Tighter fit for training

Training Journal, Oct, 2006 by John Hayes

Dear editor,

The publication in quick succession of the Foster Report, the FE white paper and the Leitch Review of Skills reveals the growing importance of improving skills and vocational education in Britain. However, a policy agenda that prioritises the basic skills of 16- to 25-year-olds will not help everyone realise their potential. Cuts in learning places reveal how this strategy risks disenfranchising other adult learners and obscuring the need to encourage hard-to-reach groups back into education.

On the 25th of September, I mapped out the direction of Conservative policy on skills. To solve the current skills crisis we need a demand-led system which combines the needs of employers with the choices of learners. Businesses will not increase investment unless they are confident that the system can deliver a much tighter fit between provision and need.

We must also value the difference that training can make throughout a career, not just at its beginning, and the contribution adult education makes to community life. If we acknowledge the true value of education, we can move towards a virtuous circle of learning, in which people are inspired to learn throughout their lives, bringing with it both collective prosperity and individual opportunity.

John Hayes MP

Shadow minister for vocational education and skills