Scape-goating Cinderella? Can stronger skills markets contribute to sustainable and decent work for all?

Sector Skills Councils and sustainable employer engagement: Sector Skills Councils are being advocated as mechanisms through which employers in developing economies can become actively engaged in the reform of the skills... [ view full abstract ]

Sector Skills Councils and sustainable employer engagement: Sector Skills Councils are being advocated as mechanisms through which employers in developing economies can become actively engaged in the reform of the skills supply system. This presentation reviews evidence of SSC effectiveness in different economies to question what sustainable employer engagement might look like. The presentation looks critically at evidence from the UK to assess the extent to which SSCs have genuinely facilitated employer engagement in skills supply. Using the UK as a case study it identifies the critical success factors behind effective employer engagement and examines i.) the extent to which these factors can be applied within a developing country context and ii.) in what circumstances SSCs may be the most effective means of facilitating this effective employer engagement.

How robust are our theories of change about skills for sustainable decent work? This presentation looks at the importance of using evidence to test assumptions that underpin any theory of change, such as how to ensure decent... [ view full abstract ]

How robust are our theories of change about skills for sustainable decent work? This presentation looks at the importance of using evidence to test assumptions that underpin any theory of change, such as how to ensure decent and sustainable work. It uses two examples of development initiatives that are widely advocated to bring about beneficial changes in the labour market - national qualifications frameworks (NQFs) and training funds as case studies to show how skills development initiatives need to have sound and tested theories of change. NQFs have long been espoused as a means of improving access to, and quality of, skills training. The paper will highlight the gaps in such theories of change and consider the implications for conceptualising the use of NQFs to ensure decent and sustainable work. Training funds have emerged more recently as development partners’ mechanism of choice for linking skills markets to job markets. Indeed all three skills programmes tendered by DFID during the past year included some kind of training fund. The paper will review evidence that training funds are effective in improving access to sustainable and decent work. It will then consider the implications of this evidence base, for how we might conceptualise and implement skills funds

Skills for decent and sustainable work in 2030 This paper is based on a think-piece undertaken for DFID in March/April 2015. It projects forward from the global labour market of today, to that of 2030 and identifies the... [ view full abstract ]

Skills for decent and sustainable work in 2030 This paper is based on a think-piece undertaken for DFID in March/April 2015. It projects forward from the global labour market of today, to that of 2030 and identifies the skills which workers will require to operate successfully in it. It takes account of technology, demographics, increased urbanisation, the growth of the green economy and migration in highlighting an ever-increasing need for workers with STEM disciplines and strong cognitive and inter-personal skills, who can operate across cultures and across disciplines. Proposals include the harnessing of technology, a distinct role for businesses, a re-vitalisation of educational institutions to make them more entrepreneurial and strategies to better exploit the skills of developing countries' diasporas. Throughout, the paper stresses the increased globalisation of the labour market, the increasing demand for high-skilled, knowledge workers with social intelligence and the breaking down of geographic barriers in the search for and procurement of such workers

For several decades, skills development has languished as ‘the Cinderella of the development community’. But, with increasing pressure on secondary systems, global youth unemployment rates at unprecedented levels, and... [ view full abstract ]

For several decades, skills development has languished as ‘the Cinderella of the development community’. But, with increasing pressure on secondary systems, global youth unemployment rates at unprecedented levels, and youth marginalisation linked to social unrest, the development spot light is turning on skills. The SDGs bring renewed commitments to lifelong learning, and decent work for all. DFID has tendered three new programmes of support to skills sectors. Development Partners ask how we can Make Skills Markets Work for the Poor. Cinderella is being invited to 2015’s development ball.
This symposium builds on UKFIET’s history of keeping skills on the development agenda. It will take up debates about how skills development contributes to inclusive economic growth, and sustainable, decent work. Through three presentations and structured discussion, the symposium will consider how what we already know about strengthening skills market systems might best inform support to development programmes.