Will skills be worthy of priority?
THE priority status given to a skills strategy by the new UK government mirrors similar commitments made in Guernsey dating back to the 2020 election and through to today – but with a lot more action.
The priorities too, are starkly different. Sir Keir Starmer pushed skills to the top of the agenda to reduce the dependency on immigration, cutting demand for hiring from overseas by linking training with migration policies.
In Guernsey skills are a priority to support the economy. They’ve been a priority for four at least years. And the Committee for Economic Development says that it’s finally making progress with Education, Sport & Culture to create an arms’ length body.
It will be staggering if the committees, or a new body, does much more than repeat the exercise which led to the publication of a Skills Guernsey action plan in 2018, which, after exhaustive work, revealed that the island could do with qualifications, digital skills, innovation and entrepreneurship, right attitude and employability traits, apprenticeships and work-based learning, while recognising the impact of the Population Management Law.
Any strategy should also recognise the odd job market in Guernsey, where often the school record doesn’t matter as teenagers are able to walk into well-paid jobs, where they are given an opportunity to make the best of themselves.
The project will need to justify the time taken. The previous track record in this area doesn’t look promising.