tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/skills-training-12262/articlesSkills training – The Conversation2024-03-28T15:08:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2244172024-03-28T15:08:05Z2024-03-28T15:08:05ZMaking short films is a powerful way to learn job skills: 5 ways it prepares students for work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578598/original/file-20240228-18-mdyusr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Making short films can change the way people learn. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ASphotowed/iStock/Getty Plus</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world of work is changing all the time. Technology is driving innovation and productivity, leading to the creation of new industries and employment opportunities. This means people need new skills to meet the demands of an ever-changing economy.</p>
<p>While universities can and do equip young people with important skills, tertiary education isn’t available to everyone. This is especially true in a country like South Africa, where <a href="https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/over-one-million-enrolments-expected-public-universities#:%7E:text=%E2%80%9CIn%20the%202023%20academic%20year,skills%20areas%2C%E2%80%9D%20Nzimande%20said">about 43% of students</a> in 2023 who qualified to pursue a bachelor’s qualification at university could not because of limited spaces. </p>
<p>Valuable knowledge and skills can also be acquired through non-formal and alternative pathways, however. We are education scholars who ran a pilot project using artistic media to teach important life skills to young adults (18–24 years old). Our project, Myturn, ran in South Africa’s Western Cape province over ten months in 2020. It used simple technology like smartphones and editing software to make short films.</p>
<p>Myturn benefited participants in several ways, as we’ve documented in <a href="https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/1382">a study</a>. For instance, it honed their communication and teamwork skills. It bolstered their digital skills. It also allowed the students to connect with their communities. This connection, in turn, provided a platform for the communities to witness the participants’ willingness to learn and become change agents, while also allowing them to share their own stories and experiences.</p>
<p>The project showed how short films could be used to change the way people learn. This method meets many needs of young people by combining the learning of soft skills, computer literacy and artistic expression. It gets them ready for the problems of the future – not just ready for work, but also as <a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-can-nurture-students-who-care-about-the-world-four-approaches-that-would-help-them-214172">socially involved people</a>.</p>
<h2>Five main benefits</h2>
<p>Our research paper focused on the perceptions of nine (out of the initial group of 17) Myturn participants. All had completed secondary school. They were involved in various dance, drama, music and visual arts projects when recruited for Myturn and came from semi-rural communities in the Langeberg district of South Africa’s Western Cape province.</p>
<p>In 2020 they found themselves in a transitional phase between jobs, were preparing to enter the workforce for the first time, or were between school and tertiary education. They were also dealing with the effects of the pandemic, which began after we’d launched Myturn. This global crisis created difficulties but was also an opportunity for learning and adaptation. </p>
<p>During the project, participants learned the technology and skills needed to create and produce their own short films.</p>
<p><a href="https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/1382">Our study</a> identified five ways in which participants benefited from the project. </p>
<p><strong>1. Improved emotional intelligence and soft skills:</strong> </p>
<p>Making short films helps build skills like leadership, teamwork and communication. It pushes young creators to figure out how to work together on complex tasks. This helps team members from different backgrounds understand and care about each other. People learn how to resolve disagreements, make their points clear, and inspire others to work towards a shared goal. These skills are necessary in any professional setting.</p>
<p><strong>2. Improved digital skills and connectivity:</strong></p>
<p>Participants learned how to use software programmes, handle digital content and interact with online groups. They were empowered to offer their skills globally and work remotely and flexibly.</p>
<p><strong>3. Encouraged new ideas and creative ways to solve problems:</strong></p>
<p>Making short films encourages people to try new things and to look at problems from different angles. This way of handling problems creatively makes one <a href="https://en.unesco.org/themes/gced/1974recommendation">more flexible</a>. </p>
<p>As a way to reach their artistic goals, participants learned to make changes and accept loss. This approach is in <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/49ccabb1-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/49ccabb1-en">high demand</a> across various sectors.</p>
<p><strong>4. Supported personalised learning and finding out more about oneself:</strong></p>
<p>Making a short film is a very personal process. It lets people explore themes that are important to them based on their own experiences, interests and goals. Personalising the way people learn reveals their skills, flaws and interests. </p>
<p>One participant, reflecting critically on her role as short film producer in the project, showcased her ownership of learning and the potential for transpersonal growth:</p>
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<p>Being able to watch my video back before sending it made me realise how fast I speak and that (I) can come across as unclear, so I worked on speaking slower and I was satisfied with the final product. </p>
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<p>Participants became more self-aware and confident. Young adults need help to figure out who they are and what they want to do with their lives. </p>
<p>One told us: </p>
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<p>When the opportunity came I told myself it’s time to stretch myself and explore my skills.</p>
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<p><strong>5. Made the community more involved and gave people more power:</strong></p>
<p>Making short films is a way to hear opinions that aren’t always heard. A participant said she enjoyed the chance her short film presented “to be able to comment or talk about the issues that everybody is most likely aware of but refuses to publicly speak/comment on”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-introduced-social-entrepreneurship-to-my-trainee-teachers-why-itll-make-them-better-at-their-jobs-197622">I introduced social entrepreneurship to my trainee teachers -- why it'll make them better at their jobs</a>
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<p>Young film-makers can bring attention to problems that matter in their communities by sharing their stories. This can start a conversation and help bring people together. This involvement goes beyond the project. People can be inspired by hearing these stories, which can lead to a shared sense of power and a dedication to making things better.</p>
<h2>What came next</h2>
<p>In the time since the Myturn project, participants have flourished. One was selected for a six-month jewellery design research programme in Belgium. Three more have been accepted for tertiary education; others became involved in education as teaching assistants. One started a media house company with a colleague. Two participants created their own YouTube channels and another started making TikTok reels with her brother. </p>
<p>While the project itself couldn’t guarantee personal change within its informal setting, it did offer significant benefits for some participants: developing critical self-awareness, overcoming cultural and language barriers, and gaining a deeper understanding of themselves. This suggests that meaningful interactions, both in person and online, can equip young people with valuable skills. These skills, like critical thinking and empathy, will be crucial for navigating their future lives and careers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224417/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article is based on my independent research, which did not receive direct funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF). However, I gratefully acknowledge the partial funding support from Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) for dissertation editing and the publication of a collaborative article titled "Nurturing Youth Film Literacy: Post-qualitative Arts-Based Inquiry into Critical Self-Awareness" in the Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zayd Waghid is the current Director of the Global Institute for Teacher Education and Interim Chair in Teacher Education which receives funding through the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) from the National Research Foundation (NRF). He is an executive member of the South African Education Research Association and a Fulbright Scholar.</span></em></p>Making films meets many needs of young people by combining the learning of soft skills, computer literacy and artistic expression.Wendy Smidt, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Global Institute for Teacher Education Society (GITES), Faculty of Education, Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyZayd Waghid, Associate professor, Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1755232022-02-03T03:17:57Z2022-02-03T03:17:57ZWho’ll teach all the students promised extra TAFE places? 4 steps to end staff shortages<p>Under Labor’s proposed <a href="https://alp.org.au/policies/future-made-in-australia-skills-plan">Future Made in Australia Skills Plan</a>, Australians studying in an industry with a skills shortage will be supported through the provision of free TAFE places. This will include 45,000 new places. If Labor does that without expanding the present <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/resource-centre/domestic-policy/vet-review/strengthening-skills-expert-review-australias-vocational-education-and-training-system">depleted teaching workforce</a>, we’re likely to see more current teachers bailing out and corners cut in teaching practices.</p>
<p>Our 2021 <a href="https://www.ncver.edu.au/research-and-statistics/publications/all-publications/attracting-industry-experts-to-become-vet-practitioners-a-journey-not-a-destination">research</a> for the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (<a href="https://www.ncver.edu.au/about-ncver/about-us">NCVER</a>) found the shortages of VET teachers and trainers extend to virtually every industry. If these shortages are not overcome, the result will be an inadequately trained vocational workforce. This in turn will have an impact on the country’s skill levels and productivity.</p>
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<p>Not that the present federal government has much to be proud of in this regard. Although Vocational Education and Training (VET) significantly underpins the nation’s workforce development, it has limped along under recent national governments.</p>
<p>TAFE, the public provider, has remained a poor relation. <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/vet-for-monday-20180321-h0xrib">Workforce shortages</a> have continued, made worse by retirements from the <a href="https://www.skillsreform.gov.au/images/documents/Consultation_draft_of_the_VET_Workforce%20Quality_Strategy.pdf">ageing VET workforce</a> and by the need to expand training to cater for new and emerging industries.</p>
<p>For our <a href="https://www.ncver.edu.au/research-and-statistics/publications/all-publications/attracting-industry-experts-to-become-vet-practitioners-a-journey-not-a-destination">research</a> we talked with key members of almost 30 registered training organisations (RTOs) across Australia about the shortage of trainers. We also surveyed over 300 practising teachers and trainers (VET practitioners) about their experiences of moving into VET.</p>
<p>The challenge in overcoming the shortage of VET practitioners is to encourage experienced workers from trades and the professions to move into VET.</p>
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<h2>What are the key issues?</h2>
<p>The difference in salaries between industry and VET is a significant issue. It’s too simplistic an explanation for the lack of applicants, however. </p>
<p>For example, one disincentive is the nature of employment in the sector. Just over half of VET practitioners are employed in ongoing full-time roles. As one said:</p>
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<p>“People at the top of their industry don’t leave for a temporary contract.”</p>
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<p>Private training organisations reported they sometimes provide permanent employment for trainers simply to keep them “on the books”. One RTO principal told us:</p>
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<p>“I can’t afford to put them off because we’ll never get them back.”</p>
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<p>A further stumbling block is the inflexibility of the basic educational qualification as a point of entry. Trainers generally need to complete a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (Cert IV TAE) <em>before</em> they can teach. There is only minimum provision for supervised practice without it.</p>
<p>Training organisations reported prospective trainers are reluctant to acquire the full qualification before they’re allowed to teach. Tradespeople with significant practical experience but no formal education since their apprenticeship were also anxious about “returning to study”.</p>
<p>Paradoxically, there was pushback from university-educated professionals in senior positions against the need for a vocational qualification.</p>
<p>The value of the certificate itself as a training qualification has been an <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Erica-Smith-4/publication/337013372_The_Importance_of_VET_Teacher_Professionalism_An_Australian_Case_Study/links/5dc0c1244585151435e8c507/The-Importance-of-VET-Teacher-Professionalism-An-Australian-Case-Study.pdf">ongoing contentious issue</a>. One ex-tradie wrote:</p>
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<p>“They want teachers to have ten years of industry experience […] but expect a six-day course to be enough to be a good teacher.”</p>
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<p>It’s understood changes to the qualification are in the wind. Let’s hope these include ones that will make entry to VET teaching more flexible. </p>
