Our Response to the Skills for Jobs White Paper

At Ufi, we welcome the plans outlined in the long-awaited Skills for Jobs white paper, published today by the Department for Education. The paper is an important step in recognising the important role vocational education plays and the need to better support and celebrate it.

Our mission at Ufi is to champion the power of technology to improve skills for work and we have long been calling for a revolution in adult education.

Adult vocational skills are the foundation of our economy and tech is the tool to underpin flexibility and greater parity of opportunity. If we do not develop a system that provides flexibility and parity of opportunity we have failed.

Whilst the proposals in today’s Skills for Jobs white paper are far from a revolution, we applaud the recognition that improvement is needed and change must come. Adult vocational skills are essential and VocTech is essential to ensure that we have system that can support them.

As we continue to adapt to the circumstances of the COVID pandemic, we must not lose sight of the benefits of technology; if the aspirations of the Skills for Jobs white paper are to be met and improvement achieved, a robust and co-ordinated approach to a tech-enabled sector is essential. This tech-enabled sector will be reliant on the proper deployment of quality technology, capital investment, and work culture.

Read our opinion piece on the Skills for Jobs white paper.

Find out more about how Ufi supports the digital and skills sector, and the aspirations of the FE and Skills White Paper.