Page 92 - Regional Employment & Skills Plan 2019

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The vision of this document and for the RLSP over the next three years is as follows;
To create a post -16 learning environment which meets the needs of learners, in and providers thus improving the economic well-being of South West and Mid Wales?
The following conclusions and recommendations have been made with this vision in mind and will dictate the RLSP’s activity over the next three years. This activity is detailed in annex 1. The recommendations are made under the three most pertinent issues identified throughout the plan, these are; employability, learning and career choices and opportunities and provision.
Employability
Work-readiness and general employability is a clear theme which transcends across sectors as being an area of concern. It is perceived as being a significant barrier to the employment of competent individuals who are able to make a positive contribution to a given business and industry. Further work needs to be done to equip learners with the desired employability skills and soft skills needed to gain meaningful employment which benefits both the employer and the employee/learner.
1. Increase engagement with schools to ensure that learners are aware of the skills that employers consider essential ensuring that employability and soft skills are highlighted as being as being as pertinent as technical or practical skills.
2. Enhance partnership working to address the issues around the employability of individuals, especially those experiencing additional barriers to learning and employment.
Learning and Career Choices
The perceptions of what the RLSP deem ‘priority sectors’ are still a significant issue. Many sectors report this as being a key barrier to the recruitment and retention of individuals. Unfortunately, those sectors that are at- tractive to learners are considered over-prescribed by the RLSP and there needs to be a re-balancing of the FE and WBL offer to ensure that these priority sectors have an ample, varied and suitable provision offer.
In addition there is a lack of understanding around different learning routes which further exacerbates recruit- ment and retention challenges.
3. Support providers to market those ‘hard to fill’ courses which align to priority areas through sharing LMI with marketing teams and curriculum heads.
4. Increase the parity of esteem between different learning routes, through focussing interventions on increasing the understanding of Apprenticeships as a viable learning route with learners and influencers.
5. To develop a range of resources that adequately promote poorly perceived sectors and share this intelligence with relevant stakeholders.
Opportunities and Provision
6. Support partners to develop a curriculum that is fit for purpose, ensuring that new provision is facilitated and developed in areas where currently the required resources are not available.
7. Work closer with employers to identify economies of scale in terms of sector specific skills gaps to develop appropriate provision to meet these needs.
8. Ensure that the regional voice is included in all policies related to employment and skills.
Significant opportunities are going to be presented to the region and its people by the wealth of major projects planned for the near future.
Regional Employment & Skills Plan South West & Mid Wales
Recommendations