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Executive summary
This research explores skills gaps in paid employees within the English third sector in 2008. It was conducted by the UK Workforce Hub to provide information on the skills and workforce development of third sector employees in England.
what skills gaps third sector organisations of different sizes are currently experiencing and are likely to experience in the future, and how these gaps have been identified how organisations are responding to these gaps what barriers to skills development they are facing and how these can be addressed.
Definitions
Skills gaps exist where employers report having employees who are not fully proficient at their job.
Methodology
The findings within this report are based on the views of third sector front-line employers in England expressed in a number of focus groups. The focus groups were conducted in four English cities each within a different English region to ensure as many third sector employers across England could participate as possible. Following the focus groups, a workshop was held with third sector infrastructure organisations in order to provide them with the opportunity to hear the early findings of the research and identify if these findings resonated with their knowledge and experience of skills gaps and training needs within the third sector. Fieldwork took place between November 2007 and January 2008.
Executive summary | Third Sector Skills Research 2008: Further evidence and recommendations on skills gaps
Third Sector Skills Research 2008: Further evidence and recommendations on skills gaps | Executive summary
Integration of and planning for training and development was generally quite poor
Participants gave the impression that different organisational actions to address skills gaps did not form a coherent plan. The discussions indicated that learning and development is more than just a set of processes and procedures, but a value set. Numerous training and development initiatives are taking place, but integration of training and development into overall planning was considered difficult because it involved finding ways of reconciling individual development needs with organisational ones. Participants discussed the potential tensions between the two and the need for career pathways to be more clearly expressed.
Executive summary | Third Sector Skills Research 2008: Further evidence and recommendations on skills gaps