Skills Set Consultation
The Crafts Council has responded to the Skills Set consultation, 'The Big Questions', on training and skills development in the creative industries. Responses are being gathered in preparation for a report by the Creative Industries Council which is due in January. Read on for Crafts Council comment
1) Is school-based education providing young people with the right understanding, knowledge and aptitudes for the Creative Industries?
Teaching in schools is an important driver for take-up at HE and ultimately for professional practice. The Crafts Council believes that at present schools-based education does not adequately equip young people with the requisite understanding and skills for a career in the creative industries in general and craft in particular.
We are concerned that recent education initiatives including the framework of the National Curriculum Review; the introduction of the E-Bac; recommendations in the Wolf Review and declining numbers of arts teacher training places in 2011/12, threaten the provision of practical and cultural education in schools. Whilst we believe that all young people must be proficient in literacy and numeracy, they also require a broad range of opportunities to discover where their abilities may lead them to excel.
The Crafts Council believes that practical skills, including craft skills, should form an integral part of the National Curriculum to Key Stage 3 as part of a cultural offer in the curriculum. Whilst we do not advocate compulsory craft teaching at Key Stage 4; when craft is taught at this level it should be as an independent subject accompanied by a recognised Programme of Study to provide proper guidance to schools.
2. How do the Creative Industries best communicate and supply access to relevant Careers information, advice and mentoring to:
Those wishing to enter:
We believe that people wishing to enter the creative industries, including the craft sector, are not well-served by careers information, with the exception of highly specialist provision such as that operated by Creative & Cultural Skills. Finding such specialist advice requires sign-posting and guidance, which is not always delivered. There is also a shortage of specialist provision itself. For the craft sector, this means that many people do not recognise craft practice as a viable, long-term career.
One solution is to raise the sector profile in national media. This is valuable but expensive, intermittent and hard to maintain. Another is the consistent provision of role models and ambassadors into schools FE and community settings (exemplified in the Crafts Council’s current Firing Up project), as a direct and cost-effective way of communicating the potential value of a career in the Creative Industries. To be effective, this requires time within the school day and teachers with specialist knowledge. Work-experience can also play a role, given a robust frame-work and rigorous monitoring for quality and outputs.
Craft is especially well-suited to showcasing at events where makers can demonstrate their skills. These could be delivered physically or online. The popularity of films showing expert makers at work is well-known and could be harnessed in this respect.
Those already in the workforce wishing to develop their skills and progress in their careers:
Craft as a second career:
Craft can be a popular choice as a second career and makers entering by this route diversify the sector and introduce new thinking. The delivery of basic advice for these people is under-developed, perhaps reflecting the fact that routes into the sector are too narrow (see below). Opportunities to encounter established sector professionals as role models is an effective solution and digital provision through online forums etc could provide efficient ways of scaling this.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD):
Alongside other members of the creative industries, craft makers are lifelong learners and continue to develop professional and technical skills throughout their careers. The Crafts Council’s Crafting Futures research, an in depth report examining the early careers of UK crafts graduates, found that 38 per cent were engaged in further study or some form of CPD and almost three-quarters had undertaken some form of informal or formal study since graduating. CPD was cited as important to keep up to date with new technologies and industry software; learn new practice skills and business knowledge; network and collaborate. Short courses were identified as the preferred model for CPD.
The Craft Blueprint, produced by Creative & Cultural Skills in partnership with the Crafts Council, showed that, while the above is true, makers rarely allocate budget to CPD; relying on skills swaps, grants, awards and highly subsidised offers. This tends to make CPD provision unsustainable, and means that makers are often reactive and opportunistic in their take up, undertaking inappropriate courses purely because they are available. These factors, along with elements of CPD provision without “hard” outcomes, can make impacts hard to quantify.
The Crafts Council has a strong track record in this area, through our longstanding Professional Development Programmes. Our view is that specific, timely and appropriate forms of CPD are crucial to the business and creative growth of the micro-enterprises prevalent, across the creative industries. However, it should be noted that cuts to public expenditure and additional calls on philanthropy mean that these opportunities are currently contracting.