<p>Training organisations and trainers alike argued for better recognition of prior learning among those who already have a training or mentoring role. </p>
<p>Even after they make the transition, new practitioners sometimes leave VET because their expectations don’t meet the reality. This is especially true if their employer doesn’t provide appropriate orientation and support. One trainer said:</p>
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<p>“Day one I was given a USB with PowerPoint presentations on it and told to go into the classroom and deliver it.”</p>
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<img alt="Chart showing decline in apprenticeship and traineeship completions in Australia, 2010 to 2021" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443969/original/file-20220202-13-1hj0wgy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443969/original/file-20220202-13-1hj0wgy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443969/original/file-20220202-13-1hj0wgy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443969/original/file-20220202-13-1hj0wgy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443969/original/file-20220202-13-1hj0wgy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443969/original/file-20220202-13-1hj0wgy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443969/original/file-20220202-13-1hj0wgy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ncver.edu.au/research-and-statistics/infographics/historical-time-series-of-apprenticeships-and-traineeships-in-australia-infographic-1963-to-2021">Data: NCVER</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<h2>What can be done to end the shortages?</h2>
<p>We identified several strategies to attract more VET practitioners.</p>
<p><strong>1. Exploit career points and individual passion for teaching and training.</strong></p>
<p>A national media campaign could target prospective VET professionals at potential “turning points” in their careers. That might be, for example, when they are looking to move into something different from their everyday job, when family or financial responsibilities have eased, or when they are seeking an alternative work-life balance. Sell these as benefits beyond salary. </p>
<p><strong>2. Smooth the entry path.</strong></p>
<p>Provide more options to “try before you buy”. These might include “bite-size” opportunities to experience teaching in VET before making a commitment. Industry specialists could be allowed to teach short-term with a particular training skill set, rather than the full qualification.</p>
<p>It’s also essential to ensure prospective practitioners understand in advance how expectations in VET are different from those in their former workplaces. When they get there, give them a soft landing, especially those new to training. Show them they’re valued.</p>
<p><strong>3. Involve industry more.</strong> </p>
<p>Encourage and enable movement in and out of VET – so-called “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262220931_How_vocational_teachers_describe_their_vocational_teacher_identity/link/606352f1299bf173677da67a/download">boundary crossing</a>”. This will enable practitioners to maintain their links and their industry currency. </p>
<p>There is also scope and reason for industry to be more directly involved in promoting and fostering the VET practitioner career.</p>
<p><strong>4. Enhance the status of VET.</strong></p>
<p>This can be done by promoting the uniqueness of the “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0309877X.2011.590584">dual practitioner</a>”. Arguably even more than at university level, VET employs tradespeople and professionals who have developed expertise in one career and channels them into a second career. As a VET teacher or trainer, their initial expertise is highly valued.</p>
<p>Our research showed many people in VET are passionate about its potential but some despair about its future. Whichever party is in power, expanding and equipping the VET workforce is a vital step forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175523/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darryl Dymock received research funding from NCVER. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Tyler received research funding from NCVER.</span></em></p>Federal Labor is promising to cover the cost of 465,000 TAFE places, including 45,000 new places. But there’s a chronic shortage of VET teachers and trainers, so that problem has to be fixed first.Darryl Dymock, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in Education, Griffith UniversityMark Tyler, Senior Lecturer, School of Education and Professional Studies, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1471132020-10-02T02:07:50Z2020-10-02T02:07:50ZAdvanced apprenticeships will boost skills for future jobs, but not in time to counter COVID impacts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361238/original/file-20201001-20-76k7oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=521%2C0%2C4353%2C2835&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/on-hightech-factory-asian-engineer-talks-1335730934">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian government has released a series of manufacturing industry policies in the lead-up to the October 6 budget. Yesterday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/modern-manufacturing-strategy-australia-national-press-club-act">spoke about</a> a A$1.5 billion strategy to strengthen Australian manufacturing and supply chains. Last week, Education Minister Dan Tehan <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tehan/industry-pilot-strengthen-work-integrated-learning">announced</a> a A$7.2 million extension of advanced apprenticeship pilot programs across the country to teach students the high-level, specialist knowledge and skills they’ll need for industry jobs of the future. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/scott-morrison-names-six-priority-areas-in-1-5-billion-plan-to-boost-manufacturing-147213">Scott Morrison names six priority areas in $1.5 billion plan to boost manufacturing</a>
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<p>COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerabilities of Australian manufacturing. <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/theausinstitute/pages/3332/attachments/original/1595693276/A_Fair_Share_for_Australian_Manufacturing.pdf?1595693276">Recent research</a> ranked Australia lowest in the OECD for manufacturing self-sufficiency. </p>
<p>The government wants to expand work-integrated learning. Its aim is to strengthen the link between training and future industry needs, and significantly lift workforce skills to meet the requirements of the digitally driven <a href="https://www.weforum.org/focus/fourth-industrial-revolution">Fourth Industrial Revolution</a>. </p>
<p>The investments in Australia’s future workforce, businesses and economy are welcome. However, the training program will not solve the unemployment problems and skills mismatch in the short term, given COVID-19’s impact on the economy.</p>
<h2>Where do advanced apprenticeships fit into this?</h2>
<p>The main aim of advanced apprenticeships is to strengthen relationships between universities and industry to produce highly skilled graduates for an <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/funding-and-incentives/industry-40">Industry 4.0-driven economy</a>. This is all the more important in light of the government’s <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/digital-business-plan-drive-australias-economic-recovery">JobMaker Digital Business Plan</a> to drive economic recovery.</p>
<p>Advanced (or higher) apprenticeships combine higher and vocational education. Student “apprentices” are exposed to a combination of systematic, <a href="https://www.ncver.edu.au/research-and-statistics/publications/all-publications/traditional-trade-apprenticeships-training-activity,-employer-incentives-and-international-practice">on-the-job (vocational) training <em>and</em> higher degree education</a>.</p>
<p>This approach is the basis of the German education and training system. In recent years, concerns about manufacturing’s decline in many developed economies have prompted governments to <a href="http://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/international-relations/Pages/australia-germany-advisory-group.aspx">adopt aspects of the German model</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-uk-is-rethinking-university-degrees-and-australia-should-too-82973">The UK is rethinking university degrees and Australia should too</a>
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<p>In Australia, Siemens, the AiGroup and Swinburne University launched the <a href="https://www.australianmanufacturing.com.au/40304/ai-group-teams-up-with-siemens-swinburne-university-to-deliver-high-level-industry-4-0-apprenticeship-initiative">first</a> digital technologies advanced apprenticeships pilot in 2017. In a two-year Associate Degree in Applied Technologies, student-apprentices work for a host employer and attend university for periods of 6-8 weeks followed by similar periods of applied learning in the workplace. They do 22 weeks of full-time study a year, with 26 weeks in the workplace and four weeks’ annual leave. The program has <a href="https://new.siemens.com/au/en/company/press-centre/2018/australian-training-awards-2018.html">won industry awards</a>. </p>
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<span class="caption">In advanced apprenticeship programs students divide their time by university and the workplace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-young-students-technical-vocational-training-1265556712">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The extra funding will extend the program beyond Victoria to New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia.</p>
<h2>Preparing skills for future jobs</h2>
<p>Advanced apprenticeships are especially relevant to rapidly changing sectors such as advanced manufacturing. Higher-level skills are increasingly in demand as <a href="https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf">emerging and disruptive technologies</a> automate lower-level tasks. </p>
<p>Jobs that draw on digital and related skills have been growing more rapidly than jobs in the so-called legacy economy. This is because the technological innovations underpinning the digital economy demand higher-level skills. These disruptive technologies include artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning and digitisation. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jobs-are-changing-and-fast-heres-what-the-vet-sector-and-employers-need-to-do-to-keep-up-118524">Jobs are changing, and fast. Here's what the VET sector (and employers) need to do to keep up</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/coronavirus-many-stooddown-workers-will-never-get-their-jobs-back/news-story/5bd06ec322c3fa6be84a471f47b24f66">COVID-19 has accelerated this trend</a>. The need for up-skilling and training is urgent, to ensure tomorrow’s graduates, as well as the existing workforce, have the skills to take advantage of job opportunities in the digital economy. </p>
<p>The federal government believes in the power of free markets. But it recognises <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/grw024">market failure exists</a> when it comes to students’ preferences for skills development versus educational institutions having the right training to meet future industry needs. As a result, many young people’s career expectations were concentrated in <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-youre-preparing-students-for-21st-century-jobs-youre-behind-the-times-131567">ten so-called “20th century” careers</a> such as doctors, teachers, lawyers and business managers. They could struggle to find relevant and consistent work in the future.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-youre-preparing-students-for-21st-century-jobs-youre-behind-the-times-131567">If you're preparing students for 21st century jobs, you're behind the times</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>This approach doesn’t offer a quick fix</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ncver.edu.au/research-and-statistics/publications/all-publications/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-the-implications-of-technological-disruption-for-australian-vet">Our research</a> highlights a major gap in Australia between what education and training providers are delivering and what business and industry need. Programs such as advanced apprenticeships in digital technologies will help to reduce this mismatch.</p>
<p>However, the pilot programs are not a silver bullet to solve the problems of skills and employability in Australian manufacturing, for several reasons.</p>
<p>First, this is a long-term solution. In advanced apprenticeship programs, students take two years to gain the associate degree and longer for a full university degree. Swinburne University’s first pilot intake in 2017 has only just gained undergraduate qualifications. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361269/original/file-20201002-24-1bj4ekx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two apprentices examine a component in a high-tech factory" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361269/original/file-20201002-24-1bj4ekx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361269/original/file-20201002-24-1bj4ekx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361269/original/file-20201002-24-1bj4ekx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361269/original/file-20201002-24-1bj4ekx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361269/original/file-20201002-24-1bj4ekx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361269/original/file-20201002-24-1bj4ekx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361269/original/file-20201002-24-1bj4ekx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students undertaking advanced apprenticeships take two years to complete an associate degree and longer for a full university degree.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-engineer-apprentice-examining-component-factory-1107628646">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This training will not solve the mass unemployment due to the COVID-19 shock nor cushion the impacts of the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-25/coronavirus-job-losses-unemployment-jobseeker-jobkeeper-cut/12699028">roll-back of Jobkeeper and Jobseeker</a>.</p>
<p>Second, while the government says its manufacturing strategy will create up to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/we-make-things-in-australia-pm-s-plan-to-boost-manufacturing-20200930-p560qy.html">80,000 direct jobs and about 300,000 more indirect jobs</a>, advanced apprenticeships will not be the main training pathway. These programs have relatively small intakes and are niche in nature. </p>
