Certifying the workforce: economic imperative or failed social policy?

Abstract

The education policies of governments have become increasingly directed towards economic ends, including the development of workforce skills. UK governments have been particularly committed to such policies and have adopted some quite distinctive tools, relying heavily on targets and emphasizing certificated rather than uncertificated learning. The underlying assumptions of such policies have been subject to sustained critique, but there has been relatively little empirical evidence available regarding their impact on individual adult learners. This paper uses a large national longitudinal data set to examine whether governments in the UK have met their objectives and how far these are consistent with the learners’ own. It provides, in particular, detailed information on the factors affecting acquisition of additional formal qualifications in adult life and whether there has been any shift in favour of the less skilled in recent years. It also examines the extent to which qualifications, and especially those prioritized by government, lead to increased earnings for their holders. The results strongly suggest that current policies are failing even on their own terms. In conclusion the paper provides some possible explanations for the findings and sets them in an international context.

Acknowledgements

Support for the research described here was received from the DfES funded Centre for the Economics of Education and from the ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme (grant RES‐139‐25‐0120) and is gratefully acknowledged. Opinions are, of course, entirely the authors’ own.

Notes

1. Information on the characteristics of British adult learners is also available from a number of one‐off survey sources (see La Valle & Finch, 1999; Hillage et al., 2000), which produce figures ranging from 40% to 70% for participation, over specified time periods, in formal or informal learning.

2. The stability in participation reported by NIACE surveys is slightly surprising, since further education numbers have risen considerably during this period. However, there are a number of possible explanations, including increased participation levels among 16–19‐year‐olds and more efficient collation and reporting of all enrolments by colleges.

3. Qualifications were coded using the official National Qualifications Framework (referred to earlier). This distinguishes three types of qualifications, each with five levels. The categories used are shown in the Appendix. This framework produces a large number of different categories, but has the advantage of more precisely identifying the type of qualification acquired.

4. Information was also collected, in the 2000 sweep, about courses and training taken that did not lead to qualifications. For an analysis of these data see Vignoles et al. (2004).

5. The NIACE sample is typically about half the size of the NCDS one used here, and spread across all relevant age groups.

6. Two per cent of the sample reported acquiring more than four qualifications during the period.

7. Respondents were also less likely to have obtained a qualification if they had attended a school other than a comprehensive, grammar, secondary modern or public. This residual ‘other’ category (which includes special schools) involved only a small number of respondents.

8. These other reasons were coded as:

1. needed it for the job you were doing at the time;

2. because you thought it would lead to a better job later;

3. to gain promotion;

4. because moving to another job;

5. to improve chances of getting any job;

6. interest/for knowledge/keep mind active;

7. to acquire/improve a specific area of knowledge, ability or skill;

8. as a qualification for other courses;

9. compulsory, as part of current job/arranged by employer;

10. place on course available.

9. Improve job‐specific skills; improve ‘soft’ skills (e.g. team working); offer general development, increase morale; reduce errors; reduce absenteeism; reduce turnover; improve health and safety; increase confidence; help staff be receptive to change.

10. The care home learners in the sample were not enrolled on NVQs at the time of study, but were taking specific literacy qualifications. The sample as a whole included learners working for NVQs of various types.

11. Attainment tests at 11 rather than at 7 were used here since they explained a greater amount of variance.

12. The precise changes associated with a change in highest level of qualification held were as shown in Table N1.

13. Eighteen per cent of 1991 respondents were out of the labour market at the time of interview. Seventy‐one per cent of this group (n = 1260) made the transition into the labour market at some point during the next 10 years. Of this group, 372 also undertook qualification‐bearing courses and we looked at the pattern of learning in relation to employment entry. Thirty‐three per cent completed the learning and then entered employment, 42% entered employment and then obtained a qualification and 25% did both simultaneously. The pattern for those who changed jobs and undertook qualification‐bearing courses between 1991 and 2000 is very similar.

14. Social returns for male graduates averaged over all age groups were estimated at 6–8%, compared with 7–9% for males who had entered higher education at age 18. The gap in private returns was slightly wider, at 9–11% for all entrants, compared with 11–13% for 18‐year‐old males.

15. £31 per week less in 1999 prices. Lower mature graduate pay was explained by a number of factors. Social origin was important, with fewer mature graduates having a middle class background. The institution of education also mattered, since mature graduates had a higher probability of having attended a polytechnic (note that the study covers the period up to 1992).

16. The non‐UK labour market which is most studied by British training experts is undoubtedly the German. However, the highly structured element of German training, and the one which gives access to regulated employment, is the apprenticeship system, which is for the young and is not normally open to adults. Training for adults is far less regulated and is generally not tied to formal qualifications.

17. Between 1997 and 2002, in response to the Swedish recession, targeted education programmes for the unemployed/disadvantaged groups with relatively low academic skills were also emphasized. The ‘Adult Education Initiative’ for the unemployed moved large sums of money into adult education programmes rather than vocational training.

18. Participants in the special time‐limited Adult Education Initiative directed at the unemployed were excluded from the sample.

19. The full title of the programme was The Learning Society: knowledge and skills for employment. It was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council to a total of £2.5 million and supported 14 projects based in universities and institutions across the UK (see especially Coffield, 2000).

20. If only certificated employees were allowed to practise, and certification opportunities were in short supply, then certificate holders could extract a rent (in the form of higher wages), but this does not appear to be the case in the care sector at present. On the contrary, government programmes underwrite the cost of accreditation and encourage training providers to sign up employers and workers.