The government should prioritise flexible learning to close the skills gap

It’s no secret that the UK is facing a shortage of skills to meet the country’s economic demands.

And it’s not just a skills gap, but a fundamental skills mismatch. There is an urgent need for the workforce to continually re-skill to meet these evolving demands.

One report highlighted that 73 per cent of organisations in the UK are facing skills shortages. Understanding where the misalignment between the needs of employers and the skills of students and adult learners lies is crucial.

The education system must innovate and move quickly to equip young people, non-traditional learners, and current workers with the skills employers require, both now and well into the future.

During this most recent election period, we saw numerous policy proposals from each major party discussing ways to close the skills gap through proposals to enhance apprenticeships or bolster higher education routes.

There were vague mentions of reforming skills training and more concrete proposals across all parties from investing in and strengthening our higher education institutions through pledges from both Labour and the Liberal Democrats to replace the Apprenticeship Levy with an alternative levy with greater flexibility for skills and training funding, now having been realised with Labour’s launch of Skills England.

While Skills England is a welcome move, this is not a new conversation. Discussions around upskilling and reskilling the workforce recycle with each generation as the innovation of new opportunities outpaces the current market. So where should efforts focus to tackle this current skills gap crisis and mismatch?

What is missing from this conversation is the option of flexible lifelong learning opportunities that work alongside apprenticeships and higher education as part of the education ecosystem.

As one of the world leaders in education, this country has the potential to blaze a trail in learning opportunities that don’t necessarily require lengthy time commitments, but have the ability to quickly and continually evolve at the same pace as the changing economic and business landscape.

This goal is achievable and can embolden a path forward to elevate learning opportunities for a greater portion of the population.

Now, with a new government eager to implement policies to close this skills gap, here are initiatives the new Labour government should look to prioritise over the next five years.

Reform the LLE to include micro-credentials

Flexible and effective learning is imperative to any conversation around reforming the lifelong learning entitlement. Micro-credentials, an increasingly effective form of flexible learning accommodating existing careers and time constraints, are ‘bite-sized’ courses that are more palpable for the current workers looking to upskill and reskill for the future.

Although not a new concept, with professional courses having been offered for many years, these digital certifications are used to validate skills in a specific area, and can be seen as more modular, flexible, and narrower in focus than more traditional pathways like degrees.

They can be designed as a one-off learning experience or stacked to contribute to wider qualifications.

These flexible learning opportunities can be compounded alongside other further and higher education qualifications to build in-demand career skills with up-to-date knowledge and emerging practices. While policies such as England’s Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) support learners, there are still gaps that must be filled.

For example, the LLE only funds modules part of a parent programme, therefore excluding any independent courses in emerging fields of study; often those that could solve the market’s skills gap.

Reforming the LLE to enable funding for bite-sized learning opportunities carrying a minimum of five credits, rather than the current minimum of 30, would translate to 50 hours of learning; arguably a more manageable commitment than a full course load.

Expand awareness of flexible learning options

A recent report from Instructure—which included insights from the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and Cranfield University—showcased the current lifelong learning landscape and the benefits micro-credentials can offer across the country. It also showed that one of the main challenges surrounding these bite-sized learning opportunities is a lack of awareness of their existence and availability.

Working with universities and further education providers to demonstrate how micro-credentials can be incorporated into existing education, degree and credential provisions, should be a priority of the incoming government as it looks to develop policies to help close the skills gap. Florida Gulf Coast University in the US serves as a useful example of how a university can seamlessly implement these flexible credentials into its existing course offerings.

It would make sense for the new Labour government to work with education providers and employers to establish best practices for how to continue to keep micro-credential learning course provisions in line with the current job market skills gaps, as well as how to spark awareness and even greater uptake from learners of all ages and abilities.

Unify the micro-credentials standards

An urgent challenge the new government needs to address involves creating a unified standard for issuing micro-credentials, ensuring they are stackable, authenticated, and portable. The unified efforts of the European Economic Area (EEA) as it considers creating a standard, open badging process, will help educators and employers validate skills and motivate learners to continue acquiring them. Considering similar approaches will allow the incoming government to make it more feasible for learners in the UK to access authenticated credentials and certifications on a flexible basis.

Accrediting micro-credentials can also help ensure quality enhancement and can enable other providers, such as private employers, to work together to offer micro-credential programmes geared to specific skills shortages in their respective industries.

In the debate about the best way to provide new training to young people and those seeking additional skills training, there shouldn’t be a binary choice between apprenticeships and higher education. We must invest in opportunities that embed flexible learning options into existing education routes. Implementing bite-sized learning opportunities within the framework of lifelong learning can allow the UK to usher in a new wave of innovation with a skilled and agile workforce.

Employers and educators are already pushing forward with upskilling initiatives. It’s time for the government to match these efforts by investing in policies that provide flexibility, relevance, and dynamism to make education more inclusive and accessible for a new generation of non-traditional learners who can play an important role in bridging skill gaps in the workforce. Establishing a unified standard for micro-credentials, akin to the European Economic Area’s approach, will further validate these qualifications and encourage greater and more impactful lifelong learning.

This new Labour government has the exciting challenge of aligning flexible learning opportunities with existing educational structures to create a resilient, adaptable workforce ready to meet the demands of a rapidly changing job market and drive the transformation that the UK needs to remain a global leader in education and innovation.