<p>The first Swinburne pilot enrolled only 20 students. Similar small intakes are likely at other universities in the extended program. </p>
<p>One aim of the pilots is <a href="https://www.knoxbiz.com.au/content/2086/swinburne-advanced-apprenticeships-pilot-eoi">to involve more local firms and small to medium-sized enterprises</a>. But how many will be willing (and able) to invest in these initiatives amid the <a href="https://www.nationalskillscommission.gov.au/news-centre/impact-covid-19-australian-businesses-part-one">economic uncertainties of the pandemic</a>?</p>
<h2>More questions than answers</h2>
<p>The lack of detail in the apprenticeship announcement raises other questions.</p>
<p>First, it is unclear to what extent the government has collaborated or consulted with the states and territories and industry bodies. This is essential because the pilots involve both vocational and higher education aspects of learning. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-keeps-talking-about-revamping-vet-but-is-it-actually-doing-it-117743">Joyce Review and the Productivity Commission</a> both emphasised the need for collaboration. </p>
<p>Second, why are only universities being targeted? And why do the extended pilots include only two dual-sector universities (Swinburne and RMIT)? </p>
<p>Perhaps the aim was to align the training element with the research element for the federally funded <a href="https://www.business.gov.au/Grants-and-Programs/Industry-Testlabs-for-Australia">Industry 4.0 Testlabs</a> in six selected universities. However, not all these universities are part of the advanced apprenticeship pilots.</p>
<p>Despite the positive spin about inter-government collaborations as a result of COVID-19, this does not appear to be happening in skills and training. Industry groups have therefore <a href="https://www.aigroup.com.au/policy-and-research/businesspolicy/industry-transformation/higher-apprenticeships-national-march-2020/">taken the initiative</a> to work directly with the states and territories and <a href="https://www.southmetrotafe.wa.edu.au/testimonial/automation-careers-are-jobs-future">with vocational education providers</a>.</p>
<p>Further details may be revealed after the budget and the Productivity Commission’s final report on its <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/skills-workforce-agreement#report">review of the National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development</a>. </p>
<p>For pilot programs to be successful, especially in the context of high market uncertainty and rapid technological development, they need to be given room for <a href="https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/Creativity_paradox/4968554">experimentation</a>. The extended advanced apprenticeship pilots are welcome steps in this direction. They will help overcome the inaction of recent times on the changes needed in education, skills and training to ensure students are better able to meet the future needs of employers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147113/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is a growing mismatch between what education and training provide and the skills needed in workplaces being reshaped by the digital economy. Advanced apprenticeships can help close the gap.Pi-Shen Seet, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Edith Cowan UniversityJanice Jones, Associate Professor, College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1406662020-06-15T15:08:43Z2020-06-15T15:08:43ZSouth Africa has taken steps to help young jobless people. Here’s what’s working<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341824/original/file-20200615-65961-1bia9us.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa has among the worst youth unemployment rates in the world. </span> </figcaption></figure><p>South Africa has among the <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/youth-unemployment-rate">highest youth unemployment rates globally</a>, with <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02114thQuarter2019.pdf">58% of 15-24 year olds</a> not in jobs, education or training. In times of economic crisis, young people are the first to lose jobs and <a href="http://www.redi3x3.org/paper/youth-labour-market-dynamics-south-africa-evidence-nids-1-2-3">the last to gain them back</a>. </p>
<p>That means that now and into the future, as the economy reels from the coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdown, these rates are likely to only worsen. South Africa has a very young population <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=12362">with about a third</a> of the population being between the ages of 18 and 34 years. </p>
<p>So what should be done? </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/faculties/humanities/csda/Documents/Siyakha%20Report%20June%202019%20Web%20LowRes.pdf">research </a> shows that youth employability programmes play a crucial role in maintaining young people’s resilience and sense of agency in a context in which there are high levels of joblessness. These programmes provide young people with training and information to support their entry into the labour market, and are usually close to where young people live. Most provide a combination of technical skills training and personal empowerment inputs. </p>
<p>Given the social and economic consequences of this pandemic, now more than ever, it is crucial to think about how to construct meaningful youth programmes to support young people’s journeys into the economy.</p>
<h2>Youth agency and resilience</h2>
<p>Between 2013 and 2019 we tracked just under 2,000 young people who participated in youth employability programmes. The programmes and organisations that run them are
<a href="https://skoll.org/organization/harambee/">Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator </a>,
<a href="https://lovelife.org.za/en/groundbreakers/">loveLife’s groundBreakers programme</a>,
<a href="https://afrikatikkunservices.com/">Afrika Tikkun Services</a>,
<a href="https://www.eoh.co.za/">EOH</a>,
<a href="https://nydawebsite.azurewebsites.net/Products-Services/National-Youth-Services-Programme">National Youth Service</a> (run by the National Youth Development Agency), <a href="https://www.etafeni.org.za/portfolio/fit-for-life-fit-for-work/">Fit for Life Fit for Work</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Community/Thabiso-Skills-Development-Centre-223380931044853/">Thabiso Skills Institute</a>
and <a href="http://www.ackermanacademy.co.za/">Raymond Ackerman Academy</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/faculties/humanities/csda/Documents/Siyakha%20Report%20June%202019%20Web%20LowRes.pdf">The research</a> found that involvement in such programmes had a number of positive outcomes for young people. </p>
<p>First, young people showed improved job-search resilience. They were less likely to indicate being discouraged with looking for work after they had been through the programmes. And they were more likely to be using diverse strategies for searching for work, and felt more confident about looking for work. </p>
<p>They also showed small improvements in their sense of self-esteem and self-efficacy (their sense of control over their future) after participating in the programmes. These are important markers of success in the context of significant difficulties that young people face, and may be important in the transition to employment in the longer term.</p>
<p>Often these changes are overlooked because of the focus on employment and earnings as indicators of programme efficacy. But they are crucial indicators to measure as the country seeks to support young people’s agency in contexts of increasing unemployment.</p>
<h2>Improve young people’s prospects</h2>
<p>Crucially, the study offers insight into what kinds of programme features work for different kinds of young people. The eight programmes that were included in the study all targeted young people who typically came from impoverished backgrounds. They also had limited access to formal post-secondary education and training opportunities. They are broadly reflective of the kinds of young people who struggle most to find work.</p>
<p>We found a set of crucial programme elements that boost the chances of employment for these young people.</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Matching</strong>: Our research found that the programme feature with the strongest effect is matching. We show that connecting work seekers to employers (matching) was the most important programme element, and improves a candidate’s chance of finding work by 28 percentage points in the 6-30 months following their training.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Soft skills</strong>: the study also found that time spent on soft skills – including promoting a sense of confidence and future orientation, as well as supporting young people to take control of their plans for their future – delivers a significant and strong effect. The first month of soft skills training delivers a 7 percentage point increase in the probability of being employed. Soft skills training made a particularly strong impact for the most vulnerable. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Participants who had not completed school, and those who lived outside metropolitan areas, where jobs are mostly located, had a significant employment disadvantage upon entering the programmes compared to their counterparts who had finished high school and lived in urban areas. But access to soft skills training for the more disadvantaged youth helped to close that gap. </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Financial capability training</strong>: Our research also found that receiving financial capability training improves the probability of being employed by almost 10 percentage points.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Implications of the findings</h2>
<p>Young people in South Africa face multiple forms of deprivation. They also exhibit significant agency and resilience despite these challenges. Our research shows that placing young people at the centre of programme development, and working with them, can improve their resilience. </p>
<p>Further, different programme elements have different effects for young people. Including multiple components in youth employment programmes is crucial if the country is to address the multiple deprivations they face. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/faculties/humanities/csda/Documents/Siyakha%20Report%20June%202019%20Web%20LowRes.pdf">study</a> shows that multiple components of training are key, especially when targeting particularly vulnerable youth who face multiple life and labour market challenges. The more challenges young people face, the more programme features are necessary. Tailoring interventions to their different circumstances within the large unemployed population is, therefore, crucial.</p>
<p>While such programmes cannot replace economic growth as a strategy for improving employment outcomes, they nevertheless play a crucial role in supporting young people, and offering bridges to the world of work over time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Graham received funding for this study from the Ford Foundation, the Government Technical Advisory Committee, and the Newton British Academy Advanced Fellowship fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leila Patel receives funding from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) for her Chair in Welfare and Social Development. She also received funding for this research from the Ford Foundation, the National Treasury's Jobs Fund and the Research Committee of the University of Johannesburg. </span></em></p>Employment programmes cannot replace economic growth in improving youth employability, but they play a crucial role in helping them find work.Lauren Graham, Associate professor at the Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg, University of JohannesburgLeila Patel, Professor of Social Development Studies, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1283672020-01-20T21:06:29Z2020-01-20T21:06:29ZCanada can better prepare to retrain workers displaced by disruptive technologies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310750/original/file-20200119-118315-x7imcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A photo of the last truck to be assembled on the General Motors production line, shown at a sports bar where GM workers congregated after their work work at the General Motors plant in Oshawa, Ont., on its final day of vehicle production, on Dec. 18, 2019.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Canada must prepare for the growing need to retrain workers displaced by disruptive technologies. To do so, governments must have a thorough sense of the effectiveness of current employment retraining programs. </p>
<p>High-quality evaluations of employment training programs will help policy-makers identify the best models to prepare workers for the future — and also help them avoid <a href="https://irpp.org/research-studies/whats-so-bad-about-increasing-inequality-in-canada/">deepening inequality</a>. </p>
<p>But right now in Canada, there is no central body that evaluates a vast array of employment training programs across the country. Instead, as a study we conducted revealed, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2019-024">responsibility for many programs is divided across government levels</a>, and these programs are under-researched. A lack of co-ordination and data sharing to bolster policy research and development will become a major problem unless the federal government takes a stronger leadership role.</p>
<p>The federal government says it has the vision and political appetite to improve Canada’s training infrastructure. Such an effort needs to be backed by investment in evaluating training programs organized and delivered by all levels of government in Canada. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310746/original/file-20200119-118347-cqng9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310746/original/file-20200119-118347-cqng9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310746/original/file-20200119-118347-cqng9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310746/original/file-20200119-118347-cqng9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310746/original/file-20200119-118347-cqng9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310746/original/file-20200119-118347-cqng9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310746/original/file-20200119-118347-cqng9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A smart cart, part of a pilot project, is shown at a Sobeys grocery store in Oakville, Ont., in November 2019. With a smart cart, shoppers can skip the cashier or self-checkout as their carts scan any items put into them, track their total bill and accept payment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Dramatic shift</h2>