How do we work effectively with the All-Age Careers Service? N/A
3) How can we improve fair access and clear entry and progression routes into the Creative Industries to ensure the best possible talent and skills base that is representative of the UK’s population? How can we increase the take up of formal Apprenticeships and paid Internships)?
Craft Graduates:
Access to the sector, is currently over-whelmingly at graduate level. Recent Crafts Council research found that 61 percent of makers have a first or second degree. This is, in itself, an issue.
On a positive note, Crafting Futures found that craft graduates are exceptionally socially mobile with a high percentage stating that they were the first family member to enter HE and with no difference in their success after graduation compared to those from more privileged backgrounds.
However, even with graduates, access to work experience in the sector remains a challenge; the work experience market is very competitive and opportunities are commonly found informally. Crafting Futures indicated that work experience contacts established at university and by word of mouth are essential career facilitators. Finding work after graduation was shown to be one of the main challenges facing craft graduates, with only half feeling prepared for work on leaving their courses.
As stated above, access to the sector through alternative routes including FE and apprenticeships is poor, although some makers do come to craft as a second career through FE. Recent Crafts Council research has found that 24 per cent of makers have qualifications other than a first or second degree.
Apprenticeships and paid internships:
The issue for craft apprenticeships, in particular, is currently more about supply than demand. A sector composed of sole traders and micro-businesses does not have the capacity or resources to host apprenticeships and interns under current schemes. This is often due to space and time, rather than lack of ability to train or share knowledge.
Most craft makers desire some form of assistance but are unable to afford the salary contributions to apprenticeships and are deterred by the formal commitments to training under the scheme. A lack of business skills in the sector can hinder makers in identifying the kind of assistance they require, such as book keeping or project management, and further support for makers is needed in this area. There is also a need for business development support for those more established in practice, rather than just concentration on HE/FE or early stage level. Support at 5 – 10 years will have greater impact in building a stronger sector with particular implications for a broader and more sustainable apprenticeships programme.
In the craft sector unaccredited work based learning, in the form of work placements, is common – particularly post-degree. The formalisation of work placements would provide structure and recognition for existing training, however, the skills system should prioritise gaining tangible skills over accreditation. The accreditation of qualifications through NVQs, for example, has been too focussed on gathering evidence of competencies rather than gaining relevant skills.
Many current schemes overlook the fact that entry into craft is often a second career and, by capping the joining age, exclude people wishing to bring manufacturing or service skills into the sector. Addressing this would increase the diversity of skills in the sector.
Given these issues, questions of demand are hard to address beyond saying that where apprenticeships, similar or equivalent opportunities, are offered, demand exists. The fact that these tend to be outside a formal system may affect qualities of experience and learning for trainees, although this is not necessarily the case.
Given sufficient supply, demand can best be stimulated as described above.
4) How do we best develop the skills for creative competitiveness and growth amongst the existing workforce and provide continuous professional development (CPD) to support it?
Ideally, HEIs would embed these skills in courses, through assessed formal work experience along with ‘Live Projects’ in partnership with industry, so that new entrants into the workplace are considerably more advanced than employers currently find to be the case. New graduates are consistently cited as lacking the basics of business acumen amongst other skills.
As above, recent years have seen an increasing range of CPD opportunities for the professional population. However these have almost all been underpinned by public funds, opportunities are currently contracting and there is little sign that the private sector will pick them up.
The Crafts Council has worked for over 30 years in this area, offering training opportunities to makers at all stages of their careers to support the development of business and creative skills in tandem. However, alongside other CPD organisations we have found this level of training resistant to scale, due to factors including the absence of sustainable funding and constraints in funding agreements. Recent graduates have expressed concerns about the time required to undertake in-depth training programmes given other pressures such as finding paid employment and repaying loans; thus developing practices is taking longer. As most makers do not have a CPD budget, programmes requiring investment are seeing lower levels of take up.
Work needs to be done to develop, trial and bring to market distance and digital learning aids that can deliver the equivalent of current models, while noting that, for a sector which largely works in isolation, the importance of networking via CPD should not be under-estimated. National broadband coverage is vital – many craft makers choose to work outside major cities for inspiration and/or for economy and inadequate internet connections are frequently cited as a barrier to use.
