Comment

Citation

Hayes MP, J. (2011), "Comment", Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, Vol. 1 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/heswbl.2011.50501aaa.002

Comment

Article Type: Comment From: Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning, Volume 1, Issue 1

To build an advanced economy, we need advanced skills. Employers cannot build their businesses without people equipped with the right skills. People cannot get the jobs they want without the skills employers are looking for.

The need for skills is not restricted to the manufacturing and industrial sectors, but is felt right across our economy. Skills matter in the service and retail sectors and the public sector too. Businesses of all types face skills shortages that could seriously disadvantage the UK’s competitiveness.

I place great store in the role higher vocational qualifications and training can play in ensuring individuals, businesses and communities can fulfil their potential. All too often academic accomplishment is valued above practical prowess. I am determined to elevate the practical.

Higher level work-based training is one of the most effective ways learners can gain the skills that employers want. Training which closely fits employer needs means they can be confident about the skills learners have gained. But, in a fast-moving economy-learning opportunities must be flexible enough to fit around the home and work life of the learner.

The social and cultural benefits work-place learning can bring are important too. Learning a skill to do a job should lead to learning for pleasure. We enjoy all we learn to do well. And that enjoyment enriches individual lives and the lives of those around us.

It is for all these reasons that this government is committed to creating the right framework to allow vocational learning to flourish. This means ensuring there is the right support in place and that training is responsive to the needs of learners and employers and free from unnecessary bureaucracy. We want to raise the profile of work-based learning to reflect the great benefits that it brings. And we must improve the relationship between higher and further education and the workplace by removing the barriers that prevent people moving easily from the academic and to the applied, and vice versa.

I know that these bold ambitions are shared by UVAC members. Our success in achieving them will be critical to building a competitive economy and a cohesive society.

John Hayes MPMinister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning