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Contribution of further education to level 4 (higher) and professional qualifications

Published: 06 March 2008
The research was an analysis of existing research and MI data plus a small number of qualitatively oriented interviews with stakeholders in further education colleges and in professional bodies in order to gain insight into the issues currently facing the sector. These included five college principals or HE coordinators as well as senior representatives of professional bodies with high-enrolling learning aims.

The key finding of the research was that further education colleges make a highly significant contribution to higher-level provision, especially for learners who might otherwise find HE difficult to access because of lack of prior academic attainment, inadequate funding, geographical location, or lack of confidence.

The full report is available here.

Impact of Learning on Employability

Published: 1 February 2008
The LSC has conducted a large survey of the impact and benefits of general learning in FE on:

The economic status of workless individuals – their progression into work and off benefits
The personal impact of learning – in terms of improving skills and increasing confidence?

10,000 learners were interviewed by telephone from June to August 2007. They had all undertaken an FE course which completed in 2005-06, and all were eligible for fee remission due to receipt of workless benefits. 10% of the sample were working less than 16 hours a week when their course started, and all were aged between 20 and 55.

The key findings were that nearly four in ten (38%) of learners who were claiming workless benefits at the start of their FE course have worked since finishing their learning and one in three learners have moved into work and are no longer claiming workless benefits.

Employment outcomes are less positive for learners with multiple disadvantages. However, those with multiple disadvantages do benefit from a positive impact of learning in terms of: improved communication skills, improved employability skills and increased confidence.

For more information on this work please access the key findings and main report.

Pilot Study of Learners in Offender Institutions

Published: 31 January 2008
A pilot study which investigated the most appropriate methodology for extending the National Learner Satisfaction Survey (NLSS) to include learners in public prisons, and gathered information on these learners’ perceptions of their learning has just been concluded. The pilot involved 18 public prisons and Young Offender Institutes across three regions and tested three different survey methods of face-to-face interviews conducted by trained interviewers, self-completion sessions administered by trained interviewers and self-completion sessions administered by prison education staff.

Reports also shows that the majority of learners (over 80 per cent) are satisfied with their overall learning experience and the quality of their teaching and feel their course or training is meeting their needs. The most common reasons why these learners choose courses or training is to gain a qualification, advance skills and knowledge and help with finding a job on release.

For more information on this reseach please access the:

Summary Brief: provides a summary of key findings

Perceptions report: details the main findings and recommendation

Methodology Report: details the selection and methodology approach

Education Maintenance Allowance Works

Published: January 2008
Two recent reports show Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), part of the Learner Support Programme, has succeeded in increasing the number of young people staying on in learning after 16, and the number of learners achieving qualifications at 19.

A report by RCU showed that in its first year of national rollout, EMA caused an additional 18,500 young people to participate in further education, who would not have done so without the financial support and incentive. Analysis at national level also showed evidence that EMA has had a positive impact on the retention, achievement and success rates of certain groups of learners, for example those from minority ethnic groups, and those with a background of high deprivation.

Another report, by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), showed that learners in receipt of EMA were more likely to achieve full Level 2 (five GCSEs grade A*-C or equivalent) by age 19, with specific improvement highlighted among ethnic minority groups. Receipt of EMA also impacted significantly on learners’ achievement of full Level 3 (two A levels grade A-E or equivalent).

The full RCU and IFS reports are available here.

Independent Evaluation of the New LSC E-procurement System

Published: 22 January 2008
In early 2007 the Learning and Skills Council introduced a new approach to competitive tendering for the supply of learning and skills provision to employers, employees and individuals not in work, using the Bravo Solutions system (used by a growing number of central governement departments and NDPBs).

Competitive tendering for provision was designed to 'open up' the learning and skills market by:

making LSC funds more constestable;
enabling the best colleges and providers to extend their range of provision and;
by attracting new providers into the system to increase diversity, improve quality and stimulate innovation in the market.

Two core principles underpinned this process:

that all potential bidders would be subject to the same process and evaluation criteria;
that organisations known to the tenderers were to be given no additional advantage or disadvantage

This document summarises key findings from a comprehensive independent evaluation of the process amongst learning providers and a 'control' sample of market research agencies (who were participating in a similar tender exercise at around the same time).

It also includes the Learning and Skills Council's response to the findingds including actions that have been taken as a direct result of the research.

Recruitment and Training Among Large National Employers

Published: 10 January 2008
Lord Leitch's report recommended that the National Employer Service (NES) be expanded to provide a more effective advisory and brokerage service for employers in relation to the Train to Gain programme. In view of these commitments, the main aim of the research was to inform the LSC's understanding of large national employers' attitudes and actions in terms of recruitment and training.

The study was conducted with 201 large national employers, including 60 member companires of the NES, and follow-up case study research.

Role of Colleges in Community Cohesion: Rapid Review of Evidence

Published: 30 November 2007
The Policy Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University conducted a rapid review of the literature associated with FE colleges and community cohesion on behalf of the LSC.

The report provides an overview of the literature in relation to the role the FE colleges may play in promoting social cohesion. It also provides a summary of the key literature in related areas, in particular access to FE and the participation of groups that face social exclusion. It aism to inform further thinking about the way in which FE colleges can support social cohesion.

Skills in England 2007

Volumes 1-4: Published 26 September 2007
Skills in England 2007 provides an up-to-date assessment of the skills arena and highlights the key skills issues facing the LSC and its partners following a comprehensive review of development and evidence over the past year. The report complements the key government publications in the skills arena, including the Leitch Review of Skills and the Freud Report.

