Skills shortages get cash injection
The coalition government has unveiled a £50m training pot in a bid to encourage employers to "take collective action" on tackling skills shortages that are acting as a brake on economic growth. Business secretary Vince Cable said that the new Growth and Innovation Fund, which will initially cover the years 2011/12 and 2012/13, was to […]
Young apprentices hang in the balance
Stephen Studd, chief executive of SkillsActive Group, explores the highly successful Young Apprenticeship programme that is yet to hear of the Government’s continued commitment. Very few can escape the national headlines reporting on Britain’s jobless; a staggering 20% of 16 – 24 year olds are now out of work. It certainly is an extremely challenging […]
M-learning: Dealing with corporate culture
Gerry Griffin of Skill-Pill M-Learning looks at who’s helping, who’s resisting and why. Sidebar 1- Six steps to securing organisation-wide buy-in to mobile learning 1. Choose your points of contact carefully 2. Plan the timing of the pilot and roll-put 3. Secure senior management buy-in 4. Manage gossip 5. Remember IT can still make or […]
Training to think
Stephen Walker asks, what is the future of training when yesterday’s skills are obsolete today? "The only constant is change" said Diogenes Laërtius 2000 years ago. Things have changed since then. The news feeds are red hot with the story of political revolt in Tunisia, Bahrain, Libya and Egypt. The citizens of these countries are […]
20% of staff receive no training evaluation
Although nearly three quarters of staff consider learning and development opportunities to be as important as salary when choosing their next job, more than half are currently receiving no training from their employer. According to a survey of 700 learning and development managers and staff within both commercial and IT departments undertaken by training provider […]
Training needed for CSRs to get Olympics gold
A tourism body has warned brands that they will need to invest in customer service training if they are to exploit a potential £2bn in revenues from visitors to the London 2012 Olympics. People 1st, the sector skills council for the hospitality, leisure, tourism and travel industries, said it was crucial that organisations learn from […]
Almost half UK managers worried about 2011 skills gap
Although just under half of UK managers are expecting to make further redundancies next year, around 43% believe that their organisation does not have the right skills in place to fulfil its 2011 business objectives. A survey undertaken among 809 managers in the public, private and third sector by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) revealed […]
Earned value in elearning
How can businesses ensure efficiency in elearning and maintain employee development? Paul Deed examines the role that earned value can play in cost-effective employee training to ensure business success. Earned value has been used to manage and measure projects of varying size and scope for many decades. It began to gain popularity in the […]
The keys to successful training presentations: An NLP approach pt 1
Desi Christou from Mind Fountain NLP looks at some of the key points that make a favourable difference to trainers’ presentation skills. Most of us have been in a situation of delivering a training or coaching session and not being sure how well the audience embraced the content or the delivery. There are a few reasons […]
Large employers to cover skills training for over 24s
Under the coalition government’s new skills strategy, large employers will have to cover the full cost of basic skills training for staff aged 24 and over from 2013-2014, while small-to-medium business will be expected to pay half. They may also all be asked to pay training levies. The move follows the government’s decision to cut […]
Time to make an executive decision
Terry Watts, chief executive of Proskills comments on the announcements during the Comprehensive Spending Review. Should we breathe a sigh of relief, or wait with baited breath in hope that the same mistakes aren’t made again? For months, the effects of the oncoming CSR loomed over us, hanging above our heads like a dark cloud […]
Guilds to be “at the heart” of skills re-evaluation
Traditional guilds will be at the heart of the coalition government’s attempts to elevate the status of vocational skills in a bid to support economic growth, the skills minister has said. In a speech to the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, skills minister John Hayes said that, even before guilds […]
Do graduates have the right skills for work?
If 1 in 10 students in 2009 couldn’t find any form of work, does this mean that universities are not giving graduates the right skills that they need to make the transition to the workplace? Poppy Ring investigates. ‘Traditional degrees’ have been under fire for not properly preparing young people for the world of work, […]
Onto the podium
Drawing from his experiences of working with Olympic athletes, Jonathan Males explains even a tiny change in the right area has the potential to make a big difference. For Olympic athletes, reaching the podium is a tangible outcome for their many years of hard work. For the serious athletes, fourth place may as well be […]
UK does not have “too many graduates”
Contrary to popular belief, the UK does not have too many graduates to underpin future economic growth – just the wrong type, according to a report from the Work Foundation. While the recession has exacerbated the number of job losses among manual, administrative and unskilled workers, the country still required expertise in managerial, professional, associate […]
Skills-based courses to be made more “hands-on”
The Education Secretary Michael Gove will today announce a major review of vocational qualifications and skills-based courses for 14- to 19-year-olds in a bid to make them more "hands on". The review will be led by Alison Wolf, professor of public sector management at King’s College London and is intended to assess the way vocational […]
Immigration cap ‘leads to bigger skills problem’
The abrupt introduction of a ‘radical’ immigration cap would generate major skills problems for employers and lead to more offshoring. Cath Everett reports. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) issued the stark warning after the Office of National Statistics’ Migration Statistics Quarterly Report revealed an unexpected 20% rise in net migration to the […]
One in ten plan to offshore jobs
Despite high levels of domestic unemployment, organisations are turning to both migrant workers and offshore outsourcers in a bid to plug UK skills gaps as the economy starts to recover. According to the quarterly ‘Labour Market Outlook’ survey published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and management consultancy KPMG, some 45% of […]
NHS to roll out ‘skills passport’ scheme
The NHS is set to roll out a national ‘Skills Passport for Health’ scheme in order to improve talent management and reduce admin costs, following the success of a year-long pilot project. The proof-of-concept trial was undertaken among nursing staff at seven English NHS Trusts during the financial year 2009-2010. Workers created a verified online […]
Young people ‘well-equipped’ for work
Although employers are becoming increasingly reluctant to hire young people, those that do generally find them well-equipped for working life – despite the bad press that this demographic receives. According to a survey of 79,152 employers undertaken by IFF Research on behalf of the UK Commission for Skills and Employment (UK CES), a mere 23% had […]
