EDUCATION FOR THE GOOD SOCIETY - Support

The combination of policy over-ambition forthe role of education and under-ambition forunderlying economic and labour market factorssuggests the need to start afresh, rather thantweak or revise the policy legacy of the recent past.The need for radical re-thinking is clear. Besidesthe very significant failings outlined above, thelikely future state of the public finances almostinevitably rules out a return to the status quoanti through a re-run of New Labour’s attemptsto generate a ‘skills revolution’ through publiclyfunded education and training.So what’s the answer?If there is a desire for a new policy approach tothe links between education and training andthe economy and labour market that leads ina different direction from that which has gonebefore, and which deploys fresh analyses to policyformation and implementation, then the authorwould argue there are a number of relativelysimple rules that might be deployed to guidethinking:1. Develop a vision of the kind of society,economy and labour market you would liketo see our country have in 10 to 15 years’time, and then work back from that in orderto determine what kinds of policies might beneeded to deliver this vision, and what stagesof development might be needed to be gonethrough on the journey towards that vision.Notions of the Good Society need to extendbeyond education into the economy andlabour market if they are to have any chanceof generating lasting change and success.2. Avoid the trap of thinking that you can gofrom where we are now to where you wantto be in one giant step. The history of Englisheducation and training policy (and manyother areas of policy) over the last 30 yearsis littered with instances of policy-makersannouncing that ‘this is the moment’ whena step change in outcomes will commence.The chief result has been subsequent disappointment.3. Be realistic about what the education andtraining system can and cannot be expectedto do to help achieve this vision, both actingon its own and in connection with other areasof policy development and activity. Paintingeducation and training as a universal ‘cure-all’carries a huge price for education and trainingproviders (though one not usually paid bysenior policy-makers) and often displacespolicy attention and political resourcesfrom areas that need to be addressed beforeeducation and training can contribute muchto further progress.4. Recognise that education and training fulfilsmany roles, only some of which are to dowith employment and the economy, and thatmaintaining a balance of policy priority andresources between objectives to do with socialand societal outcomes, economic gain andlearning for its own sake is vitally important.There are many wider social, political andcultural goals that education policy needs toaddress, not least the notion of learning asa good in its own right and as a part of individualand collective development and theenrichment of life. It is extremely importantthat whatever priority is afforded to education’srole within economic life, its potentialcontributions to other needs and goals are notdisplaced as a result.5. Be clear about the linkages between educationand training policy and other strands ofpolicy development and think through howarticulation between these different areascan be achieved. For instance, the failure tojoin up the economic aspects of educationand training policy and investment withpolicies on economic development, businessimprovement, innovation (in its widestsense), employment and productivity hasbeen one of the key reasons why publicinvestment has not reaped the dividends thathave been expected; and why the supply of,demand for and productive utilisation ofskills have all fallen short of what has beendesired. 5 Improving education works best inthe context of more and better employment,firms that are ambitious in how and withwhom they choose to compete, and forms ofwork organisation and job design that seekto maximise skill usage to productive effect.Quality education for quality jobs makes agreat deal more sense than quality educationfor rubbish jobs!5 Ewart Keep, Ken Mayhew andJoan Payne, ‘From skills revolutionto productivity miracle – notas easy as it sounds?’, OxfordReview of Economic Policy, 22(4),pp.539–59, 2006.Education for the good society | 51