Calls on Tech Partnership to help bridge the digital skills gap

Reflecting the Government’s emphasis on apprenticeship as a key plank of its training and employment strategy, the report recommends that tech skills should be at the heart of all apprenticeships. By making digital skills the focus of its 3 million apprenticeship target, the report says, the Government has the opportunity to ensure that more people have skills aligned to the needs of jobs across the economy. Government should also take the opportunity to ensure that women are encouraged to pursue apprenticeships in tech: the report identifies the lack of women in the sector as a core component of the digital skills crisis.

With 90% of new jobs requiring some level of digital skills, the report identifies a variety of skills issues as young people are prepared for, and enter, the workforce. At school level, it highlights the shortage of qualified ICT teachers: of particular concern given the demands of the new and rigorous computing curriculum. More resources must be dedicated to upskilling teachers and attracting new and highly qualified recruits. However, it commends the many industry-led, extra-curricular computing clubs that are springing up to offer pupils another route to these skills – of which TechFuture Girls is one example – and recommends that they become “the norm for schools, rather than the exception.” It also proposes that the Government and the Tech Partnership establish a regular forum for employers to contribute to the computing curriculum and ensure it stays up to date.

Moving to Higher Education, the report considers the high level of unemployment among computing graduates, despite the number of unfilled vacancies in the sector. Alongside the recommendations from the Shadbolt and Wakeham reviews, the report proposes two immediate solutions: universities should provide conversion courses to enable graduates from other disciplines to enter the tech sector; and the Government should work with the Tech Partnership to develop “industry-led, vocationally focussed digital careers advice in universities.”

The report concludes by calling on the Government to speed up the publication of its Digital Strategy, saying that the UK’s cultural perception of digital technology needs to change, and that collaboration between industry, educators and Government is vital to achieving ‘a Strategy that actually delivers.’

“I’m delighted to see the Government’s acknowledgement of the scale of the skills gap,” says Phil Smith, CEO UK&I, Cisco, and Chair of the Tech Partnership, “and its recognition of the role of Government and industry collaboration in meeting the challenge. Digital skills are vital to productivity and competitiveness across the whole economy, and the Tech Partnership is uniquely able to convene employers from the entire tech sector. Whether they are from tech companies, or from organisations dependent on digital skills to deliver in other economic areas, employers are passionate about bringing their collective expertise to bear on the problem.”

“The pipeline of talent is a critical issue for employers,” adds Karen Price, CEO of the Tech Partnership. “Intervention needs to start early and be sustained throughout education, in schools, colleges and universities. It’s gratifying to see the Committee recognise how much employers are doing in this area, and how much they have to offer in encouraging talented people to see a future in technology careers.”