Written by Ben Silverstone, Associate Professor, Workforce Transformation Strategy and Policy

To keep up with the global skills race, it is crucial that we unlock the talent of our future workforce.

However, it can be a significant challenge to ensure the type of training that employers really require is offered by education providers. Although Government investment, alongside ongoing investment from education providers themselves helps to address these pressures, it is staffing that remains the biggest challenge, at a time, when the demand for training is greater than ever.

In response, WMG at the University of Warwick and the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) have published a positioning document proposing the establishment of a Further Education Lecturer Reserve model.

The Armed Forces have long relied on reserves to help augment their capability both in times of peace and war. The model of the Armed Forces Reserves is well recognised by employers, and the public at large, and tackles the shortfall in capacity as well as high quality training, opportunities for further development and experience that they would not gain without.

It is generally recognised that employers, individuals and the Armed Forces themselves benefit hugely from the opportunities that reservists have, the skills they develop and the diversity that they bring.

There are many examples of employers who support education providers by lending their staff to the delivery of specialist components of courses. Whilst these are, in every case, undertaken with the best of intent there are sometimes issues with the quality of delivery and the time that is required by those in industry to prepare and deliver.

By using the Armed Forces Reserve model as a template, the intention is to create a structure around the sharing of capability that ensure that education providers can rely on the commitment being made, that individuals are trained effectively and that employers are not left out of pocket for sharing their capability. Wrapped around these protections is the creation of a culture that recognises the critical role that providers play in ensuring that industry is able to train and develop their existing staff as well as receive capable new staff who are joining the workforce for the first time. Encouraging young, talented employees to engage with providers is key in achieving this.

Representatives from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as professionals from WMG and IMI, discussed the proposal at a roundtable, chaired by the new Skills Minister, Luke Hall and hosted by Chris Clarkson MP, on Apprenticeships and Further Education earlier this week. There are now plans to pilot the approach in the West Midlands and South West.

Support a pilot

If as an employer you are interested in supporting these pilot projects please contact Benjamin.silverstone@warwick.ac.uk

Read the report in full here: Further Education Lecturer Reservists 4.pdf (theimi.org.uk)