Return on vocational qualifications
Article Type: Research news From: Education + Training, Volume 51, Issue 3
Research by Professor Andy Dickerson (Sheffield University) for the UK’s Commission for Employment asnd Skills suggests that many employees who have taken low-level vocational qualifications earn less than workers with no qualifications at all, suggests research that throws doubt on government skills policy. Reporting on the research David Turner (Financial Times, 27 Fwebruary,2008) notes that the average woman with a “Level One” vocational qualification – equivalent to a string of low-grade GCSEs – earns 4 per cent less per hour than one with no formal certificate. But a woman who has moved up to “Level Two” is 9.4 per cent worse off. The corresponding figures for men are scarcely better (see Figure 2).
The research casts doubt on the heavy government funding for low-level qualifications learnt at colleges and at professional training companies. Common subjects are hairdressing, hygiene and childcare. “Because the returns are negative it suggests that on average VQs at this level aren’t valued by employers; they don’t meet employers’ needs”, the commission told the Financial Times. Mike Campbell, director of research and policy for the commission, suggested there was a “stigma” attached to some of the qualifications. Alison Wolf, professor of public sector management at King’s College London, said the study revealed that a large number of low-level qualifications “don’t do anything useful to anybody”, even though “an enormous amount of money is being spent”. Individuals who take low-level vocational qualifications are on average less skilled than those who do not, and employers sense this, suggested Anna Vignoles, professor at the Institute of Education. David Willetts, conservative shadow secretary for skills, agreed: “Some of these qualifications are very badly regarded by employers. They have become a flashing light, saying, ‘this person has an educational problem’, and this is putting employers off.”
