Developing public servants for the future

Abstract

The vast majority of UK civil and public servants have been developed within their service and professional sectors and there is frequently very little movement in terms of their employment into other service areas. This means that many of our current leaders have limited experiences in services and organisations other than their 'own'. This paper focuses on a new graduate programme for the training and development of public leaders of the future in Wales. In keeping with the spirit of the Well Being of Future Generations Act 2015 and the 'One Welsh Public Service' values and behaviours, this programme has been set up as a leadership and development programme for civil and public servants of the future exposing them to a range of sectors and services. The intention is that through these experiences, future leaders will approach problems from a multi-service perspective, will be better networked and ready to deal with complexity. Areas of good practice will be highlighted together with some of the challenges of developing leaders in this way.

Reflecting on over 100 years of public administration education

“…Vogel (2021) argued for public administration faculty to stress the field as a vocation focused on public service, and when preparing them for their careers, the public service ethos should be stressed along with career-related items, such as job placement, salary, and other extrinsic issues. The context of public services, reflecting key values was a central part of the first all Wales public service graduate program launched by the Welsh Government in 2018 and continue to be prominent (Farrell & Hicks 2020).…”

The fragmentation of public administration: Differentiated and decentered governance in the (dis)United Kingdom

“…Political leaders in Wales have given strong support to the concept of a more cohesive and coordinated public service (see Prosser, 2003) espoused by Rhodri Morgan as First Minister (2000Minister ( -2009 and his special adviser Mark Drakeford, who is now First Minister. This spawned a number of training and development initiatives, including the establishment of Academi Wales, as a coordinating mechanism for leadership and training developments across the public administration system, and a Master's Graduate Programme for "civil and public servants" (see Farrell & Hicks, 2020). However, the different parts of the public service remain structurally separate, and Wales continues to struggle to overcome the "silo working" that is a feature of all four nations of the United Kingdom.…”

Editorial: An agenda for civil service change

“…In the UK, we seem a long way from seeing the need for that kind of approach, let alone seeking to make it a reality, but it would have a massive impact on the kind of development opportunities provided to civil and public servants and the way in which they were made available. The article in this issue by Catherine Farrell and Jo Hicks on the Welsh graduate programme points out the direction needed (Farrell & Hicks, 2020).…”