<p>The global labour force is experiencing a dramatic shift as a result of rapidly changing technologies. A <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/jobs-lost-jobs-gained-what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages">McKinsey Global Institute</a> study from 2017 estimates that as many as 375 million workers globally (14 per cent of the global workforce) will likely need to switch occupations and learn new skills. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://brookfieldinstitute.ca/report/better-faster-stronger/">recent analysis</a> of the potential effects of automation on Ontario’s manufacturing and financial sectors suggest many of the province’s occupations will be reshaped as these sectors adopt new, more efficient technologies. In financial services, demands for skills have already changed since 2013. </p>
<p>Technological innovations have provided incredible economic opportunities for some types of workers. The World Economic Forum’s <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2018">Future of Jobs report</a> predicts strong growth not only in tech-heavy areas like robotics, but also in non-tech support positions like customer service and sales. </p>
<p>That said, individuals who have difficulty adapting to rapidly shifting work environments, or who don’t have the time and capital to invest in new skills, will likely find themselves left behind. </p>
<h2>Policy interventions needed</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ecge.12056">Existing research</a> indicates that, without concerted policy interventions, the Canadian labour market may become increasingly polarized, split between high-income cognitive-intensive jobs and low-income manual occupations.</p>
<p>Canada’s current retraining programs for people who lose their jobs or struggle to find work tend to be targeted, focusing on a particular age group, educational or social background or employment history. </p>
<p>To find the right fit, individuals must navigate a range of federal, provincial or municipal organizations. Although this “many cooks” structure may allow for more responsiveness to local needs, the many options make it difficult for users to understand what assistance they’re entitled to and who is responsible for it. </p>
<h2>Future Skills initiative</h2>
<p>The current Liberal government seems poised to update Canada’s worker-support infrastructure. Among its numerous planned investments in job training, <a href="https://www.budget.gc.ca/2019/docs/plan/budget-2019-en.pdf">the 2019 federal budget</a> earmarked $225 million for <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/future-skills.html">Future Skills</a>, an initiative that aims to prepare Canadians for the future of work by “exploring major trends shaping the future and testing innovative approaches.” </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1204808190560477184"}"></div></p>
<p>For a country that has historically <a href="https://data.oecd.org/socialexp/public-spending-on-labour-markets.htm">spent well below the OECD average</a> on job training programs, this proposed initiative signals a much-needed shift in the status quo.</p>
<p>The 2019 budget also suggested that the government will take a more active role in overseeing and evaluating current job training programs. It described the results of a 2018 <a href="https://www.budget.gc.ca/2019/docs/plan/chap-01-en.html">Horizontal Skills Review</a> that examined more 100 job training programs organized within four age-based categories. The budget stated that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“ …the Government believes targeted changes could be made to help Canadians more easily navigate the programs and supports they need, improve the way that programs reflect emerging skills needs in the labour market and improve how programs show results so that decision-makers can better identify and invest in ‘what works.’”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The government also affirmed it will target emerging skills, simplify access to training programs and, importantly, publish data on the programs’ effectiveness. </p>
<h2>Yet to share findings</h2>
<p>Now is the time for the federal government to share the empirical findings of its skills review. </p>
<p>This is necessary so that industry groups, researchers, other levels of government and the public alike can make use of this data and analysis to inform decisions about training and ensure the federal government follows through on its commitments. </p>
<p>We need robust public data on program effectiveness to help the organizations –governmental, non-profit and for-profit – that deliver training ensure that it’s effective and relevant in the context of rapid technological change. </p>
<h2>Reorient training supports</h2>
<p>Existing research, including the <a href="https://ppforum.ca/publications/skills-training-and-lifelong-learning/">Public Policy Forum’s</a> <a href="https://ppforum.ca/publications/automation-ai-anxiety-policy-preferred-populism-possible/">Brave New Work</a> series, highlights key priorities. Canada needs training systems to emphasize foundational skills and address inequities in the labour market. These should be based on shared information about best practices and knowledge relevant to changing labour markets. </p>
<p>Canada is in a strong position to prepare for the future of work compared to many places. It has a well-developed bureaucracy and a federal government interested in improving existing programs in order to help more Canadians who face labour market disruption to secure decent work. </p>
<p>To fulfil this potential, researchers and all agencies or offices with a hand in evaluating and developing quality programs need public data about what programs exist and how effective they are. The beginning of 2020 is an excellent time for our provincial governments, as well, to advocate for this priority as they revisit their employment training contracts. </p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128367/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alix J. Jansen has received funding from the Ontario Human Capital Research and Innovation Fund (OHCRIF) of the Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development and from the University of Toronto’s Department of Political Science. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Dhuey receives funding from the Ontario Human Capital Research and Innovation Fund (OHCRIF). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda A. White has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC); the Ontario Human Capital Research and Innovation Fund (OHCRIF); the McCain Foundation; and the Institute of Public Administration of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michal Perlman receives funding from the Ontario Human Capital Research and Innovation Fund (OHCRIF).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beth Martin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The federal government must take a stronger leadership role to ensure the many bodies that co-ordinate employment training programs are sharing information to develop best practices.Alix J. Jansen, PhD Candidate, University of TorontoBeth Martin, Project Manager, University of TorontoElizabeth Dhuey, Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Management, University of TorontoLinda A. White, RBC Chair and Professor, Department of Political Science and Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of TorontoMichal Perlman, Professor of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1206532019-09-05T20:47:24Z2019-09-05T20:47:24ZHow parents and caregivers can help keep children with autism safe<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291010/original/file-20190904-175700-1gljy0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C2%2C982%2C663&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children with ASD are particularly prone to poisoning, suffocation and wandering that can lead to death by drowning or vehicular accident.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Preventable injuries are the <a href="https://www.parachutecanada.org/injury-topics">leading cause of death for Canadians under the age of 45</a>. Unfortunately, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2007.05.002">two to three times more likely to experience a preventable injury</a> than those without. </p>
<p>Children with ASD are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2012-0762">particularly prone to poisoning, suffocation and wandering</a> that can lead to death by drowning or vehicular accident.</p>
<p>They often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2010.07.008">need systematic training to learn safety skills</a>. And they need explicit instruction — to increase the likelihood of using these skills effectively <a href="https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1987.20-89">in different settings and with different people</a>. </p>
<p>Teaching safety skills to children with ASD at a young age is of utmost importance. However, preliminary research suggests that caregivers of children with ASD may not be comfortable teaching these safety skills themselves due to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2809-2">lack of knowledge or experience</a>. </p>
<p>As an associate professor at Brock University and <a href="https://www.bacb.com/bcba-d/">Board Certified Behaviour Analyst-Doctoral</a> (BCBA-D), I have been working with a community clinician and graduate students to empower caregivers to teach safety skills to their children. </p>
<h2>A model for teaching children with autism</h2>
<p>Behavioural skills training (BST) is a strategy commonly used to teach a variety of skills to people with disabilities. This can include safety skills such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/etc.0.0063">learning how to solicit help</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-016-9248-1">what to do upon finding a firearm</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.2005.26-04">reducing the risks of abduction</a>.</p>
<p>Research suggests that the BST model ensures that the person being trained <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.113">not only understands the new skill, but is able to perform it accurately</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291011/original/file-20190904-175691-yfa43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291011/original/file-20190904-175691-yfa43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291011/original/file-20190904-175691-yfa43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291011/original/file-20190904-175691-yfa43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291011/original/file-20190904-175691-yfa43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291011/original/file-20190904-175691-yfa43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291011/original/file-20190904-175691-yfa43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All young children are at risk around household chemicals, but those with autism may need extra training to keep themselves safe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The model involves: (1) instructions, (2) modelling, (3) rehearsal and (4) feedback. First, the trainer provides verbal and/or written instruction on how to complete the skill, and a brief rationale. Next, the trainer models the skill by provides an accurate demonstration. </p>
<p>The trainer then provides the learner with the opportunity to practice the skill and offers feedback in the form of descriptive praise if the learner completes the skill accurately. If the learner does not complete the skill accurately, the trainer offers corrective feedback.</p>
<p>These <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391819">rehearsal and feedback steps are repeated until the learner is able to accurately execute the skill</a>. </p>
<h2>Instructions must be clear and concise</h2>
<p>The first step to teaching safety skills is to select the behaviour you would like to teach (for example, what to do when lost). The next step involves outlining the instructions to use when implementing BST. </p>
<p>It is important that instructions are clear and concise. We recommend breaking the skill down into three or fewer steps. For example, when we teach children what to do if they become lost or separated from their caregiver, we teach them to: (1) call out for caregiver, (2) find a worker, (3) tell the worker they are lost. </p>
<p>Once you have determined the instructions, ensure that you have all of the materials required — for example, props. Also, ensure the environment adequately facilitates learning for your child by eliminating any distractions.</p>
<h2>Follow these five steps</h2>
<p>The following training steps can be applied to teaching a variety of safety skills. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Provide instructions relevant to the skill to your child. For example: “Sometimes when we are at the grocery store, we can get separated, which can be scary. If this happens, I want you to do three things. First, call out for me in a loud voice. Next, if I do not respond, find a worker. Then, tell the worker, ‘I’m lost.’”</p></li>
<li><p>Model the skill for your child, by first getting their attention, and then demonstrating all three steps in a mock scenario: “Let’s pretend we are in the store and I get separated from you.” </p></li>
<li><p>Ask your child to practice the three steps.</p></li>
<li><p>Provide feedback based on their performance, for example if your child calls out for you but in a quiet voice, you can say: “I like how you called out for me, but remember to use a loud voice.”</p></li>
<li><p>Continue rehearsal and feedback until you are confident that your child can perform the skill. </p></li>
</ol>
<h2>Practise in a natural environment</h2>
<p>It is also important to eventually practice the skill in the environment where the skill will be needed, such as in public settings.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291012/original/file-20190904-175678-1qf2oko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291012/original/file-20190904-175678-1qf2oko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291012/original/file-20190904-175678-1qf2oko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291012/original/file-20190904-175678-1qf2oko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291012/original/file-20190904-175678-1qf2oko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291012/original/file-20190904-175678-1qf2oko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291012/original/file-20190904-175678-1qf2oko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teaching safety skills in public settings could safe a child’s life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, can the child perform the skill if separated in a grocery store? As a safety precaution have someone “under-cover” to also watch the child and to see if they engage in the appropriate steps. </p>
