TJ - The Publication for Learning and Development

Editorial

By Debbie Carter (October 2007 Issue)
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Stark, sobering statistics are a regular feature in our lives today; from weather to war, we are bombarded with figures that seem to suggest we are facing a downward spiral to oblivion.

Not short of a statistic or two within our own pages, this month Elizabeth Eyre looks at the latest CBI report on trends in employment (see page 6). The 60-page document puts people development squarely on the business agenda.

A third of employers reported that effective people management was their greatest asset in the battle for business success, with improving skills high on their list of priorities. Ninety-two per cent of employers taking part in the survey trained their staff for their current role, but were frustrated by the lack of qualifications that meet their current training needs. Furthermore, employers continue to be hampered in their efforts to develop an effective workforce by a lack of the most basic skills like numeracy, literacy and general employability skills.

I am constantly amazed by the UK’s lack of a joined-up approach to people development. We have schools busily improving their GCSE and A-level grades every year while failing to provide the skills most employers are crying out for. Employers are shouting about schools letting them down with the calibre of young people joining their workforces, but how many take the trouble to go into schools to talk about their industry and to nurture budding talent, to swell their numbers in years to come with motivated and skilled people?

Government is trying hard to improve the UK’s skills strategy, but should the present administration lose its mandate in a future election, all its plans could face a dramatic about-turn and put the UK’s skills agenda back – yet again.

The motivation to learn is instilled in us very early on in life – we learn more in the first five years of our lives than at any time thereafter. This is a time when we are not under the informed wing of teachers or L&D specialists but simply in the warm, loving embrace of our parents. Well-intentioned parents we may be, but most of us start out with minimal parenting skills and perhaps this is where we should start focusing some attention.

Teaching good parenting skills needs to form part of the national curriculum – from how to feed your children properly to how to kick-start and manage their growth and behaviour though the various stages of their development. A tall, and perhaps contentious, order but surely one worth considering, given the financial and societal benefits that could ensue – I know I would have jumped at the opportunity to learn more about being a parent. I feel I muddled through the last 18 years or so, hoping I was doing the ‘right’ things and that my children would turn out ‘okay’ in the end!

This month sees Andrew Mayo’s last column for TJ. After eight years, Andrew has decided to bow out of the pages of TJ – although his invaluable expertise will still feed into our strategy through his membership of the editorial board. He has covered a wide variety of topics in the 100 columns he has written over this period, bringing readers an informed, business view of the role of learning and development and its importance to business success.

Thank you Andrew, for your important contribution to TJ over these years.

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