Comparative Analyses of Skills and Performance

A paper written for the Institute for Employment Studies attempts to examine the contribution and limitations of comparative international skills benchmarking studies. It also revisits the 1984 publication, Competence and Competition, from the then Institute for Manpower Studies, and considers what elements of it have had a lasting contribution to the English education and training debate. Some of the issues highlighted by the 1984 document that are still considered to be relevant now are:

Problems with the supply of science, engineering, technology and maths students.
Weaknesses in management education and training.
The lack of a mass, high quality work-based training route for young people.
The need for FE colleges to market themselves to employers and to be more responsive to employer demand.

A comparison is made between Competence and Competition and the Leitch Review's Final Report in 2006. It notes how the earlier document's recommendations were less ambitious. This was based on a perception that it was highly unlikley that in terms of overall levels of work-related education and training, England could ever catch up with Japan and the USA. The paper concludes by arguing for education and training policy to be based on a wider appreciation of economic and social systems and for policy makers to learn from other countries where this is happening.

Full details here

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