<p>If the child does not engage in the appropriate steps, provide feedback and repeat until everyone is confident. </p>
<p>If caregivers practice teaching basic safety skills using the steps of BST at home with their child, it may help to keep them safe if dangerous situations arise. </p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120653/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kendra Thomson receives funding from Brock University. She is affiliated with Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis. </span></em></p>This simple strategy could help your child safely negotiate dangerous situations such as getting lost in a public place or discovering a firearm.Kendra Thomson, Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Disability Studies, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1068222018-11-21T13:45:08Z2018-11-21T13:45:08ZApprenticeships in America: four ways to get the country to take them seriously<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245800/original/file-20181115-194491-1wvhcbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Know the drill. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/apprentice-engineer-using-milling-machine-165341819?src=2sJx-ZpOEe6tiPEfI_PQ2g-2-57">Monkey Business Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With the <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-midterm-results-six-key-issues-and-what-they-mean-for-the-countrys-uncertain-future-106467">midterm elections</a> out of the way, the big question in American politics is where might the bitterly divided Democrats and Republicans be able to cooperate. One of the main contenders is apprenticeships. They have already attracted a fair degree of bipartisan support in recent years, but still have a long way to go to reach their potential.</p>
<p>The US has a proud history of apprenticeship – Benjamin Franklin <a href="https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Benjamin-Franklin/274417/201161-toc">was an</a> apprentice printer, for example – but this tradition has largely been lost. The American apprenticeship system used to be connected with labour unions, and they declined together in the latter years of the 20th century. Successive <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/326995-census-more-americans-have-college-degrees-than-ever-before">pushes</a> to get more people doing four-year college degrees have also made apprenticeships and other alternatives seem inferior. </p>
<p>Where the US has about a half million active apprentices, England has more than <a href="https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06113">900,000</a> and Germany has about <a href="https://www.bibb.de/veroeffentlichungen/de/publication/show/8425">1.3m</a> – both about ten times more than the US per head of population. With Germany in particular, it is <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/05/why-germany-still-has-so-many-middle-class-manufacturing-jobs">often argued</a> that apprenticeship skills help manufacturers in the likes of the car industry to stay globally competitive, while acting as a bedrock for smaller companies, or <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/connect/small-business/driving-growth/secrets-growth-power-of-germany-mittelstand/"><em>mittelstand</em></a>. </p>
<p>Young American workers in many equivalent jobs tend to simply be trained while they work. But in recent years, many Democrats and Republicans have become persuaded that having no formal educational component in such training is a problem. </p>
<p>Employers say they are struggling to fill skilled vacancies – particularly in areas like high-tech machine operation and repair. This limits their firms’ growth potential and the economy as a whole. It means fewer stable careers or well paid middle-class jobs. And with automation bringing ever more robots and complex machines to production lines, this skills gap looks an even bigger threat for the future. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245799/original/file-20181115-172710-yzvaah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245799/original/file-20181115-172710-yzvaah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245799/original/file-20181115-172710-yzvaah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245799/original/file-20181115-172710-yzvaah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245799/original/file-20181115-172710-yzvaah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245799/original/file-20181115-172710-yzvaah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245799/original/file-20181115-172710-yzvaah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245799/original/file-20181115-172710-yzvaah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Easy does it.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/instructor-showing-trainee-how-use-sawing-251005375?src=2sJx-ZpOEe6tiPEfI_PQ2g-1-18">goodluz</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Interventions</h2>
<p>Following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/six-charts-that-show-how-much-the-world-has-changed-since-the-2007-08-financial-crisis-83477">financial crisis</a> of 2007-08, President Obama identified apprenticeships as a tool for enabling economic recovery. He saw them as a way of creating the skills that would help high-tech manufacturing bounce back, for example, creating a more diversified and robust economy. In his 2012 State of the Union address, he <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/24/remarks-president-state-union-address">declared</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Tonight, I want to speak about how we move forward, and lay out a blueprint for an economy that’s built to last -– an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 2014, he <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/top-obama-official-lays-out-the-promise-and-problem-with-apprenticeships/456357/">announced</a> a target to double apprenticeships in five years. The White House hosted the first ever <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/07/14/first-ever-white-house-summit-american-apprenticeship-helping-american-workers-punch">“Apprenticeship Summit”</a> for big industry and government players, and Obama helped to drive the <a href="https://www.doleta.gov/wioa/">Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 2014</a> through Congress. A rare example of both parties coming together, it made funds available to firms to pay a portion of apprentices’ wages. </p>
<p>The government <a href="https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osec/osec20160421">also</a> issued US$175m (£136m) in grant money to directly support 46 apprenticeship programmes in 2015, and persuaded Congress <a href="https://ssti.org/blog/dol-announces-90m-apprenticeship-programs-includes-30m-high-tech-industries">to invest</a> a further $90m in 2016. </p>
<p>Donald Trump, a man <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364782/">famously associated</a> with apprentices for other reasons, has since built on this momentum. In 2017 he signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/3245/">executive order</a> to expand apprenticeships, including another $200m of funding. He also put in place a <a href="https://www.dol.gov/apprenticeship/docs/task-force-apprenticeship-expansion-report.pdf">task force</a> to drive the expansion forward. </p>
<p>So far, all this activity has produced a decent <a href="https://doleta.gov/oa/data_statistics.cfm">upswing</a> in apprenticeship numbers. Yet it still only represents a return to the levels of the early 2000s. Apprenticeships also remain over-concentrated in construction and the military, <a href="https://doleta.gov/oa/data_statistics.cfm">which account</a> for about half the total. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245781/original/file-20181115-194497-tzgxvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245781/original/file-20181115-194497-tzgxvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245781/original/file-20181115-194497-tzgxvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245781/original/file-20181115-194497-tzgxvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245781/original/file-20181115-194497-tzgxvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245781/original/file-20181115-194497-tzgxvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245781/original/file-20181115-194497-tzgxvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245781/original/file-20181115-194497-tzgxvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Source: US Department of Labour.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If the US is going to achieve the expansion that President Trump is seeking, here is what the priorities should be:</p>
<p><strong>1. Reducing stigma</strong></p>
<p>Obama and Trump have certainly made good inroads into reducing the stigma around apprenticeships. Besides his other initiatives, Obama established an annual <a href="https://www.dol.gov/apprenticeship/naw/">National Apprenticeship Week</a> that now takes place every November. Trump has loudly backed this initiative, opening this year’s event with a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-proclamation-national-apprenticeship-week-2018/">speech</a> where he called a himself a “strong believer” in the apprenticeship model. Earlier this year, the Senate similarly passed a bipartisan resolution recognising September as <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?id%3D4939628A-1E33-460B-BA63-24D4C8B56DC1&source=gmail&ust=1542123759003000&usg=AFQjCNF65g9B116fmdX-cNY3VeZU4HsGBA">National Workforce Development Month</a>. </p>
<p>Such statements are not merely rhetoric but an important part of the solution. Apprenticeships in America are still too widely associated with failing to make it into a four-year college programme. The country’s political leaders now need to double down and promote the model as widely as possible. </p>
<p><strong>2. Smarter investments</strong></p>
<p>Without investment from the federal government and Congress, apprenticeships frequently don’t happen. Many firms fear set-up costs like designing a curriculum and getting a programme off the ground. </p>
<p>It can be a particularly good investment when government funding supports clusters of firms to spread costs by offering an apprenticeship programme between them. North Carolina’s <a href="http://nctap.org">NCTAP apprenticeship programme</a> involves ten partner companies in high-tech manufacturing, for example. Future funds could be aimed specifically at supporting these kinds of inter-firm schemes – funding an organisation to oversee a programme, for example. </p>
<p><strong>3. Neglected areas</strong></p>
<p>The flipside of the big concentration in construction and the military is big gaps elsewhere. <a href="https://doleta.gov/oa/data_statistics.cfm">There are</a> only about 2,500 apprenticeships in healthcare-related occupations, for example, and even fewer in computing. </p>
<p>Widening the scope of apprenticeship in such fast-growing sectors will admittedly be a challenge, because entrants generally have higher-education degrees. But there is a strong case for young people combining learning with practical experience across the board – particularly in a sector like computing, which is changing so rapidly. Federal and state governments should push for industry, colleges and other stakeholders to co-develop apprenticeship programmes for these industries. </p>
<p><strong>4. Allies</strong></p>
<p>America should also be turning to firms and other organisations from Europe to benefit from their expertise in apprenticeship. This could involve the likes of Volkswagen, <a href="https://media.vw.com/en-us/releases/1063">which runs</a> an apprenticeship programme at its assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee; but also intermediary organisations such as the <a href="http://www.gaccsouth.com/en/services/vocational-education-and-training/">German American Chambers of Commerce</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245801/original/file-20181115-194516-1kmypv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245801/original/file-20181115-194516-1kmypv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245801/original/file-20181115-194516-1kmypv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245801/original/file-20181115-194516-1kmypv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245801/original/file-20181115-194516-1kmypv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245801/original/file-20181115-194516-1kmypv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245801/original/file-20181115-194516-1kmypv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245801/original/file-20181115-194516-1kmypv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Training in Germany.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ulmgermany-november-272013-unidentified-group-students-754075495?src=LRrDf1WOYOeGwYTa8q2L9A-1-8">mofaez</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It would be useful to invite such organisations to help create a stakeholder group to develop universal apprenticeship standards. The current system is so disparate that it can be difficult to compare skills and competencies, even in the same occupation. This limits the transferability and overall value of an apprenticeship certificate to trainees and employers alike.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106822/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johann Fortwengel received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG). </span></em></p>With Congress so deadlocked in recent years, skills training is a rare example of the two parties actually working together.Johann Fortwengel, Lecturer in International Management, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/961722018-05-23T22:53:40Z2018-05-23T22:53:40ZJudges sentence youth offenders to chess, with promising results<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219860/original/file-20180521-14987-eb19q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Preliminary research into the Chess for Life Program in Alberta, Canada, shows that youth who are sentenced to chess instruction after committing non-violent crimes are learning useful life skills. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since January 2018, every Friday afternoon, one campus classroom in Canada is transformed. Tables are set up with two chairs facing one another; a chess set invites players to begin. An interactive white board shows a game in progress. Off to the side, another board is set up with a “chess problem.” </p>
<p>At half past one, the players begin to show up. The room fills with noisy young voices, sharing how their week has gone and clamouring for cookies and juice. </p>