5) How do we best develop innovative world-beating leaders, managers and entrepreneurs with the right skills and attributes to ensure our future creative growth? Do today’s leaders and managers deploy and use the talent and skills of our workforce as effectively as they might? Or can more be done?
In the craft sector many professionals display the attributes of successful leadership; they are resourceful and pragmatic, and have advanced technical, practical and artistic skills as well as business acumen.
Craft makers are entrepreneurial, typically sole/micro-enterprises with multiple income streams, for example combining teaching, consultancy and making, in ‘portfolio careers’. Makers are quick to explore, transform and create new processes and materials including digital technology and sustainable working methods; recent Crafts Council research found that 57 per cent of makers use digital technology to some extent for activities such as designing, making and marketing. Craft practice has significant spill-over effects; the problem-solving skills, practical skills and materials knowledge developed through craft practice feed into a range of professions such as engineering, software design and medicine. Our Making Value research, which investigated portfolio-working in the sector, found that makers work in a far greater range of places than previously realised or recorded.
However, many makers do not see themselves as leaders, struggle with the idea of leadership and are unsure of their own standing outside their sector. It is precisely this questioning approach that gives them the potential to bring new ways of thinking and working to the forefront and to lead in a sector composed of people like themselves. Experience suggests that developing them as leaders can be accomplished through established CPD routes including 1-1 engagement with people whom they recognise as leaders. Given the need for quality over quantity, this is a feasible approach. It could be even more powerful if cross-disciplinary opportunities were provided across and beyond the creative industries.
6) How can we maximise partnerships:
See examples at Q11 below.
7) How can we ensure our industries (employers, employees, freelancers), and those wishing to enter, can identify appropriate and quality training and Further and Higher Education provision?
Identifying relevant training opportunities would be greatly facilitated by access to coherent, comparable information on available training, including course frameworks, accreditation and content. There is a need for clear pathways to accreditation. Sector skills bodies, with specialist knowledge of the creative industries and craft, play an important role in enabling this.
Sector skills bodies also play a vital role in addressing skills needs in the creative sectors. In recent years there have been a number of changes in approach to skills and Sector Skills Councils have been instrumental in delivering a stable and coherent approach.
There remains however, a need for greater breadth in training offers, as many opportunities focus on the maker becoming a sole trader rather than exploring the value of making and the diverse contexts in which craft skills can be applied, as shown in Making Value. A broader focus could lead to an increase in employment opportunities for those working in the sector.
8) How do we ensure that educators and trainers are supported to be equipped with updated and relevant skills, information and knowledge both within subject specific to Creative Industries and others, e.g. marketing, finance, law and business studies?
Craft professionals commonly run sole or micro-enterprises, supplementing their incomes with teaching and consultancy, for example. Thus educators and trainers can also be practising makers, the Crafting Futures research found that 41 per cent of recent graduates had experience of teaching in their early careers. The fragmentary nature of the sector means that access to current information for educators and trainers might be best provided online, through downloads with recognised, trusted providers as a sign of quality and to facilitate comparability.
As above, business skills are not sufficiently taught alongside artistic and technical skills at HE/FE level. These skills are best delivered by professionals from the relevant fields such as finance, law and business studies, as provided for example by the Own It programme. These skills should also be embedded into teaching, through live projects/ internships/ work experience and understood in terms of creative practice – if provided in isolation they can seem irrelevant. Business skills as a component of craft courses need to be backed up with sign-posting to additional or refresher information, again through online digital learning.
A large proportion of craft makers are dyslexic and makers often learn best through doing. This requires particular support or styles of delivery, which are often characteristic of studio practice.
