What role can lifelong learning play in economic and social recovery?

This month's Spotlight article is written by Professors Lorna Unwin and Andy Green from the Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies (LLAKES) in advance of the 'Learning, Inequality and Social Cohesion in a Recession' event being held on 4^th November 2011 at the University of Stirling.

Many countries are struggling to respond to the global economic crisis and governments are having to make very difficult decisions. In the UK, rising inequalities in skills and incomes and substantial barriers to social mobility pose major challenges to social cohesion and individual life chances. Now, more than ever, policymakers, practitioners and researchers need to pool their expertise to develop solutions to the problems we all face.

The LLAKES Research Centre, established in January 2008 through a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)^[1], investigates the role that lifelong learning can play at the interface between economic and social policies. LLAKES is a partnership led by Director Andy Green, and Deputy Director Lorna Unwin, at the Institute of Education (IOE) in London, with researchers at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR), the University of Southampton and the University of Bristol. We also collaborate with social scientists in other UK institutions and in other countries, as well as with policy-makers and practitioners. In this article, they present some of their research findings.

Integrating multiple perspectives

Despite the wealth of social science research in the UK, much of it is still conducted in disciplinary and methodological silos. In setting up LLAKES, we deliberately set out to build a team of researchers from different disciplines who could work together to address a set of questions around two inter-related themes: a) the social and cultural foundations of learning, knowledge production and transfer, and innovation, within the context of a changing economy; and b) the inter-related effects of uneven educational participation and distributions of skills and knowledge on inequality, social cohesion and competitiveness.

We were equally determined to investigate our research themes across a range of levels to capture the impact of developments in policy and practice within and across countries and on individuals. At the supra-national (macro) level, this involves, for example, cross-country comparative analysis of the performance of national systems of education and training, as well as the role of agencies such as the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). At the meso level, we investigate how education and training opportunities are shaping and shaped by the regeneration and innovation strategies of city-regions in the UK. At the micro level, our focus is on the economic and social consequences for individuals of participation in different forms of learning and experience beyond school and through adult life.

All LLAKES' research reports can be downloaded free from http://www.llakes.org/llakes-research-papers. They are also available directly from Research Online, Scotland's Labour Market Intelligence Hub. In the following sections, we present findings from five of our projects to illustrate our multi-level, inter-disciplinary and mixed-method approach.

Educational Inequality in the UK - a comparative perspective

In a project analysing data from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, Andy Green and Germ Janmaat have shed new light on the performance of British children. It was already known that, whilst the educational outcomes in the UK are more unequal than in most of the OECD countries, the four education systems in the UK perform somewhat differently. Those in Scotland and Wales produce slightly more equal educational outcomes at 15 than those in England and Northern Ireland. But the PISA results for the UK as a whole are dominated by the English sample and therefore mostly reflect the effects of England's education system. This system includes a mixture of selective and non-selective secondary schools with widespread use of ability grouping within schools. The impact of social background on performance is relatively high across the UK. Across all OECD countries, on average, 57% of the performance difference between schools can be attributed to the social character of the intake. In the UK (and in Luxembourg, New Zealand and the USA) the social intake accounts for over 70% of performance difference between schools.

Through this deeper analysis of the UK's PISA performance and by comparing it with other countries, LLAKES is developing a broader understanding of the way the increase in educational inequality and decline in social mobility poses a potential threat to social cohesion. We argue that this is eroding the long-held belief in the UK in individual freedom, opportunity and rewards based on merit, which underpins our shared social values.

Using Planning Powers as a Lever for Skills

As part of our research in UK city-regions, we are building a detailed picture of the way local authorities can use planning powers as part of their regeneration strategies to achieve both social and economic goals. In a project led by Alison Fuller of the University of Southampton, we studied an innovative initiative led by Southampton City Council using Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act to bind an international retail company that wished to build a new facility in the city, into a series of social inclusion measures for unemployed people in deprived localities. The study revealed the important role played by 'third sector' providers (charities, voluntary organisations and hybrid organisations that straddle the 'for profit/not for profit' line) in providing training and other services for 'welfare-to-work' clients.