<p>The scene is like any youth gathering, with one difference: Group home workers and probation officers are in attendance. </p>
<p>All of these youth are involved in the criminal justice system and are attending what’s known as the Chess for Life Program at Alberta’s University of Lethbridge as part of their sentence. </p>
<p>Sentencing practices for youth who engage in non-violent crimes have traditionally adopted a punitive approach — for example, ordering time in a juvenile detention centre. However, research suggests that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.01.005">punitive models have little impact on reducing the chances of reoffending</a>. </p>
<p>In fact, <a href="http://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/248513.pdf">punitive sentencing can result in poor social outcomes, low rates of employment and higher school dropout rates</a>. </p>
<h2>Chess for Life</h2>
<p>Some people suggest a more rehabilitative approach to sentencing is needed. For example, youth could be sentenced to programs that provide opportunities for developing life skills and establishing more positive relationships. This may result in increased levels of self-confidence, <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/framwork.pdf">reducing the chance of reoffending</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/yj-jj/tools-outils/back-hist.html">Alternate sentencing initiatives</a> focus on fair sentencing practices that are appropriate and support the reintegration of youth back into the community.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219858/original/file-20180521-14953-p6suq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A research team at the University of Lethbridge is exploring how chess as an alternate sentence impacts how youth view themselves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Within the Young Offenders Branch of the Alberta government and the province’s Assistant Deputy Minister’s office, there is a movement towards alternate sentencing for youth involved in non-violent crimes. As a result, Alberta’s Ministry of Justice and the faculties of education and health sciences at the University of Lethbridge have teamed up to deliver a unique program as an alternate sentence: Chess for Life. </p>
<p>Chess for Life is a 25-hour chess instruction program lead by longtime chess players Dr. Lance Grigg and assistants Riley Kostek and Josh Markle. Youth learn opening, middle and end-game strategies while playing the program leaders and each other. </p>
<p>While the youth may not know it, they also are developing skills in reasoning, problem-solving, paying attention, planning, focusing and decision-making. </p>
<h2>‘Every move has a consequence’</h2>
<p>Although all of this sounds great, there is little research into the influence learning to play chess may have on self-regulatory functions and on the life choices youth make. </p>
<p>To address this gap, our research team, led by Monique Sedgwick and Jeffrey MacCormack, is conducting a study that explores how youth caught up in the criminal justice system, and participating in the Chess for Life Program, view themselves as they learn how to play chess. </p>
<p>So far, we have observed that the youth, for the most part, like to come to instructional sessions. They say they really like how quiet the room is and that for the couple of hours they’re in the classroom, things slow down and it’s just chess. </p>
<p>They can leave the distractions, challenges, hurt and pain of their day at the door. </p>
<p>We’ve also noticed the youth have become more thoughtful. They ask good questions about moments in the game — questions that demonstrate they are developing problem-solving and planning skills. </p>
<p>They now know why the four middle squares of the board are important; we all need a strong centre. Before they move a player, we hear them plan their moves by working through the consequences of moving a piece in a particular way. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most revealing comment one youth has shared — reflecting the positive influence of the program — is that he wishes he had “learned to play chess a lot earlier.” </p>
<p>In life, like chess, every move has a consequence.</p>
<p>Although the study is in preliminary stages of collecting data, initial observations suggest the Chess for Life program is a good alternate sentence choice for helping these young people get their lives back on track.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96172/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In Alberta, an alternative initiative sees youth who commit non-violent crimes sentenced to 25 hours of chess instruction with a University of Lethbridge professor.Monique Sedgwick, Associate Professor of Nursing, University of LethbridgeJeffrey MacCormack, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, University of LethbridgeLance Grigg, Associate Professor of Education, University of LethbridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/813242017-08-08T19:46:57Z2017-08-08T19:46:57ZA closer look at jobless youth in Western Sydney points us to the solutions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181313/original/file-20170808-3274-15o4cun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Early intervention via education and training is a proven way to stop unemployed youth becoming unemployable adults.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/search/photos/youth?photo=p0rT3VcWRvQ">Tom Sodoge/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Youth unemployment emerged as a primary national issue in the late 1970s after <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/mar/03/1970s-oil-price-shock">international crisis</a> upended Australia’s cosy <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/The-year-the-economy-went-bung/2004/12/31/1104344983057.html">post-war economy</a>. </p>
<p>Ten years later, youth unemployment soared again as the financial crises of the late 1980s became a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-dodged-recession-but-growth-estimates-haunt-20120926-26lih.html">full-blown Australian recession</a>. Partial solutions were found. </p>
<p>Yet the disappearance of full-time jobs for the young is <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/youth-unemployment-rate">accelerating once more</a>. At the same time, for absurd reasons, new barriers to post-school education and training are being erected.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-get-young-people-into-work-we-first-need-to-understand-how-the-workplace-is-changing-65394">To get young people into work, we first need to understand how the workplace is changing</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>The Centre for Western Sydney, in association with Youth Action NSW, has released a <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/cws/policy">new report</a> into youth unemployment in Western Sydney. We find more than 20 clusters – two or three adjoining neighbourhoods in each case – where the problem is most intense. Typically, each cluster contains around 300 unemployed youth and a further 300 young people who have become disengaged from both full-time work and education and training.</p>
<p>What the study shows is that young people living in these areas of concentrated unemployment face particular challenges. But, having identified these, the evidence of successful policies in the past can steer us towards solutions, provided we are willing to invest in them.</p>
<h2>Heed the evidence of what works</h2>
<p>A generation ago, during the recession, we learned a lot about youth unemployment. Some key lessons were that:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the youth labour market was more than a sub-set of the general labour market;</p></li>
<li><p>economic recovery no longer restored jobs supply to the young;</p></li>
<li><p>employers had stopped hiring people fresh out of school to train them for lifelong work; and</p></li>
<li><p>punitive actions involving work readiness and conditional welfare payments were not solutions.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/suspending-welfare-payments-wont-help-young-people-get-jobs-66116">Suspending welfare payments won’t help young people get jobs</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>In the 1990s, Prime Minister Paul Keating drastically <a href="http://epubs.scu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1067&context=jesp">changed the policy settings for youth</a>. The focus shifted to measures to make the completion of secondary schooling normal and enrolment in post-school education and training common. Youth unemployment fell consistently <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/youth-unemployment-rate">for more than a decade</a> as a direct consequence.</p>
<p>But since the global financial crisis a decade ago, the problem of youth unemployment has worsened again. </p>
<iframe src="https://d3fy651gv2fhd3.cloudfront.net/embed/?s=AUSTRALIAYOUUNERAT&v=20170726215800&d1=19170101&d2=20171231&h=300&w=600" height="300" width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<p><br> <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/youth-unemployment-rate"></a></p>
<h2>So, what are the key problems?</h2>
<p>Young adults in the clusters identified in the report face neighbourhood hurdles, for sure. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>lower household income;</p></li>
<li><p>low employment participation rates among parents;</p></li>
<li><p>higher reliance on social housing provision;</p></li>
<li><p>higher levels of responsibility for child-rearing among young women; and</p></li>
<li><p>in some areas, lower English language competency. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>However, the most common characteristics for unemployed and disengaged youth across these clusters are the failure to complete secondary schooling and to enrol in post-school education and training.</p>
<p>Clearly, an education and training solution to youth unemployment requires new effort and resources. Yet circumstances have changed since the global financial crisis. </p>
<p>Alongside the education and training problem, we find an alarming rise in the vulnerability of young adults in Western Sydney to long-term unemployment for two other reasons. </p>
<p>One is a new jobs problem caused by the <a href="http://profile.id.com.au/cws">geography of Sydney’s high population growth</a>. Our clusters are located in sub-regions of Western Sydney where local jobs growth is outstripped by the growth of resident workers, often workers with higher skills levels and considerable workforce experience. And access to more distant jobs <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-people-cant-get-to-their-jobs-bring-the-jobs-to-the-people-57567">is a big problem</a> when young people live in households without a spare vehicle and local public transport is inadequate.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-people-cant-get-to-their-jobs-bring-the-jobs-to-the-people-57567">If the people can’t get to their jobs, bring the jobs to the people</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>A second issue is growing job insecurity in industry sectors where unskilled youth in Western Sydney have typically found jobs, especially in manufacturing and retailing. </p>
<p>Technological changes and a push for higher workplace productivity mean fewer jobs for inexperienced, untrained young people. Filling in job applications and regularly fronting up to employment services providers can’t guarantee a regular pay packet in these traditional sectors.</p>
<p>Current demographic changes mean higher rates of labour force participation are needed to feed the tax pool to fund a growing number of retirees. At such a time it makes no sense to watch a high proportion of our youth drift through unemployment and disengagement and turn into unemployable adults. </p>
<p>Early intervention via education and training will cost money straight up. But the returns through time – both fiscal and social – are surely worth the investment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81324/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Centre for Western Sydney's report into youth unemployment in Western Sydney was commissioned by Youth Action NSW.</span></em></p>Early intervention via education and training will cost money straight up. But it makes no sense to watch young people drift through unemployment and disengagement and turn into unemployable adults.Phillip O'Neill, Director, Centre for Western Sydney, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/624482016-07-21T17:34:06Z2016-07-21T17:34:06ZKenyan schools reform is a unique chance to rethink life-skills teaching<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131056/original/image-20160719-13851-2vsgj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Are schools the best place to teach life skills?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Noor Khamis/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Research has established that school-going children with a positive attitude are <a href="http://www.popline.org/node/499076">more likely</a> to achieve better results in school and in life. They’re also more likely to be goal-oriented and committed to their favourite activities than those peers who have negative attitudes. </p>
<p>Nurturing that positive outlook, especially in children living in economically and socially deprived conditions, is an important responsibility for the adults in their lives, particularly their parents. Parental involvement <a href="https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-015-0069-9">is key</a> in educating children and <a href="https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-015-0069-9">reduces their risk</a> of engaging in deviant social behaviour.</p>
<p>The other important adults in children’s lives are their teachers, with whom they spend a great deal of time. It is no accident, then, that the teaching of life skills was envisaged in Kenya’s current school curriculum. Unfortunately, this has not been fully undertaken, partly because <a href="http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/5/1/2158244015571488">teachers are overloaded</a>. </p>
<p>Kenya’s <a href="http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/06/17/curriculum-review-team-presents-proposals-today_c1370634">ongoing review</a> of its entire school curriculum provides a momentous opportunity to rethink how life skills are taught. It’s also an open invitation for stakeholders to assess the challenges that will face the actual implementation. Now is the time to consider the options. </p>
<h2>What options can be explored?</h2>
