Fit for the Future: developing a post-school learning system to fuel economic transformation

Chapter 5: Reforming the landscape

5.01 In this Chapter, I draw together how I believe the recommendations that I have set out will deliver on the ambitions of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) and Interim Purpose and Principles, in line with my Terms of Reference (ToR), and demonstrate how they will also facilitate the delivery of wider ambitions and recommendations arising from the numerous policy and reform-related reviews which have dependencies with the post-school learning system.

Delivering for the wellbeing economy

5.02 As per the ToR for the Review, I was asked to deliver recommendations that would optimise the landscape for delivering Ministers ambitions for a skilled workforce as set out in the NSET. The Skilled Workforce programme in the NSET is currently focused on three core projects – to adapt the system to make it more agile, to support and incentivise people and employers to invest in skills and training, and to expand Scotland's available talent pool to give employers the pipeline they need^[37]. Within this are a number of constituent actions, including commitments to a new Lifetime Skills Offer and to develop a skills guarantee for those in high-carbon sectors, which I believe will be far more challenging and costly to deliver without the changes I have proposed.

5.03 I said at the outset that this was a Review about who and what, rather than the how things are done. I can't emphasise enough the importance of getting the structures and balance of responsibilities within the system right, alongside an agreed vision for success and a shared language. A well-structured and governed agency landscape will ensure that all the different parts of the landscape are working together in pursuit of shared goals, will be able to measure performance more effectively, and respond with evidence-informed action. It's clear to me that the present system isn't serving the interests of businesses, learners or providers. It is not offering best value for public investment, and it needs to change.

5.04 My proposals for Scottish Government to take the lead with respect to national skills planning (Recommendation 3), for greater regional autonomy aligned to regional economic policy (Recommendation 4), underpinned by a new infrastructure for funding and delivery (Recommendations 5 and 6), coherent qualifications pathways (Recommendation 8 and 9), an employer-led infrastructure which can support regional planning and investment, and feed into national policy (Recommendation 12), and a renewed role for the enterprise agencies with respect to workforce planning as an integrated part of business development (Recommendation 13), will, I believe, provide the basis for the system to deliver on its ambitions for responsiveness and agility.

5.05 Next to this, the changes I have recommended in relation to parity of esteem (Recommendation 2), financial support (Recommendation 7), qualifications and pathways development (Recommendations 8 and 9) including a new digital training record that learners can take with them throughout their working lives (Recommendation 10), a single agency focusing on embedding careers advice and education throughout Scotland's communities (Recommendation 11) and close working between the enterprise agencies and businesses to better tie public funding to increased investment in post-school learning (Recommendation 13) will provide a platform for learners and employers alike to invest in skills and training.

5.06 In terms of an expanded talent pool, getting the system right for learners in Scotland has been the principal focus of my work, but the proposals that I am making with respect to regional planning (Recommendation 4), qualifications which recognise prior learning (Recommendation 9), careers services which provide a universal service for all people including those looking to enter or re-enter the labour market in Scotland (Recommendation 11), and employer-led infrastructure (Recommendation 12) should provide a greater basis for understanding the sectors and regions where talent from outside Scotland should be a priority, making targeted intervention more effective and possible.

Supporting wider Reforms

5.07 Throughout the report and recommendations I have been conscious that the work I am taking forward does not stand alone, nor is there a shortage of related Reviews taking place. Indeed, given the structural nature of my Review, I am aware of the particular potential for my recommendations, where appropriate, to positively support the implementation of the recommendations arising from a number of those other reviews. In this respect, I have considered carefully the interaction of my recommendations with the findings developed as part of the Careers Review, Professor Muir's Report on Education Reform and Professor Hayward's Interim Report on Qualifications and Assessment. I have likewise paid close attention to the output from the Fair Work Convention's Inquiries into construction^[38] and hospitality^[39], the Land-Based Learning Review^[40], and the Regional Economic Policy Review.

5.08 As part of my engagement programme I met with the various review leads to discuss synergies and dependencies. In some instances, we worked together in our engagement with stakeholder groups, for example, running a joint session with business organisations which I know was welcomed as enabling them to better see and understand the interconnectivity between the different reviews and the opportunities that a holistic programme of reform could deliver.