In a related study, led by Lorna Unwin, we are investigating the way Manchester City Council is using planning powers to create apprenticeship places for young people classified as NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) on a construction site to build houses in an area of the city blighted by the loss of manufacturing. This initiative also requires the development company to ensure a proportion of its on-site workforce is drawn from the local area. Both the Manchester and Southampton examples show the importance of local authorities in bringing together public and private sector organisations to drive forward economic and social regeneration. They have the capacity, expertise, networks and levers to strengthen the relationship between the community and the economy. The studies also show how creating opportunities for lifelong learning needs to be integrated within broader social policy.

Employers, recession, and 'smarter' workforce development

Two LLAKES projects have been examining employer behaviour in regard to training during periods of recession. Geoff Mason and colleagues at NIESR carried out a detailed analysis of Labour Force Survey (LFS) data and the UK City-Regions Dataset, together with a telephone survey of employers at two points in time (mid-2008, 409 respondents; mid-2009, 285 respondents) plus follow-up telephone interviews with 45 participating employers. The sectors and city-regions covered by the study were the retail sector (Portsmouth and Southampton), electronics manufacturing sector (Bristol and the South West), cultural industries (Manchester), architecture and construction services (Birmingham) and social work (Glasgow). The research shows that there has been some narrowing of the gap in training rates between low-qualified and highly-qualified employees, but that, across the workforce as a whole, average levels of off-the-job training have declined through much of the 2000s, returning now to 1993 levels.

In a parallel study, Francis Green (IOE) with Alan Felstead and Nick Jewson of Cardiff University have created single dataset from 81 surveys of employer behaviour and attitudes towards training dating back to 1989. They used the results to inform telephone interviews with 52 employers of varying sizes, operating in different industries and with apparently different experiences of training during the recession. The findings confirm the decline in off-the-job training found by Mason and colleagues, but also show that many employers have been forced by the recession to find ways of 'training smarter'. This includes increasing in-house provision, renegotiating relationships with external trainers, and enhancing the role of e-learning.

Lifelong learning, employment and wage returns

In a LLAKES project focused on the micro level, Martin Weale and colleagues at NIESR have used an innovative modelling approach to explore the relationship between lifelong learning, wages and participation in employment over the lifecourse. The results show substantial effects on earnings from lifelong learning for men and women with higher returns for those whose learning led to an upgrading of qualifications than from learning with no upgrading. Much of the benefit of lifelong learning comes from increased employment prospects, and this effect is particularly marked for adults with low initial qualification levels. While upgrading offers a route out of poor labour market experience, a second sub-project has shown that individuals are uncertain about the benefits of upgrading which may explain lower than expected take-up of lifelong learning opportunities.

Collaborative research and debate

We are working hard to ensure LLAKES research will be of benefit to anyone who wants to further their understanding of the interrelated nature of the complex economic and social forces that both help and hinder people from childhood through to post-retirement, as well as affecting their communities, workplaces and the country as a whole.  People on the ground know that a more 'joined-up' approach is needed. We want to develop opportunities (e.g. workshops and seminars) for different stakeholders to come together to discuss and debate shared interests in the light of robust evidence.

On November 4th, LLAKES is hosting a 'Question Time' style debate - Learning, Inequality, and Social Cohesion in Recession - at the Stirling Management Centre, University of Stirling.  The debate will be triggered by presentations of LLAKES research from Andy Green, Lorna Unwin, and Geoff Mason, followed by perspectives from Scottish and Northern Ireland colleagues. We aim to present a diverse range of views in order to stimulate fresh ideas for policymaking and research. Audience members are encouraged to e-mail their questions for the panel in advance, or bring them along on the day. This event is sponsored by ESRC as part of their annual Festival of Social Science. Entry is free, and lunch and refreshments are provided, but places are limited and prior registration is essential. For reservations or further questions, please contact esrcfestival@stir.ac.uk.

^[1] The Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies (LLAKES) is funded by the ESRC from 2008-2012 - grant number RES-594-28-0001