<p>So what are life skills? They <a href="http://ovcsupport.org/wp-content/uploads/Documents/Effects_and_Effectiveness_of_Life_Skills_Education_for_HIV_prevention_in_Young_People_1.pdf">include</a>, but aren’t limited to, self-awareness and self-worth; and communication and decision-making. It’s been repeatedly <a href="http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/A_Human_Rights_Based_Approach_to_Education_for_All.pdf">proven</a> that equipping people with the right life skills reduces gender inequalities. It also improves the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thoughtful-Art-Discipline-Responsibility-Misbehaves/dp/1565830148">quality of parenting</a> and child-rearing in a society. It can <a href="https://www.lifeskillstraining.com/evaluation_detail.php?id=28">eliminate antisocial behaviour</a> and criminal tendencies.</p>
<p>A life-skills course taught as a school subject is one option. But merely tasking teachers with this role offers no guarantee of success – unless the academic and resource pressures in public schools are addressed. Head teachers from schools within the capital, Nairobi, have told me and other researchers that they struggle with perennial staff shortages and their teachers’ heavy workloads.</p>
<p>Added to that is the impact of the “mean score syndrome”. The cut-throat competition for high grades on standardised examinations is prioritised over everything else. This directly affects whether schools would be motivated to deliver life-skills training, as this has no impact on these rankings. Having teachers specialised in life-skills teaching would lessen the burden because each school would have dedicated resources. </p>
<p>The other option is to teach life skills outside the school environment using various techniques. Parents would be relied upon to impart life skills. According to a <a href="http://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Improving-learning-outcomes.pdf">recent study</a> conducted by Kenya’s African Population and Health Research Center, life-skills courses can be offered successfully outside of the school environment by mentors who understand the context of where children live.</p>
<h2>Tried and tested</h2>
<p>There are some <a href="http://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Improving-learning-outcomes.pdf">valuable lessons</a> from the three-year programme designed to improve learning outcomes among early adolescent girls in two of Nairobi’s informal settlements. The African Population and Health Research Center’s life-skills mentorship programme was delivered through a network of community-based mentors. It incorporated practical and theoretical training, using manuals and guides to teach life skills. </p>
<p>This intervention demonstrated that mentoring and parental involvement may help boost confidence. It can also reduce aggressive behaviour and, in some cases, lead to improved results at school. This was measured quantitatively and qualitatively as “<a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Mentoring-can-empower-girls-in-slums/-/440808/3084592/-/jkbukpz/-/index.html">aspirations</a>”. This is to say that girls who had previously believed that their chances to go on to secondary school were limited to the point of improbable were now allowing themselves to dream about possibilities. </p>
<p>Girls’ parents in the two communities, Korogocho and Viwandani, were given counselling about the need to support their daughters’ education. This provided them with the tools and language necessary to support their children’s schooling. It helped them to find the right balance between chores and homework for daughters looking to transition to secondary school.</p>
<p>Having the confidence to believe in themselves – bolstered by adult mentors as well as by newly empowered parents – gave the girls cover to keep away from the risky behaviours that lead many in Kenya’s informal settlements away from school and into petty crime, early sexual exploration and other self-limiting activities.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Life skills are a <a href="http://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Improving-learning-outcomes.pdf">necessary and vital complement</a> to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CWtTxZb9ac">basic schooling</a>. Giving girls a sense of self-worth is as important as teaching them to read, write and do math. More investment should be made in delivering life skills so that girls – and boys – are empowered to reject negative peer influence. This would help to internalise values that will keep them on track to achieve their goals, both in school and beyond. </p>
<p>Kenya’s ongoing curriculum reform will be incomplete if the teaching of life skills in schools is not incorporated. The revamped curriculum should provide opportunities for counsellors, mentors or teachers to specialise in life skills and administer the curriculum. It should also open mentoring opportunities in schools, requiring the same standards and certifications as those of teachers in academic subjects. </p>
<p>These teachers should be prepared to serve as community liaisons. They would create and maintain contacts with parents so that every child could have the opportunity to cultivate aspirations and to dream big.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62448/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benta A. Abuya is from APHRC. </span></em></p>Thanks to life-skills training, girls who previously believed it improbable that they would go on to secondary school are now allowing themselves to dream about possibilities.Benta A. Abuya, Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/401772015-04-15T13:53:58Z2015-04-15T13:53:58ZManifesto Check: Greens put ideology over evidence on education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78064/original/image-20150415-31660-19fdq71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Green Party were clearly optimistic when doing their sums. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?country_code=GB&page_number=1&position=91&safesearch=1&search_language=en&search_source=search_form&search_type=keyword_search&searchterm=school%20children%20in%20uniform%20green&sort_method=popular&source=search&timestamp=1429102572&tracking_id=Q_SB-J4XlRLMysGjnZM9Bw&use_local_boost=1&version=llv1&page=1&inline=135700091">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Welcome to The Conversation’s Manifesto Check, where academics from across the UK subject each party’s manifesto to unbiased, expert scrutiny.</em></p>
<h2>Schools</h2>
<p><strong>Simon Burgess, Professor of Economics at University of Bristol</strong></p>
<p>The Green Party’s <a href="https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/manifesto/Green_Party_2015_General_Election_Manifesto.pdf">education policies</a> appear to be designed to model the principles of the party, rather than reflect the research about what works well in raising pupil attainment. There are a number of radical and eye-catching policies; but many of these seem unlikely to have positive effects. The total cost of implementing these policies is also a major issue. </p>
<p>The Greens seem to have moved away from a long-standing principle of school policy: that education can act against inequalities in family background to help give poorer pupils a fighting chance. Natalie Bennett <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/25/greens-leader-natalie-bennett-tv-debate">said</a>: “We have to get away from the idea that schools can somehow make up for the incredible levels of child poverty.” </p>
<p>Yet many experts including <a href="http://issues.org/31-1/21st-century-inequality-the-declining-significance-of-discrimination/">Harvard Professor Roland Fryer</a> passionately argue that education has a significant role to play in overcoming inequality. Bennett is right that education policy cannot create an equal society on its own, but it is far too powerful a tool to give up altogether.</p>
<p>The policies themselves focus specifically on school accountability, class size, and on the permissible types of school. </p>
<p>The Greens propose to abolish school league tables, SATs and OFSTED, to remove independent accountability entirely. There are two points to be made here: one on principle, and one on evidence. Schools are given two resources: the future of our children and around <a href="http://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/bns/BN168.pdf">£40 billion a year of public money</a> (the former being far more valuable than the latter). As a matter of principle, schools should be properly accountable for both of these. </p>
<p>We do not need to guess at the results of such a policy, since the <a href="http://www.bris.ac.uk/cmpo/publications/papers/2010/abstract246.html">first Welsh Assembly government abolished</a> league tables as one of its first acts. The <a href="http://www.bris.ac.uk/cmpo/publications/papers/2010/abstract246.html">evidence shows</a> that this move reduced average attainment and widened inequality. A decade later, the change was reversed, and Wales <a href="http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/schoolshome/raisingstandards/schoolbanding/secondary/?lang=en">adopted a banding</a> system to identify schools in need of support. </p>
<p>The Green Party also pledges to reduce class sizes from 30 to 20 students. This will be very expensive; <a href="https://twitter.com/Samfr/status/588088304094081024">experienced commentators think</a> it’s likely to be much more expensive than the £1.5 billion over five years, which the Greens estimate. But also it is unlikely to be effective. The <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/toolkit-a-z/reducing-class-size/">Education Endowment Foundation tookit</a> describes such policies as “low impact for very high cost, based on moderate evidence.” A <a href="http://www.classize.org/techreport/CSR_Capstone_prepub.pdf">review</a> of the major policy change in California doing just this found little evidence of improvements in pupil attainment, a decline in average teacher quality (as measured by their qualifications) and a less equitable distribution of teacher talent.</p>
<p>The Greens manifesto is clear on what sorts of schools the party does not like, but is imprecise on some of the mechanisms to eliminate them. Academies and Free schools are to be “integrated” into the local authority system. This might mean giving schools the same sorts of capabilities as academies (as Labour proposes) or removing those capabilities from academies, which is unfeasible and undesirable. Grammar schools are also to be “integrated” (“abolished”), which is a positive step as it will eliminate one <a href="https://cmpo.wordpress.com/2014/06/05/grammar-school-systems-increase-inequality/">source of inequality</a>. </p>
<p>Faith schools are to be stripped of public funds. While there are certainly issues about admissions to faith schools (such as “<a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1369835">cream skimming</a>” the local area), which need to be addressed, this abolition seems to run against the Greens’ drive for local devolution on schools – apparently, cities can decide on the schooling they want, but faith communities cannot.</p>
<p>Finally, private schools would lose the state subsidy from their charitable status, which is <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/jun/18/david-miliband-private-school-subsidy">worth tens of millions</a>. Having tax-payers subsidise these already well-funded institutions seems unnecessary, so this would be a positive step. </p>
<h2>Early Years</h2>
<p><strong>Daniel Muijs, Professor of Education at University of Southampton</strong> </p>
<p>The Green education manifesto proposes some radical changes to the current educational landscape. But the measures proposed do not come cheap; and this holds true for schools, early years, and further education alike. </p>
<p>Based on my calculations, the costed elements of these three parts of the manifesto add up to more than £19 billion of extra spending a year. This represents an increase of almost 20% to this year’s education budget, which <a href="http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/142/economics/what-does-the-government-spend-its-money-on/">stood at £98 billion</a>. What’s more, the uncosted reforms are likely to add a significant amount on top of that. </p>
<p>The manifesto rightly emphasises the importance of early years provision, proposing the creation of universal, high quality pre-school provision, with children’s centres for the very young, and early years education for children from one year of age, all led by qualified teachers with expertise in early years. The importance placed on early years is based on sound research, and it appears that the Green Party is aware of some <a href="https://www.ioe.ac.uk/RB_Final_Report_3-7.pdf">recent studies in this area</a>. This research also shows that the Green Party is on firm ground in emphasising the need for quality of provision and encouraging settings that have a mixed intake. </p>
<h2>Further education and skills training</h2>
<p><strong>Daniel Muijs, Professor of Education at University of Southampton</strong> </p>
<p>A central element of the Green Party’s further education policy is the restoration of Local Authority control over providers – just as they intend with schools. Under this policy, all colleges would return to the control of local authorities, which would in effect mean an end to the move towards more diversity within the system. This is part of a strong ideological opposition against privatisation, which runs throughout the manifesto. In contrast, the evidence tends to show that devolving management to schools <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/2632/487400PUB0dece101Official0Use0Only1.pdf?sequence=1">leads to better outcomes</a>. </p>
<p>The Green Party aims to increase participation of disadvantaged groups by <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3638739.stm">reinstating the Education Maintenance Allowance</a>, a policy that paid up to £30 a week to children from poorer families who remain in post-16 education. The policy was originally piloted by the Labour government in 1999, and introduced nationwide in 2004. It was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12881747">abolished by the coalition</a> in 2010. </p>
<p>The effectiveness of the policy has been disputed. The <a href="http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/5370">evidence shows</a> greater levels of participation in areas where the scheme was introduced during the pilot phase. But the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which conducted the study, has also suggested that the extent of the increase did not justify the expense of the policy. </p>
