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UK ‘Heading Towards Digital Skills Shortage Disaster’

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The UK is heading towards a “catastrophic” digital skills shortage “disaster”, a leading think tank has warned.

The Learning & Work Institute says the number of young people taking IT subjects at GCSE has dropped 40% since 2015, reports the BBC – with consulting giant Accenture confirming that during this period demand for AI, cloud and robotics skills has soared “dramatically”; and market experts all agreeing that digital skills are vital to economic recovery following the pandemic.

“Only half of employers are able to provide digital training”

The Learning & Work Institute's research reveals that 70% of young people expect employers to invest in teaching them digital skills on the job, but only half of the employers surveyed in the study are able to provide that training.

Fewer than half of British employers believe young people are leaving full-time education with sufficient advanced digital skills, while 76% of firms think a lack of digital skills would hit their profitability.

Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann, the chief executive of WorldSkills UK which commissioned the report, says there are four main reasons why the digital skills shortage is steadily climbing across the country:

  • a lack of clearly-defined job roles in certain fields
  • a lack of understanding and guidance about potential career paths
  • a lack of relatable role models
  • a difficulty in making many technical professions seem appealing to young people, especially young women

“A big opportunity for employers to go into schools to explain the range of jobs”

“I think there's a challenge with the teachers themselves not understanding the possible careers – there's a big opportunity for employers to go into schools to explain the range of job opportunities and help join the dots between what young people study in school and what that could lead to as a career,” Dr Bentley-Gockmann told the BBC. “It's important for employers to do this to ensure the future talent pipeline.”

Dr Bentley-Gockmann says he meets many young people who have no idea that their hobbies can be turned into “high-rewarding job opportunities”. For instance, coding might sound boring or daunting, but it could lead to a career in 3D video game design. And playing with robots in school could lead to a career in building robots to solve problems for large manufacturing firms.

“The frustration and the opportunity is that we have the means to do this.”

John Kilvington of Career-Fit is not surprised by the report findings:

“We’re failing to connect with the motivations of young people – and people of all ages – and until we do that we’ll fail both the future of the economy and the individuals themselves.”

“The frustration and the opportunity is that we have the means to do this, with Career Fit’s work in the West Midlands, the Middle East, India and now in Wales showing that we can give people the confidence to ‘try.’” says Kilvington. “That’s the secret to developing the growth mindset, flexibility and resilience that future proofs an individual’s employability. We can do that quickly and at scale – as well as developing job structures that are both attractive and suited to the right person. So there’s simply no reason why Wales shouldn’t build the talent pipelines it needs for digital and for all other sectors; and no reason why we can’t give people the skills they need now and the agility they’ll need for the future. We just need to do it.”

“We really do just need to do it”

Louise Harris, Director of Cardiff-based Big Learning Company and Tramshed Tech, concurs:

“Every day, we see the opportunity to create digital futures for people right across Wales – and it’s clear that the next big step is to connect all that potential with training that’s tailored to the needs of the individual. We can do that – so let’s make it happen.”

It’s a sentiment shared by David Roberts, Chair of the North Wales Regional Skills Partnership:

“We have the resources to drive an inclusive skills approach that creates all the skills we need in Wales. We now need to pull all the threads together, for the good of everyone. The Think Tank is saying what we already knew – it’s the sheer pace of transformation that’s changing the situation from an amber to a red. We need to work together – strategically and quickly – to make sure that we have the skills we need to make building back better a reality.”

Business News Wales