The Government's target to expand training and development opportunities for all levels of the workforce is far from being met in some low pay areas in the public sector. While some jobs, for example in residential care, are requiring more skills and training, other jobs in hospitals and elsewhere are being downgraded, with diminishing access to training and development, despite the Government's pledge to improve the quality of public services, says new research funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC).
Little research has been done on the impact of changes in the public sector and service provision as it affects training opportunities and motivation. Professor Helen Rainbird, University College, Northampton, and Dr Anne Munro, Napier University, whose research is part of the £4m Future of Work Programme funded by the ESRC, will present their findings to a conference on work at Nottingham University next week.
Access to training has been better traditionally for people working in the public sector, in large private sector companies, and in unionised workplaces. Now, the public sector advantage is declining in certain areas.
Although the Labour government has modified the regulations governing contracting out of public services by local authorities to include factors other than simply cost, contracting out still shifts the responsibility from the council to the contractor. Another factor in the decline in training opportunities is the intensification of work - more work being bound up in fewer hours and little or no time for training.
In addition, low staffing levels can make it difficult for managers to provide cover for staff to attend courses in working hours.
An example of work intensification is a school cleaner who now works 10 hours a week to do a job that once required 25 hours. This has been achieved through better techniques and equipment but leaves her with limited opportunities and incentives for formal training programmes. Other threats loom. Line management responsibility for the cleaning of hospital wards, many recently identified by degrees of 'dirty status', may be transferred from the present functional department to ward nurses. But ward nurses, say the researchers are less knowledgeable about learning opportunities for cleaning staff.
In work reorganisation, deskilling can act as a demotivator for staff. Some State Enrolled Nurses have been regraded as care assistants. Skilled maintenance workers such as carpenters, electricians and gardeners have been reduced to doing routine maintenance work as contracts which require more complex tasks have been let to sub-contractors. Their skills are not being used and they have little incentive to take up learning.
In contrast to the downskilling of some jobs in the public sector, there is also evidence of upskilling. This is coming about for several reasons: staff shortages, the imposition of statutory and voluntary requirements on employers to provide training, and incentives to invest in training. Carers in residential homes for the elderly, for instance, will soon be required to have NVQ level 2 qualifications. These factors are leading to new career routes being developed into jobs requiring professional qualifications.
The trade union Unison, which has a partnership approach to employee development, was present in all the workplaces studied. Through the partnerships on programmes such as Return to Learn, an entitlement to paid educational leave is being extended to groups of unqualified workers for the first time. The government's targets for training unqualified staff mean that resources are not a problem.
The research was based on interviews conducted in three local authorities and three NHS trusts, and a survey of employees' learning experiences in two of the organisations. Ongoing field research is being carried out on cleaning and care work in the public sector, private sector, and in sub-contractors to the public sector - enabling comparisons to be made between different organisational arrangements.
For further information, contact Professor Rainbird, University College, Northampton, tel 01604-735-500 ex 2482 Email helen.rainbird@northampton.ac.uk (5th and 6th September), Anne Munro, Napier University, Edinburgh, tel. 0131-455-6026 email AMMunro@napier.ac.uk (7th September).
Or contact Lesley Lilley or Karen Emerton in ESRC External Relations on 01793-413119 or 413122.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The ESRC is the UK’s largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It has a track record of providing high-quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and government. The ESRC invests more than
£46 million every year in social science research. At any time, its range of funding schemes may be supporting 2,000 researchers within academic institutions and research policy institutes. It also funds postgraduate training within the social sciences, thereby nurturing the researchers of tomorrow. The ESRC website address is http://www.esrc.ac.uk