<p>The Green Party also promise that any young person between 16 and 25 will have the right to an apprenticeship, encourage LAs to provide adult education, and increase finding for the FE sector by £1.5 billion each year. A final important and valuable policy – which seems like a small detail at first – is the ending of the differentiated VAT regime for school and colleges, which <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/nov/26/sixth-form-college-vat-cuts">unfairly disadvantages the latter</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Burgess receives funding from ESRC, the Education Endowment Foundation and the Department for Education, but this article does not reflect the views of the research councils. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Muijs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our experts find that the Green Party’s generous pledges on education will cost them.Daniel Muijs, Director of Research and Deputy Head of Southampton Education School, University of SouthamptonSimon Burgess, Professor of Economics, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/401062015-04-13T20:40:29Z2015-04-13T20:40:29ZManifesto Check: ‘Labour’s skills policy is a disappointing muddle’<p><strong>Hilary Steedman, London School of Economics and Political Science</strong></p>
<p>Labour’s <a href="http://b.3cdn.net/labouruk/e1d45da42456423b8c_vwm6brbvb.pdf">election manifesto</a> promises four initiatives in the area of skills and apprenticeships; the Compulsory Jobs Guarantee, the Apprenticeship Guarantee, the Youth Allowance, and the Technical Baccalaureate. It is not clear whether the party’s priority is to cut the benefits bill and take young people off the unemployment register, or to ensure that all young people gain the skills and experience they need to make the transition to a job with a future. Ultimately, Labour’s skills policy is a disappointing muddle. </p>
<p>The Compulsory Jobs Guarantee would replace benefits with a paid “starter job for every young person unemployed for over a year, a job which they will have to take or lose benefits”. A “starter job” – whatever that may be – does not equip a young person with the skills needed to stay and progress in employment. A low-level, service-sector job is of little use to a young unemployed graduate looking for a foothold in the profession or occupation for which they have studied. Neither is it a solution for a young person, with a history of poor labour market attachment, who <a href="http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/abstract.asp?index=2108">requires support and mentoring</a> which cannot be provided by the workplace alone. </p>
<p>But read to the end of Labour’s skills policy announcements and – almost as an afterthought – there is a different deal for 18 to 21-year-olds. Instead of receiving out of work benefits, this group will have access to a Youth Allowance – possibly means-tested – which is dependent on receipt of training. </p>
<p>That leaves the Apprenticeship Guarantee. Unlike the very specific guarantee incorporated in the last Labour government’s <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/22/contents/">Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009</a> and ditched by the coalition, this policy promises only “an apprenticeship to every school leaver who gets the grades”. It does not specify what grades. If we are not told the conditions, we cannot judge if it is a promise worth having. </p>
<h2>Removing the bottom rungs</h2>
<p>For an 18 to 21-year-old in training, who is not on benefits (but possibly receiving a Youth Allowance) there is no obvious ladder that would enable them to access the promise of an apprenticeship. For instance, it is not clear if they will have the opportunity to get “the grades” – whatever they may be – through a traineeship or similar stepping stone to a full apprenticeship. Likewise, we cannot tell from Labour’s manifesto whether the Compulsory Jobs Guarantee will form part of a pathway, or a dead end. </p>
<p>We must applaud Labour’s commitment to apprenticeships with real value, which are regarded as equivalent to A-level, and can lead to degree-level study in the form of a Technical Degree. But in making these promises, Labour has kicked away the bottom rungs of the ladder of opportunity to gain a worthwhile occupational skill, which all young people should be able to access. </p>
<p>Labour will continue the coalition government’s policy of giving employers more control over apprenticeship funding and standards. This is sensible, but not without its challenges. Small employers, who provide the most apprenticeship places, have <a href="http://feweek.co.uk/2015/03/17/number-10-reveals-apprenticeship-funding-reform-ahead-of-budget/">made it clear</a> that they do not want control over funding and the increased complex accountability that entails. </p>
<p>Labour will use changes to government funding rules to try to wean English employers away from their preference for training <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-pay-survey-2012">their own older employees</a> and calling them apprentices, rather than taking on young people. This will be difficult, but – as the Business, Innovation and Skills Commons Select Committee <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmbis/83/8302.htm">has shown</a> – will provide better value for for government money. If Labour could join their policies up and make some bolder promises on apprenticeships, we could look forward to benefits for the country and for all young people.</p>
<p><strong>Claudia Hupkau, Research Associate at London School of Economics and Political Science</strong></p>
<p>In its manifesto, Labour proposes a Technical Baccalaureate – but actually, this already exists. It was <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-techbacc-will-give-vocational-education-the-high-status-it-deserves">announced in 2013</a> by the Department for Education and then-Skills Minister Mathew Hancock. But rather than being a separate qualification it was designed as a measure to use in performance tables.</p>
<p>Pupils who pursue certain high-quality vocational courses recognised by employers, study <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/366677/The_Technical_Baccalaureate_performance_table_measure.pdf">Maths at level 3</a> (for instance, as an AS or A level), and do an “extended project” are considered as doing a “technical baccalaureate” for performance table purposes. The aim of this initiative was to provide an incentive for schools to encourage their bright students to choose vocational routes.</p>
<p>Labour’s plan is to institutionalise the Technical Baccalaureate as an actual award. Having a single award would help to simplify the vocational education landscape, and make it easier for the qualification to gain currency. Under the current arrangements, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/339942/2016_16_to_19_performance_tables_inclusion_of_tech_levels.pdf">230 technical-level qualifications</a> are recognised as Technical Baccalaureates. </p>
<p>This gives schools and vocational education providers flexibility in terms of the courses they offer to their students, and many well-established and -recognised qualifications are included in the list. But it does not deal with the problem that students wishing to pursue an alternative to A-levels are faced with hundreds of possible qualifications, which they often have little information about. The information problem is compounded by the uncertainty as to whether these qualifications will be as highly regarded by employers or universities as A-levels. </p>
<p>Labour’s proposal could help simplify the vocational education landscape by reducing the number of qualifications to choose from, which would be beneficial for students and employers alike. But the manifesto lacks detail as to how exactly this would be implemented. One of the hallmarks of the English vocational education system is that it is <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/180504/DFE-00031-2011.pdf">extremely complex</a>, and many previous attempts at simplifying it have resulted in ever more bureaucracy and perverse incentives for education providers and employers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40106/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hilary Steedman has previously received funding from government departments, leading charities and international organisations. The Conversation's Manifesto Checks are produced in partnership with Nesta and the Alliance for Useful Evidence. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claudia Hupkau is part of the LSE Centre for Vocational Education Research, which receives funding from BIS. The Conversation's Manifesto Checks are produced in partnership with Nesta and the Alliance for Useful Evidence. </span></em></p>Labour should be commended for its commitment to high-quality apprenticeships, but it’s hard to say if the party’s policies are part of a pathway, or a dead end.Hilary Steedman, Senior Research Associate, London School of Economics and Political ScienceClaudia Hupkau, Research Economist/Research Co-ordinator, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/314522014-09-09T02:14:59Z2014-09-09T02:14:59ZChanges to VET might be good for business, but not for students<p>Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane yesterday <a href="http://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/macfarlane/media-releases/jobs-and-new-careers-young-australians-grow-businesses">announced</a> funding to engage young people in education and employment, and reforms of apprenticeship support services. This announcement tells us that the government’s priority when it comes to Vocational Education and Training (VET) is not the young person, but businesses. </p>
<p>VET markets have recently been attracting attention, but for the wrong reasons. “Dodgy” providers, poor regulation and TAFE colleges under considerable financial pressure because of government cuts: these are the outcomes of years of uncoordinated and ill-considered national and state VET policies.</p>
<p>Yesterday’s announcements are focused on employers, mostly small-business owners, and community providers engaging the young through wage subsidies and job training. MacFarlane, who has carriage of VET policy in the Abbott government, is treating VET as a labour market strategy and industry subsidy. The announced investment of A$38 million to deliver a Training for Employment Scholarship programme will help regional employers provide job-specific training to the young and unemployed. </p>
<p>Small to medium-sized businesses that take on an unemployed person aged 18-24 will receive funding to pay for up to 26 weeks of training. This policy could be seen as providing six months of employment on a meagre training wage. Combine this with the mooted reforms to welfare and it may mean six months on the dole. This will not engage young people in employment or education in meaningful or long-term ways.</p>
<p>MacFarlane also announced a Youth Employment Pathways programme to help young people in regional areas to identify and successfully start on the path to their chosen career by returning to school, starting vocational education training or moving into the workforce. Only community organisations will be able to apply for funding to deliver support services and training to people between the ages of 15 and 18 who are not in school. </p>
<p>Initially, 3,000 places will be offered to enable community organisations to develop a training plan to meet individual needs such as job-searching skills and industry-specific job training. The principle of supporting young people to re-engage with school and their own education is important socially. </p>
<p>However, the Commonwealth government does not have responsibility for schools, nor does the industry portfolio have any sustained connection with schools operated by state and territory governments. These policy announcements reveal that the Abbott government is being petulantly selective in its engagement with certain VET policy players and providers.</p>
<h2>VET better off in state hands</h2>
<p>The Abbott government’s approach to VET policy is piecemeal. What MacFarlane described as a “<a href="http://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/macfarlane/transcripts/interview-fran-kelly-abc-radio-national-breakfast-0">convoluted mess</a>” when taking on VET policy in the industry portfolio is being made messier by these uncoordinated policies, which will be more miss than hit.</p>
<p>The federal VET policy approach lacks coordination - not just between government departments but in its relations with the states too. This only intensifies the difficulties faced by the VET sector generally.</p>
<p>In bypassing the comprehensive VET networks of state governments, including state industry plans and initiatives, and ignoring state government-owned TAFEs, these policies signal that the Abbott government is unprepared or unwilling to lead nationally coordinated policy in the skills, employment and vocational education and training space.</p>
<p>The training market in Australia is far from uniform across states and territories yet has grown significantly to include a breadth of providers. It has been financed through an income-contingent loan system. VET Fee help enables those seeking skills and employment-related education to access the funds to pay for their tuition, which is repaid upon employment at a certain salary level. This is an example of a coordinated policy approach.</p>
<p>The policies announced by MacFarlane, <a href="http://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/macfarlane/media-releases/jobs-and-new-careers-young-australians-grow-businesses">Training for Employment Scholarships, Youth Employment Pathways</a> and the <a href="http://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/macfarlane/media-releases/lifting-apprenticeship-completion-rates-better-support">Australian Apprenticeship Support Network</a>, will involve over A$238 million of public funding. This funding will bypass states and territories, which have a track record in coordinating and managing VET provision through complex training markets. These funds will instead go directly to business, community agencies and individuals.</p>
<p>A nationally coordinated approach to VET depends upon funds allocated through these announcements being directed to supporting existing VET approaches that have proven successful. </p>
<p>The funds attached to these policy announcements would be better off being used to work collaboratively with businesses, community organisations and state and territory government agencies. This would ensure a cohesive and cooperative approach to delivering education and skills for employment that works for those who do not, through no fault of their own.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31452/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Pardy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane yesterday announced funding to engage young people in education and employment, and reforms of apprenticeship support services. This announcement…John Pardy, Education Lecturer and Researcher, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.