IER News & blogs

IER has been commissioned by the Department for Education to undertake a mapping and analysis of transferable skills (such as, team working and communication) across each of the new Technical Routes proposed in the Sainsbury Panel Report and adopted in the Government's Post-16 Skills Plan.

The purpose of the study is the creation of a framework to help design the content of the new technical level qualifications.

Whilst there is much evidence on transferable skills in general, or graduate transferable skills in particular, relatively little research is available for 16-18 year olds who will be the main cohort undertaking the 15 Technical Routes. IER is taking an innovative approach, triangulating information and data from: an evidence review; occupational skills, knowledge and abilities from the O*Net database, and; transferable skills identified in apprenticeship frameworks and standards. To find out more contact Peter Dickinson.

In a series of blog posts on what the major parties have to say about their spending plans, Wales Public Services 2025 look at pledges, and what this might mean for public services in Wales. Check out Daria Luchinskaya's blogs: What Labour and Plaid Cymru are saying about spending in Wales and What the Conservative and Liberal Democrat manifestos could mean for Wales.

IER's Gaby Atfield, Peter Dickinson, Erika Kispeter and Sally Wright have assessed the employment policy pledges made by the UK's major parties, focusing especially on how the manifestos address poverty. The analysis is part of the Election Manifesto Poverty Audit, which is organised by the UK chapter of the international organisation Academics Stand Against Poverty. Find the full report here.

IER has been commissioned by the Nigerian Government’s Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to provide training to its staff to help them develop labour market analysis in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Government wants to broaden its economic base. Currently there are gaps in labour market information and capacity to develop that information. The ITF approached IER to provide training to enable them to establish better and more policy-orientated employment research. IER hosted 5 visitors from the ITF over June and July 2017 including the Director General of the ITF, Sir Joseph Ari.

IER staff delivered training modules on: labour market assessment and forecasting; vocational education and training, including apprenticeships; higher education and the graduate labour market; labour market classification and measurement; careers guidance and labour market information (LMI) for all. Returning to Nigeria, the participants will now cascade this knowledge base across the ITF.

Regarded as a success by Sir Joseph Ari, IER will now work with the ITF to expand the training programme over the rest of this year and into 2018.

Professor Noel Whiteside, a member of the research team currently undertaking a comprehensive investigation of precarious employment with particular reference to opportunities for young people (see www.warwick.ac.uk/paths2work ) has just published a policy paper drawing on lessons from the past.

The Taylor Report, published on Tuesday 11 July, assumes the gig economy is novel. This is far from the case. IT platforms offer a new mode of job management. But over a century ago, irregular work and incomes were acknowledged to be a principal cause of poverty and social dependency, a source of economic inefficiency, a harbinger of poor health and lost working capacity. This perspective explains why permanent work contracts spread in ensuing decades. Today, such job security for young people is rare as we go back to a future of casual work.

Her article, 'Flexible employment and casual labour: a historical perspective on labour market policy', is available here.

Professor Whiteside can be contacted by email at N.Whiteside@warwick.ac.uk or by phone on 07974431577

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/pathways