9) How do we best facilitate networks and partnerships to aggregate support and scalability to achieve commonly identified solutions:
a) across the creative industries
Networks and partnerships across the creative industries can best be facilitated by a combination of physical events, for example retreats, with digital resources that are regularly refreshed with new content to encourage return visits, and which include specific calls to action to encourage participation.
b) between the Creative Industries and key education and training providers;
The Crafts Council’s programme Collective is designed to be delivered in partnership between creative industries, HE/FE and other bodies. This emphasis on partnership has enabled the Crafts Council to understand and meet a range of needs, build a national programme through regional bodies and ensure that there is high quality provision across the country. The partnerships are based on mutual learning experiences and participants share and use their own skills as well as learning from one another.
Many HEIs have established links to industry and work in partnerships, however the impact of these collaborations is rarely shared externally and only high profile colleges/ partnerships tend to gain external profile.
c) between the Creative Industries and Government and its public agencies?
Intermediary organisations play a key role in developing collective messages and gathering evidence about the distinctive values and contribution of creative industries. They are also important in communicating these values and priorities to Government. The Crafts Council undertakes in-depth, robust research into specific aspects of and issues within the craft sector. This helps to build an evidence base and informs dialogue with policy makers and funders across the sector.
10) Is the Labour Market Information and intelligence gathering that we currently produce across the Creative Industries sufficient to effectively inform planning and investment in appropriate delivery? Can we improve it and in what way?
The Crafts Council welcomes research work undertaken in areas including economic impact, employment and skills needs in the craft sector as a vital tool in designing programmes and policy for the sector. Our forthcoming survey, due to be published in November 2011, will measure the size and impact of the contemporary craft sector in the UK, extending our knowledge of the people and organisations it encompasses.
11) What examples are there of projects, initiatives or policies that are successfully delivering on any of the above issues and which could usefully be given greater profile or wider application?
The Crafts Council runs a number of education and CPD programmes and undertakes a range of research on behalf of the craft sector.
Firing Up: HE+Schools+CI professionals
The Crafts Council’s project Firing Up exemplifies effective partnership working. The project is a replicable, scalable national programme that aims to reinvigorate ceramics teaching across the country, embedding relationships with Higher Education Institutes and between their technicians, tutors, teachers and school-children to reintroduce pupils to practical work, in this case with clay, and to successful role models from the sector.
Firing Up uses a ‘cluster’ model constructed around the ceramics departments within partner Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), enabling cascade learning by equipping teachers with skills and resources that can be passed on in schools, encouraging reciprocity by delivering insights back into the HEIs and broadening access by working with a wide range of schools. The programme also has the potential to involve FE providers.
Firing Up is supported for three years by The Paul Hamlyn and Esmée Fairbairn Foundations, both of which recognised the potential for scale and replication. At the end of three years, the institutions concerned will have the resources to continue the programme with minimal direct costs and the tool-kit will be available to other HEIs and schools. The Crafts Council will continue to provide online networking and resources through its existing Craft Action Network for educators.
Hothouse and Portfolio: HE+CI professionals+Industry partners
As above the Crafts Council runs a range of CPD programmes under the banner of Collective. Hothouse and Portfolio are two of these programmes and place specific emphasis on developing the requisite skills for craft practice and partnership working.
Hothouse brings together emerging makers, HEIs and sector partners for an intense six-month period of professional development designed to promote innovation through reflective learning while delivering some core “hard skills” focussed on entrepreneurship and business – essential for these young sole traders. All partners are chosen for their particular areas of knowledge, ensuring that input is maximised and potential for duplication through overlapping separate initiatives is reduced.
The Hothouse programme is delivered in partnership with industry, the sector and HE partners. This provides a national credible progression route for recent graduates and emerging makers; provides HEIs with examples of successful makers and encourages regional retention as emerging makers become more aware of regional provision from the other sector partners.
Portfolio develops a range of initiatives for craft makers wishing to use their skills and knowledge in other sectors, working with constantly-changing HE and CI/industry partners depending on the chosen sector. Following a successful programme in which craft professionals were positioned as creative catalysts in schools, forthcoming Portfolio “test-cases” will give professional craft makers the opportunity to apply their skills within architecture and to experiment with the application of craft knowledge in digital and more broader technology-based industries.
12) How can we deliver better outputs and investment for supporting talent development by reducing Red Tape and introducing flexibilities which meet the employment and company profile needs of the Creative Industries?
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