Varied skills are vital for prosperity
NATIONAL Careers Week last week was an opportune time to reflect on the importance of making informed decisions based on future goals and ambitions.
However, having a clear route applies as much to policy-makers, employers and education providers as it does the young people who are beginning their working lives.
In fact, that is a core theme of ICAEW’s vision for a resilient future UK economy.
With a new First Minister due to be announced later this week and a UK parliamentary election at some point this year, we have published a manifesto which calls for a range of policies including the support businesses need to secure the talent that they need to thrive.
We want to see Welsh and UK governments working together to shape the skills agenda so that we can develop a flexible workforce that can adapt to an ever-changing environment.
Schools, education providers and businesses then have a role to play in working together to shape the curriculum, along with skills acquisition routes, so that young people are more aware of possible career pathways and opportunities.
Developing skills, building diversity and creating opportunity will help boost productivity, support the green transition and ensure that growth is inclusive to all.
We must remove barriers to entry, which is one of the main reasons why I welcome the introduction of the new Vocational Certificate of Secondary Education (VCSE) that will be introduced from September 2027 for 14- to 16-year-olds in Wales.
Young people need choices and employers need a wide range of different skills. I hope that VCSEs will be valued in the same way as traditional GCSEs, or O-levels in my day,
Editor SION BARRY 029 2024 3749 because this is a great opportunity to raise the profile of vocational learning and develop a future workforce that has the knowledge and skills that Wales needs for both business and economic growth.
I know that further education providers like Cardiff and Vale College have the specialist knowledge and facilities to deliver the new VCSEs and ensure that young people benefit from high-quality learning. They’re certainly shouting loud (and rightly so) about the opportunity that the new qualifications will bring to our future workforce.
Developing tomorrow’s leaders today was the theme of another brilliant event hosted by PwC as part of Wales Week in London at the end of February.
The Football Association of Wales and Call of the Wild were joined by a great audience as they discussed how identifying and developing these stars is an ever more complex process. I was honoured to chair the panel as they gave practical insights on how to walesonline.co.uk/business cultivate the next generation of leaders, and how to create and embed a culture that nurtures and inspires.
We spoke about identifying talent, the challenges of career development in our new hybrid-working world, the need for inclusivity and the benefits of diversity in the workforce.
These are all subjects that are very close to my heart, given our focus at ICAEW on strengthening the accountancy profession by attracting talent and building diversity.
I wonder if the Chancellor was listening in ahead of his spring budget last Wednesday.
His closing remarks about creating and harnessing people power certainly struck a chord as he spoke of the need for more investment, more jobs and better public services.
Our members work in all sectors of the UK economy, from some of the largest multinational companies in the world to the entrepreneurial ventures at the core of every community. They repeatedly say that it is investment in a highly skilled economy that will generate GDP and ensure future prosperity for all.
Robert Lloyd Griffiths is director for ICAEW in Wales