Abstract:

Emphasising economic recovery in the small medium enterprise (SME) sector has created tensions within vocational education and training systems from policy formation to skills delivery. Principal concerns relate to a lack of realistic provision in training type, investment decisions and impact assessment which reflects the vocational education agenda at a regional level.

A range of anecdotal evidence suggests a common belief that smaller firms lack the ability to influence, or participate in, the development or implementation of important training and workforce development related policy and skills investment decisions. The aim of this paper is to consider the case of the construction industry and examine, through a series of key influencing factors, issues related to skills shortage identification, training quality and communications processes.

The paper presents the results of related research and discusses the problems faced by micro and SMEs organisations when finding themselves in open competition for training related funding with large employers. The skills requirements of micro and SME type organisations may be very different to those of large organisations and arrangements for a more balanced consideration of skills requirements should be made to mitigate the potential negative impact on regional and local needs.

A theoretical model for considering the process of turning policy into practice is considered

Keywords:

Vocational education, skills policy, local skills needs, micro enterprise skill needs, SME skill needs.