Recent research by the Government’s watchdog for Education and Skills has revealed that if we do not take strong and immediate action, by 2020 we are likely to rank 23rd on low-level skills, 21st on intermediate skills and 10th on high level skills.
In reaction to these worrying predictions the UKCES has announced Ambition 2020. This is an agenda for effective action over the next five years in regards to employment and skills.
Skills Tzar Chris Humphries - the CEO of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills talks about the findings, and the need for a greater focus onskills by both business and government, in this video.
Ambition 2020 is based around the notion that the UK’s strategy must focus not only on how to survive the recession, but on how to achieve world-class standing in employment, productivity and skills in the years ahead.
It will require a serious and sustained effort and bring together the resources and expertise of the public, private and voluntary sectors. It will require joint investment and development by organisations responsible for economic industrial strategy, for jobs and employment services, for education and skills provision.
The report by the Commission finds that there have been improvements in the UK’s skills levels over the last decade - but other nations have done better.
The number of high-skilled people have increased by more than a third in the UK - by more than three million people - in the last 10 years, while the numbers without qualifications have fallen by a quarter, or more than 1.5 million people.
Skills provision has become more employment-responsive, apprenticeship numbers across the UK have risen, and new schemes link skills to jobs for the unemployed more successfully. The UK is now the third most successful country in Europe for adult participation in lifelong learning.
This represents solid progress over that period, significantly better than in the previous decade. But the real challenge derives from the progress other nations have been making since the 1990s, and requires the UK to now set and measure its progress on productivity, employment and skills against its global competitors.
