On 7 September 2016 we published – An Open Letter to our Industry from Cyrus Todiwala OBE, DBA, DL – where Cyrus Todiwala addressed his views on the shortage of skilled chefs and wider training in our industry. We are now delighted to follow that up with an article in reply to Cyrus’ letter by Professor Peter A Jones MBE DSc (Hon) FCGI FIH.
It is not surprising that the hospitality industry remains confused about the role of education and training and how it contributes to the future development of the industry. Most of those working within the sector could also be forgiven for being confused and those in further education have every reason to feel bruised, battered and unloved.
At a recent policy seminar Professor Alison Wolf (Baroness Wolf of Dulwich, author of the much vaunted Wolf report into vocational education) provided a damning critique of tertiary education policy under the title “Tertiary Education in Crisis”. This article draws heavily on that critique while relating this to the impacts and implications for the hospitality industry.
We have an increasing gulf between the two principal sectors of further and higher education that is the “Tale of Two Sectors”. We have had a real structural divergences between these two sectors since 2002 with a very severe decline in the non- higher (further and adult) education provision of education and training. It is clear from any basic analysis that there is no coherence in funding or qualification policies with no serious thinking taking place is how to bridge those divisions. It seems to be, as with most things, the powerful and those who shout the loudest get the most. In this case it’s higher education who have benefited in real income terms with a very significant rise in real income since the introduction of student fees supported by student loans. Further education on the other hand has seen a real decline in funding across all of the areas from full-time courses, apprentices and adult skills.
There has been a global expansion of higher education and significant policy and social pressures to stay on in education and progress to university. Universities almost universally charge the maximum fee allowable, currently £9000 per year, funded through student loans, and whilst this fee has been capped the number of students universities can recruit hasn’t. Universities therefore have continued expansion opportunities and the ability to increase revenue. As Prof Wolf said “universities have enjoyed a golden decade of funding”. Yet universities are continuing to put pressure on government to be able to increase the fees and the government response is to introduce yet another “League Table” regime, the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). This is a mechanism and device that will allow higher education institutions to increase fees by being recognised as delivering teaching excellence. The cynical would suggest this has little to do with promoting the quality of the student experience or ‘learning’ but more as a means to allow universities to increase revenue.
Student loans are administered through the Student Loan Company and are a liability on the public purse. It has been predicted that the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, the responsible department, is likely to become the “largest financial institution in Europe” owing to the student loan liability on its balance sheet! The official statistics published by the Student Loan Company, states that the outstanding student loans for England in 2011 were £34.34 billion and that had risen to £76.3 billion by 2016. Over the same period for England the average individual debt burden and the point at which individuals start repayment, has risen from £16,160 to £26,460. By moving the costs into loans this has reduced significantly the governments annual expenditure on tertiary education but moved it into a debt liability for the future. Guaranteed repayment of these loans is questionable. Despite the assertion that a degree is a gateway to higher earnings, there is huge variability in median earnings 10 years after graduation, meaning some debtors have still not reached the repayment threshold of £21,000.
Not only have further education colleges suffered significantly from the continuing decline in funding they are now going through Area Reviews with the predicted outcome being a reduction in the number of colleges. The rationale for further education colleges is to provide progression routes from schools and for those wishing to follow a vocational skills-based career path. They are local colleges supporting the local student needs as well as meeting the skills needs for the local economy. Removing specialisations through amalgamation or merger can only exacerbate the problem and whilst the notion of specialist institutions is a sound one it does require students to commit often to significant travel in order to attend college. The Educational Maintenance Allowance for 16 to 19-year-olds provided financial support for low income families to help to provide for such as travel but was scrapped in 2010 to be replaced by a bursary scheme where the monies went to the institution rather than individuals.
As an industry, hospitality has a growing demand for ambitious, skilled and well-trained individuals. The skills and staff shortages have been very well documented, but it is the financial and policy initiatives that continue to reduce the opportunities for colleges to put on the range and level of courses that will attract and encourage individuals wanting to join the industry.
The ill-fated Learning and Skills Council was one initiative that did attempt to redress something of balance in raising the status of further education. The problem was trying to do it by encouraging colleges to build “iconic buildings” dramatically overreached itself and imploded. The creation of National Skills Academies was another short lived policy initiative as was the opportunity bid to establish a National College of Hospitality. They may have been well-intentioned initiatives but there was no strategic thinking nor recognition that further education tries to reach the parts that others can’t reach. Vocational education has huge pedagogical advantages, it’s engaged with the professions and the education and training is rooted in the requirements of the “real world”. It has directly intended outcomes and routes into employment. In this country it lacks the parity of esteem with the “academic” routes to success and in “following the money” it is very much the poor relation tertiary education sector.
Unlike many of our international counterparts the United Kingdom is unusually uniform. Across the tertiary sector all institutions seem to aspire to do everything. In hospitality, across higher education, there has been a move towards the reduction in specialist professional facilities and provision and what has been referred to as the “homogenisation of hospitality courses”. There is very little differentiation between higher education hospitality courses by institution or by innovation in learning and teaching. We only have one specialist higher education institution, the Edge Hotel School, which in keeping with many European and international counterparts has a strong focus on the development of the professional ethos, culture and professional skills combined with the rigorous academic underpinning.
Despite the much vaunted increase in the number of apprenticeships to be funded through the apprenticeship levy, details on the implementation of levy and how it will operate are sparse, yet this is the only policy that is likely to provide any real funding to support the future of apprenticeships. In the current circumstances with the uncertainty and instability in the political and economic arenas, the need to recruit, train and retain staff is self evident. The recent publication of the Post 16 Skills Plan acknowledges that ‘the current system of technical education has some serious flaws’ and sets out a ‘vision’ that puts industry in ‘pole position’ on setting the standards and benchmarks for the technical skills needs. It also has some far reaching proposals on qualification reform but all must be set in the context of economic uncertainty and budgetary constraints.
We have a sector divide, especially in England, between well funded growing higher education that for hospitality is becoming increasingly homogenised and uniform and further education, the provider of sector based professional skills, that is systematically being dismembered through policy initiatives and lack of funding. This is the result of no real serious thinking on how to support and develop a more differentiated provision that works towards providing aspirational career choices for individuals whilst meeting the long term skills and development needs of the industry.
Perhaps the time has come for the industry to work together to create its own private institution(s), independent of governments that will try to address this rather sorry ‘Tale of Two Sectors’. International and historical precedent suggests not only is this possible but with the will and vision is also achievable. The Edge Hotel School should be the defining model, but one on its own is nothing like enough. We need a chain of ‘hotel schools’ not just addressing the higher education needs but all of the needs of the sector, at all levels. They need to be viable alternatives, based in the real world, that create aspirational opportunities through professionalism and commitment. As the fourth largest employer in the UK, do we not need to commit to developing our own staff.
The future looks turbulent for our industry, the uncertainty of the migrant workforce, the positive and negative impacts of the drop in sterling, the increasingly negative sentiment of foreign media and the impact on potential visitors are all shaping the future. Waiting to see what happens is not a secure option, we need to take initiatives now and collectively invest in the future workforce. At least that is what we have been staying for decades, now we should act.