Is Current Government Policy On Training And Development Fit for Purpose - Essay Example

Management Table of Contents Introduction 3 Government policy on training and development, and its fitness for the purpose 4 Apprenticeship 4Educational Maintenance Allowance 5 Tuition fees 6 Conclusion 7 Reference 9 Introduction Since the post war period, the UK government has made a number of modifications in its education system. There were major reforms undertaken for addressing the problems of the education system in UK. These included falling standards of schools, low rate of staying of children aged less than 16 years, and low skill level of labour. The education system was also subject to persistent inequalities with regards to their higher education system. The major concern of falling rates in the UK demanded instant government intervention. Additionally the exam achievement at the age of 16 years had also come to stagnation. These problems crept up in the UK education system called for such initiatives as apprenticeship training for improving the skill levels of people in society, Educational Maintenance Allowance and tuition fees. These strategies were found to be particularly effective for the lower income groups’ people in society and the stay on rate was found to improve substantially thereafter. Moreover, the gaps existing between economically advanced and backward classes in society with regards to stay on rates were also found to become narrow on implementation of these strategies. However, the problem faced with this policy was reduction or lowering of competition amongst pupil. The present project seeks to bring forth effectiveness and loopholes in the above systems and its impact on students and society at large. Particular reference is drawn with regards to apprenticeship training, education allowance and tuition fees imposed by the government in the analysis. Government policy on training and development, and its fitness for the purpose Apprenticeship The government initiative for apprenticeship training in UK is seen to improve over time. As reported by the Guardian, four out of every five companies have regarded vocational training schemes as being the most crucial for their businesses. The positive view with regards to the government’s attempt to improve on its apprenticeship program gets reflected by its intention to increase funding on vocational training by an additional amount of £222m an annum to £1.4bn on an annual basis. Some of the major prestigious companies in UK belonging to both the private and public sector have benefited largely from the plan announced during the launching of the National Apprenticeship Scheme. City and Guilds, which is the largest provider of apprenticeship training in Britain, have declared that more than 50% of the companies which recruited apprenticeships believed that this would offer greater value to them instead of hiring graduates from the universities. The main area of the problem generated from the fact that the educated youth of the region were being denied broad and rich learning experience in their careers and had limited choice or routes towards rewarding careers. They lacked basic employability skill which ultimately hurt the British businesses and the economy on the whole. To address the problem the government has taken particular initiatives towards training and developing apprenticeship skills which would eventually benefit businesses and also their career prospects of the young and educated generation (Snowdon, 2011). Political leaders along with the support of business leaders have been seeking to promote vocational and apprenticeship training programs in Britain in as much cost effective ways as possible. This is primarily to address the skills shortage problems in the UK industrial sector. John Hayes, who is the skills minister announced plans of reviving apprenticeship system in UK and has particularly requested the sector skills council to undertake similar functions on the issue. There have been aggressive initiatives on the part of the UK government in accrediting and designing new professional qualifications for granting more prestige for the people who are able to achieve high levels of technical aptitude in these respective domains (Snowdon, 2011). Meanwhile the labour minister in UK, Catherine McKinnell, has introduced a bill in the parliament for ensuring that organizations which are able to attain huge public procurement contracts necessarily commit to the provision of adequate apprenticeship places. City & Guilds launched a campaign called ‘Million Extra’ which is aimed to provide assistance to 1 million people beginning their apprenticeship training between the years 2011 and 2013. Educational Maintenance Allowance Recently, adequate attention has been drawn towards the low skill levels of the labour force in UK. This has been primarily attributed to inadequacy of training facilities and thereby shortage of supply of skilled manpower in the country. That is why it has been made mandatory by the UK government for full time participation of children aged below 16 years. The access to further education for children aged between sixteen and seventeen years of age is made unrestricted. In reality the availability of educational opportunities in certain areas of subjects is limited which restricts those students who are academically less competent to advance further in their careers. However, it is seen that there is low rate of participation in this group which shows that the demand for further education also remains low (Rice, 1987, p.465). The government of England arranges for weekly payment of educational maintenance allowance for students based on their household incomes. For households whose income is less than £20,817 p.a., the allowance is £30 per week; for incomes between £20,818 and £25,521 p.a., the allowance is £20 per week; and for household incomes between £25,522 and £30,810 p.a., the education allowance is £10 every week. The education maintenance allowance greatly benefits the teenagers belonging to the low income households. It encourages to remain in education above the legally and mandatory required age of 16 years. Once these people are into education, it encourages them to present in high attendance because of which they are paid bonuses. It is extremely difficult for parents earning less than £30,000 a month to support their teenager children to continue their education. In such cases, education maintenance allowance proves to be essentially helpful for furthering their education in the respective and desired fields. In 2004, the staying on rates in education in UK was seen to improve by 5.9 percent of these students who were eligible. Among these the boys whose parents were semi skilled or unemployed were employed in manual jobs. They were found to be facing with the maximum social pressure to earn income and generate money for their families. Tuition fees The UK government’s attempts to include tuition fees for the postgraduate and undergraduate students in universities have been particularly beneficial. Under this students are required to pay as high as £1,000 for their tuitions in a year. However, since the devolving of national administrations for countries like Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, the arrangements for tuition fees for different countries remain different. The developments with regards to funding of higher education were announced by the UK government in 2004. The level of fees that universities were asked to charge has been increased to £3,000 a year. This has been particularly useful for students who are more meritorious. The plan has been effective in differentiating between the merits levels of students. The poor students were enjoying greater facilities with regards to their tuition fees as compared to the meritorious students. The policy has helped the meritorious students as against the students belonging to the lower income families who enjoyed excess benefits from the government. Conclusion The programs launched by the UK government with regards to their educational reforms were found to be extremely effective and advantageous for the economy. With the problems arising in the educational sector in the region, such as falling stay on rates, inadequacy and shortfall of skills in the labour market and quality of education, these policies were found to be extremely effective and improved the quality and level of education substantially in the sector. The business and organizational sector had been facing the consistent problem of skill shortage which was reflecting through the productivity and performance of the economy on the whole. The programs were primarily aimed to enhance and improve the availability of skills in the labour market so as to ensure performance of both the public as well as the private sector. The vocational and apprenticeship training is particularly worth mentioning in this regard. After incorporation of such training programs, more than half of the organizations declared that they had found the programs particularly effective in acquiring students as compared to hiring students from the universities. The governments attempt to implement the programs in as much cost effective ways as possible was particularly effective for the state. The gaps existing between skills and the corporate were reduced substantially through the reforms. The aspect of educational maintenance allowance was found to be very effective. This has been helpful in furthering education for children aged between 16 and 17 years of age. The programs have been particularly supportive for the economically backward class which had limited access to higher education. However, raising tuition fees by the government had major criticisms as it could not be afforded by many. However, the positive effect of the policy was that it helped to retain competition in the education sector and was a boost for the meritorious students belonging to the high income class and the unmeritorious students belonging to the lower incomes groups in society and enjoying unlimited benefits from the government. Reference Snowdon, G. (2011). Government to create extra 100,000 apprenticeships. [Online]. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/feb/07/government-extra-apprenticeships. [Accessed on May 21, 2012]. Rice, P. G. (1987). The Demand for Post-Compulsory Education in the UK and the Effects of Educational Maintenance Allowance. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2554181?uid=3738256&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21100814585401. [Accessed on May 21, 2012]. Read More