5.09 Part of my remit was to ensure that Scotland's workforce can adequately support the just transition to net zero. During my Review the Scottish Government's Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan^[41] was published for consultation, and the recommendations of the Just Transition Commission in response to that Plan^[42] highlight some of the critical issues, and opportunities in relation to coherent planning and delivery of the necessary 'green skills'. These chime with the evidence I heard and my recommendations; helping to emphasise the importance of prioritising at a national level the sectors that will be integral to delivering that imperative. I believe that my recommendations on skills planning at both national and regional levels (Recommendations 3 and 4) will allow for a better focus on the development of this crucial area, coupled with new processes for funding (Recommendations 5 and 6) and qualifications (Recommendations 8 and 9) which will ensure that the skills needs of the pathway to net zero are articulated and given sufficient priority.

5.10 On a similar note, the reforms I've proposed to skills planning, and to agency responsibilities and structures, I believe will help to deliver the ambitions in the Commission for the Land-based Learning Review which recommends the adoption of nature-based learning in schools and colleges as well as changes to the development of apprenticeships. Their contention that "you can't be what you can't see" struck a particular chord with my emphasis on embedding work-integrated learning and careers experiences across curricula from early years onwards and the creation of a body with a singular focus on careers advice and education (Recommendation 11) should help to achieve this. The recognition that some of us learn better in nature-based, practical environments is also entirely consistent with parity of esteem for different pathways.

5.11 In the context of wider education reform, whilst my focus has been primarily on post-school learning system, when considering the scope of this Review, there are areas where I have necessarily strayed into school education recognising the importance of continuity between the programme of school-level reform and my own ambitions for a single, integrated learning system. In this respect, it was encouraging to see the depth of user engagement that was part of the national discussion on education and I look forward to seeing the themes and findings that emerge. It stands to reason that the future vision for school education should go hand in hand with what a successful post-school learning system looks like. A single careers body working to embed careers advice and education throughout communities could be well-placed to work with schools to take forward relevant points arising from the national discussion.

5.12 Together, the other reports and the recommendations I have suggested will be reliant on a flexible and adaptive careers system that can support learners with the advice they need to make informed choices. I was very clear that I wanted my thinking to build on the Careers Review rather than duplicate any work already delivered. The ten recommendations, made by the Review, for change and the testing of recommendations for the delivery of an all-age service are important steps for the future delivery of careers advice. My recommendation for a single, national body with a sole focus on this critical part of the learning system (Recommendation 11), should, I believe, facilitate the delivery of their recommendations and underpin the work of the Careers Services Collaborative, developed through the Careers Review in bringing to life the required services for the benefit of learners and employers alike.

5.13 Similarly, recognising the important role of a nationally-funded qualifications body that spans both the school-level and post-school qualifications (Recommendation 8) will be critical in developing learner pathways. I have set out already how the Interim report of the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment in Scotland being led by Professor Hayward has some clear crossover with my thinking on how the skills landscape can be recast. There are several areas in Professor Hayward's Interim Report, and the outline principles she has set out, where I feel there is an opportunity to meaningfully take forward proposals that can help bring about a user-focused approach to post-school learning.

5.14 The proposed new approach outlined by Professor Hayward that looks at establishing "a better and more clearly defined integration of academic and vocational qualifications"^[43] is something that came through strongly in the Call for Evidence. This approach would help to shape the parity of esteem that I think is crucial to the future delivery of the skills system. I have already touched on how the idea of a senior phase leaving certificate that will allow a range of forms of learning to be recognised, valued and articulated could also be extended out to become a component part of a learner's collection of skills and experience (Recommendation 10). Allowing prior learning and experiences to be more clearly valued and articulated has the potential to be an invaluable tool not only for the learner but for employers wanting to better understand the qualities a potential employee has.

5.15 Here I want to, again, specifically highlight Foundation Apprenticeships (FAs) which have to date been centred in the post-school delivery landscape, but which I believe for their philosophy to be successful must become an embedded part of the senior phase with equivalent processes for funding and delivery to ensure senior phase learners have options to pursue technical Highers with integrated work experience alongside the more traditional subject-based Highers. I have made this clear in Recommendation 9 in relation to post-school qualifications.

5.16 As I submit my recommendations to Ministers, it will be for the Scottish Government to continue to make the relevant links and synergies between the implementation of my recommendations and wider reforms or reviews that are underway across its different departments and portfolios. I think it will be critically important, in particular, that the public body landscape continues to be conceived as a single, integrated system to ensure there is a network of agencies each with its own well-defined set of responsibilities and a duty to work together in pursuit of Ministerial ambitions for enhancing learners lives, skills and experiences on their journeys to the workplace.