Learning and Skills in the UK - An Introduction

Learning and skills is a generic term for the plethora of organisations, initiatives and services involved in improving the skills of the UK workforce. The government is providing most of the financial investment but employers and trade unions are also heavily active in this area. However, it is very difficult for the uninitiated and even insiders, to keep up with the activities of all these different stakeholders. Learning and skills even has its own terminology - do you know your LSC from an SSA or even a ULR? How about the NIACE or the SSDA?

The sheer complexity of learning and skills services has resulted in the establishment of another specialist niche service known as Information, Advice and Guidance, with its own acronym, IAG. Moreover, not a week goes by it seems without another government White Paper, pilot project or publication on learning and skills. Perhaps the difficulty lies in the fact that no one has yet decided who is responsible for training and educating the UK workforce.

Should it be the responsibility of the state through the education system at tax payer’s expense? Or perhaps employers should bare the burden of training - after all they profit directly from the skills of their workforce? How about the workers themselves? Maybe they should take responsibility for their own professional development and employability - no one can count on a job for life any more.