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What Are the Major Factors Behind the Apparent Policy Failure in Relation to the Employer Role in 14-19 Education and Training?

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What Are the Major Factors Behind the Apparent Policy Failure in Relation to the Employer Role in 14-19 Education and Training? What are the major factors behind the apparent policy failure in relation to the employer role in 14-19 education and training? Eleanor Margaret Andressen UCL, Institute of Education PhD 1 Abstract From its origins as an unplanned and haphazard entity, the education and training (ET) system in England has become one of the core policy areas of any government. The role of employers within this, and in particular in relation to full-time 14-19 ET, has proved problematic. This research moves beyond the more usual factors of history, culture, policy and structures to investigate the relatively rarely discussed relationship between employer identity and behaviour and their influence on policy assumptions and outcomes, and system structures. It involved interviewing a number of employers, and a range of individuals and organisations, all of which to some extent represent ‘the employer voice’, about the employer role in full-time 14-19 ET. Findings include that the multiple identities of individual employers have different, often contradictory and surprising influences on policy, shaping in turn their interaction with system structures in ways that cannot easily be controlled in a voluntarist system. This research proposes practical measures to counter some of these influences. It calls for a greater understanding of how employer identity affects their interractions with the system and for this to be applied to future ET initiatives. 2 Declaration I hereby declare that, except where explicit attribution is made, the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own. Word count (exclusive of appendices, list of references and bibliography): 85, 068 3 Table of contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 2 Declaration .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Motivation for the research ............................................................................................................ 9 Key research aim and objectives .................................................................................................... 9 Approach to the research ............................................................................................................. 10 Chapter 1: Background and contextual history of the relationship between employers, the state and education and training .......................................................................................................................... 12 Historical context .............................................................................................................................. 13 Liberalism ...................................................................................................................................... 16 The role of the state ...................................................................................................................... 17 Trade Unions in England ............................................................................................................... 19 The perception of ‘class’ in England ............................................................................................. 20 Features and characteristics of the ET system in England ................................................................ 22 Regulation and voluntarism .......................................................................................................... 25 Vocational education and training – perspectives ........................................................................ 29 The ‘low employer-participation equilibrium’ .............................................................................. 30 The significance of policy assumptions and their impact ............................................................. 34 Neoliberalism ................................................................................................................................ 37 ET Policy leading up to New Labour .............................................................................................. 39 Governance ................................................................................................................................... 41 The emergence of New Labour ..................................................................................................... 42 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 46 Chapter 2: The role of employers in 14-19 education and training policy under New Labour and the Coalition ................................................................................................................................................ 50 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 50 The central role of education to the economy and society: New Labour’s vision ........................... 51 Qualification reform ...................................................................................................................... 56 Policy drivers ................................................................................................................................. 61 The concept of skill ....................................................................................................................... 64 Infrastructure ................................................................................................................................ 70 The Coalition ..................................................................................................................................... 73 Governance ................................................................................................................................... 73 Policy and qualification reform in full-time 14-19 ET ................................................................... 78 Apprenticeships ............................................................................................................................ 83 Infrastructure ................................................................................................................................ 85 4 University Technical Colleges and Studio Schools ........................................................................ 88 Careers Advice .............................................................................................................................. 91 The problematic role of employers in ET policy ............................................................................... 93 The significance of the employer role in full-time 14-19 ET ....................................................... 100 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 107 Chapter 3: Beyond voluntarism: how identity and behaviour shape the employer role ................... 109 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 109 ET policy demands of employers ................................................................................................ 111 The impact of voluntarism on employer behaviour ................................................................... 116 A matter of self-interest? ............................................................................................................ 118 Acting in the interests of another – agency ................................................................................ 123 The impact of identity on the employer role .............................................................................. 126 The influence of group membership on behaviour .................................................................... 133 Setting overarching goals to moderate behaviours .................................................................... 135 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 137 Chapter 4: The research methodology ............................................................................................... 139 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 139 Aims and objectives of the thesis ................................................................................................... 139 Overall research approach .............................................................................................................. 142 Data collection methods ............................................................................................................. 143 Selected method ......................................................................................................................... 144 Interview schedules and questions ................................................................................................. 146 Interviewees ...............................................................................................................................
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