IER News & blogs
BIS Report on Technical Apprenticeships
A report on the demand for and supply of technical apprenticeships was published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on 31st March 2014. The report, entitled Research into the need for and capacity to provide technical apprenticeships in England
, was co-authored by Terence Hogarth and Lynn Gambin from IER and researchers from Sheffield Hallam University.
The report suggests that there is a lean system of skills supply in place for technician-type skills. Supply and demand are currently finely balanced with employers expressing concern that that any marked increase in demand, which may arise as a consequence of the economic recovery and the commissioning of major infrastructure projects, may result in the emergence of skills shortages.
The study involved interviews with employers, training providers and various stakeholders across England and considers a number of industrial sectors where technical apprenticeships comprise an important part of skills development.
More on IER's programme of research on apprenticeships can be found at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/apprenticeships-training
Peter Elias - Making the Connection
An article by IER Professor Peter Elias, ESRC Strategic Advisor (Data Resources), has been published in the Autumn issue of ESRC Society Now (pages 22-23). The article explores the issue of data linking and its potential to add high value to existing surveys, or to create new data sources.
IER Careers and Learning team to present at IAEVG conference
Professor Jenny Bimrose, Professor Alan Brown and Dr Sally-Anne will be attending the IAEVG conference on Career Guidance and Development Practices around the World, in Cape Town, South Africa (19-21 October). Professor Jenny Bimrose will present with IER Associate Fellows, Professor Mark Watson and Dr Mary McMahon on ‘Paradoxes in the career transitions of older women’. Together with Professor Alan Brown, Jenny will be presenting on ‘Stories of career adaptability from England and Norway’. Dr Sally-Anne Barnes, with Jenny, will present on ‘Developing and integrating IT innovations in careers guidance in the UK’. Sally-Anne will also be showcasing some on the IT systems researched and developed for careers guidance organisations in the UK.
ICT systems to support careers guidance: demonstration workshop
As part of an FP7 funded project, MATURE, Professor Alan Brown, Professor Jenny Bimrose and Dr Sally-Anne are organising a workshop on 29 September to demonstrate ICT systems to support careers practitioners. Since 2008, the Warwick Institute for Employment Research has been working with European colleagues developing demonstrator systems. Four systems will be demonstrated: the first has been designed to support practitioners with their use of labour market information (LMI) in careers practice; the second to support practitioners (and more broadly, employees across organisations) with their continuing professional development; the third to visualise LMI data; and finally, LMI learning and development modules.
IER and Connexions Kent received National Careers Award
For the second year running, IER in partnership with Connexions Kent & Medway won a National Careers Award for ‘research by an organisation’. The event was organised by the Institute of Careers Guidance (the largest professional careers organisation in the UK) and was held in Leeds. The award was in recognition of the innovative research and development carried out by IER and Connexion Kent on Career Constructor. Career Constructor was the result of a three year research project on the integration of ICT in career guidance practice. It brings together information on over 800 jobs and over 400 videos with interactive exercises, local searches and customised career research – all aimed at providing a comprehensive web-based career package for young people. Career Constructor was designed to enable young people to conduct detailed career searches, record their own research and profile in an e-portfolio format, explore labour market data and rate jobs.