English exceptionalism re-visited: divergent skill strategies across England and Scotland

Abstract

This article takes as its starting point David Raffe's pioneering work on 'home international' comparisons across the UK, and compares and contrasts current and emerging English and Scottish developments and policy trajectories primarily as they relate to vocational education broadly defined, but also with some observations concerning schooling and higher education (HE).

FE and skills in Scotland: the implications of a policy led and ‘managed’ approach?

“…These strategies have also focused on the need to encourage greater use of the skills developed within the workplace, through changes to job design and work organisation. In that sense the recognition of the need for changes in the demand side is distinctively different from the approach taken in England which continues to place emphasis on a supply side model (Keep 2017). So it can be seen that skills policy is firmly embedded in Scotland's wider economic policy, and that this policy is ambitious in the range of contexts and issues which it seeks to influence.…”

“…In a comparative article Keep draws distinctions between the retention of an education and skills 'system' in Scotland, arranged as a series of linked levels and types of provision, with the creeping marketization of English education and skills provision (Keep 2017). Here a 'system' approach is contrasted to the promotion of markets, or often quasi markets, that emphasise competition between providers.…”

Further education and skills across the UK: new opportunities for policy learning? An introduction to the special issue

“…Even here, however, there are reasons for caution. Ewart Keep (2017) notes that in the area of skills development there are sharply divergent policy approaches between England and Scotland. The latter has been less inclined to focus purely on the supply of skills, rather it has been seeking to pay more attention to skills utilisation, the condition of the workplace and the nature of employment, with the aim of stimulating greater employer demand for higher skills.…”

Parallel lines or divergent trajectories? A response to the other contributions

“…In Scotland, which is furthest down this avenue, the Economic Strategy and Labour Market Strategy embody these priorities and the Fair Work Convention and the Scottish Government's Labour Market Strategy Group are evolving policies and ways of measuring their implementation that address issues such as the living wage, employee voice within the workplace, job quality, gender imbalances in the workforce and skills and training for older workers (Keep, 2017). A further manifestation of this approach has been the creation of a single, over-arching board to superintend the work of the economic development agencies and Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) (Gallacher and Reeve, this volume).…”