)
Relevance and quality of existing provision
Barriers to employers accessing the skills provision they need
Almost one quarter (24%) of businesses reported that there were no barriers in accessing the skills provision they need. (Regional Fact Sheet: NE 2005)
A significantly larger proportion of companies in the NE reported no barriers to training than nationally. In the NE the most common barriers were a lack of time, funding and cover for training though these were cited by a smaller proportion of companies than nationally. (Regional Fact Sheet: NE 2005)
Best Practice
Are you aware of existing interventions that work well in addressing employment or skills needs in the sector?
Any Other Employment and Skills Issues in the North East
The NE represents 1.13 million households and is the lowest performing region for all reported types of qualification and training. The lowest proportion of degree holders is in Sunderland. (LR)
Post graduates can be a pool of talent that is overlooked in the search for higher skills. (LR from LL 2004)
The public sector is the main driver of degree jobs. The North needs to break London’s hold of the business drivers of the knowledge economy. (LR)
Four out of 10 graduates fail to get jobs that match their qualifications within 6 months of leaving university (HESA cited in The Journal 8.7.05). The average starting salary rose to £18,000 in 2003/4 but 7% of graduates are unemployed after 6 months. Conservatives said the statistics showed that there were 39% not in graduate level jobs (administration and sales occupations) However, the government stress that within three and a half years graduates were in jobs needing degrees – this figure rising to 90% in 7 years. (LR)
The same survey gives indications that graduates who have studied shorter more vocationally orientated courses such as Foundation Degrees are less likely to be unemployed than other graduates. (LR)
Forthcoming developments such as Silicon City and the Science City status given to Newcastle will impact on different sub sectors to varying degrees. (LR)
Work of Mouth recruits disaffected to Education
Recruiting more people from socially excluded groups into education is a top government priority. But engaging HTR groups, e.g. asylum seekers, homeless, travellers, long term unemployed and people with no qualifications means adopting flexible approaches and using marketing strategies that rely on word of mouth. Key messages contained in a new report published by LSDA and have been shown to work include:
Nb LSDA will merge with CSCI, OfSTED and ALI (Adult learning Inspectorate) to become the Quality Improvement Agency for Lifelong Learning.