The report is carried out by the LSC in partnership with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA), Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Skills in England 2007 highlights the threats and opportunities facing the economy over the medium term, and the role of skills in meeting these challenges. Its main conclusion is that, while they are not a panacea, skills are key elements in addressing the two main challenges facing the economy: maintaining global competitiveness and reducing social exclusion.

The evidence is presented over four volumes as follows:

1. Key Messages: outlining key findings and policy implications
2. Research Report: providing in-depth analysis
3. Sectoral Perspectives: providing insights across industry
4. Regional/Local Perspectives: summarising the geographical situation

The Supply and Demand for Skills within Sectors

Published: 8 August 2007
The LSC’s Strategic Planning, Performance and Research team has analysed research-based evidence of the supply and demand for skills in each sector, to help identify:

Which sectors currently have a relatively low level of skills, but high demand from employers in the sector for improving the skills base of their workforce? These sectors should be the focus of efforts to increase the number of qualified employees.
Which sectors currently have a highly qualified workforce, and actually require more skilled employees? These sectors should be the focus of efforts to deliver an increased number of highly qualified employees.

The Status and Reputation of the FE System

Published: 26 July 2007
The LSC and what was previously the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) have been working with the FE system (and particularly with FE colleges) to implement the reforms set out in Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances, and to respond to the challenges set out by Lord Leitch in his recent report Prosperity for All in the Global Economy: World Class Skills (published by HM Treasury in December 2006).

One of the key issues is the need to improve awareness and understanding of the role of the FE system among stakeholders. To achieve this, the LSC commissioned Ipsos MORI to conduct research among key stakeholders on their understanding and perceptions of the role of the FE system.

This research provides a baseline measure of perceptions and attitudes against which future progress can be measured.

Towards Skills for Jobs - What Works in Tackling Worklessness

Published: 19 June 2007
The LSC is in the process of integrating services to support employment and skills. The Skills for Jobs programme will consist of a range of services and

programmes to increase skills interventions in the form of new services developed to tackle specific gaps or extend existing good practice by geographical location or by client group. The key aim of Skills for Jobs will be to reduce the number of individuals not in employment through more effective engagement and to move individuals into sustainable jobs through support, learning and achievement of qualifications.

In support of this process, the Learning and Skills Council commissioned the Policy Research Institute to carry out a rapid review of research evidence on ‘what works’ to inform the development and activities of the Skills for Jobs programme. The aim of the report was to focus on the five target groups and provide a summary of existing research evidence to inform the development of the Skills for Jobs programme. Specifically, the review aims to provide:

a summary of the key findings from systematic reviews of evidence by Hasluck and Green (2007) and Sanderson (2006), and research undertaken as part of the worklessness strand of New Deal for Communities
a summary of literature and reports published in the last 12 months.

Click on the heading to open a free copy of the report.

Review of Mergers and Collaborations Published
Published: 21st May 2007
Proposed reforms of the further education system include developing more choice for learners, tailoring services to meet individuals’ needs, encouraging new innovative providers and offering more autonomy to those who perform well. Mergers and collaborations within FE are a key element of driving this agenda forward and so the Learning and Skills Council commissioned a review of its evidence base.

The Policy Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University provided a summary of the nature of partnership and merger, the drivers of such activity, evidence of outcomes and good practice. It sets out key issues associated with mergers and collaboration in the sector and provides an access route to a much deeper and richer literature.

Click on the heading above to go directly to the research report.

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LSC Research Publications
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Implementing Leitch: LSC Seminar Report

21st February 2007
In the week following publication of the Leitch Report in December 2006, the Learning and Skills Council held a highly successful seminar to examine how best the report could be implemented by Government and stakeholders. The seminar attracted a very high profile list of presenters and contributors, while the agenda for the day posed four crucial questions about how to respond to Leitch:

How Can We Afford To?
How Can We Afford Not To?
How Do We Achieve the Totality of Investment and Culture Change?
How Can We Maximise Both Employer Investment and Effective Cross-Government Working?

A full report on the deliberations and conclusions of this important seminar is now available on this website by clicking the heading above.

Two New Reports Published by LSC on Migrant Workers

Published: 1st February 2007

Employer Perceptions of Migrant Workers
This new report, commissioned by the Learning and Skills Council, examines knowledge gaps in the area of migrant employment and training. One of the main aims of the research was to understand whether the attitudes and experiences of employers vary across different sectors and according to the size of a business. It also investigated how other variables such as the country of origin of migrant workers, and their skill level or route to employment, affect employers’ views and perceptions.

Migrant Workers and the Labour Market
This review of existing research evidence pulls together information from four Learning and Skills Council reports on issues surrounding migrant workers and the labour market. The review also includes some references to work on the subject by other organisations. The paper covers the key issues of labour market participation, skills and skills provision, but it also covers contextual information such as stocks and flows, drivers of migration and the provision of education and training.

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External Publications
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Leitch Review of Skills

The final report of the Leitch Review of Skills, Prosperity for all in the global economy - world class skills, was published in December 2006.

Published on the Treasury website, the review argues that "the UK must urgently raise achievements at all levels of skills and recommends that it commit to becoming a world leader in skills by 2020, benchmarked against the upper quartile of the OECD. This means doubling attainment at most levels of skill. Responsibility for achieving ambitions must be shared between Government, employers and individuals".