The training perspective on employment-oriented local economic development has a primary focus on jobs and employment at the level of the individual. At this level, unemployment is seen mainly as the result of a mismatch between the skills and other job-related attributes of the individual and the requirements of current and emerging job opportunities. Although there may well be other contributory factors, the primary form of intervention to assist an unemployed person into paid work is that of skills training and related work preparation activities. The agents of such assistance are thus engaged variously in the identification and analysis of skill requirements of potential jobs, the design and delivery of programmes to meet such requirements, instruction and coaching, assessment of individuals' achievements of skill levels, advice and counselling, and so on. In addition, such activities are subject to management and administration, particularly where they are financed through public funding and/ or where qualifications are awarded by external bodies.
Training-led approaches to dealing with unemployment were adopted on a relatively small scale in the Depression years between the World Wars. Government training centres, run by the Ministry of Labour, continued to provide training, mainly in manual skills during the first two and a half decades after the last War. It was, however, the rapid rise of unemployment during the 1970s that led to major initiatives concerning training. By this time, training for industry had become more institutionalised, following state intervention to address the perceived problem of low levels of skills training by industry and its consequences in terms of declining competitiveness internationally of the UK economy. By 1970, some 20 plus Industrial Training Boards (ITBs) had been established under statute, for various industrial and commercial sectors, with powers to impose levies on employers and award grants for training to employers. By the late 1970s, the ITBs employed over 3000 professional training staff (plus other management, research and administrative staff). The scope of the ITBs covered about 55% of the UK workforce, and most larger employers had professional training staff, usually within the personnel department or function. The education, training and development for such professional training staff had become well-established, delivered through a mix of further and higher education institutions, some ITBs, and private sector providers. The practice of training became fairly well defined, and the underlying theory developed and published in textbooks and journals. Training as an occupation had thus become more professionalised. However, membership of the professional bodies remained fairly low, and was divided between the Institute of Personnel Management (established in 1913, but mainly whose membership was mainly involved in broader personnel issues) and the Institute of Training and Development (much smaller, established in 1964). Proposals to merge the two bodies, in 1978, were abortive.
Significantly, the ITBs were not able to provide training for unemployed people from the funding they obtained under their statutory powers. Their remit was concerned with training for employees within their respective industrial sectors. A national agency concerned with employment issues, the Manpower Services Commission (MSC), was established in 1974. Because of the rapid rise of unemployment, particularly amongst school leavers, in the mid-1970s, the MSC was soon engaged in 'special measures' to alleviate what was initially seen, in the main, as a short-term problem. These were mainly a mixture of specific skills training, 'life and social skills' training, and work experience. Following the change of government and introduction of monetarist economic policy, there was a dramatic rise in unemployment, especially long-term unemployment. New initiatives were established, particularly the Youth Training Scheme for those aged 16-19 (in 1983) and the work-experience Community Programme for the over-18s (in 1982). Various agencies were involved, including local authorities, local colleges, voluntary organisations, and charities including churches. Funding was obtained by application to the MSC, and such applications had to meet the specifications laid down which were the basis of auditing projects. The level of funding for projects was very tight, in line with government policy to keep down public sector funding.
There was thus a rise in the number of people engaged in the provision of such training and work experience, whose practice was defined by the specifications of the funding initiative. Some local authorities attempted to develop and support alternative forms of training provision. However, these were always limited in scope because of funding restrictions, and were effectively ended by the abolition of the Greater London Council and Metropolitan County Councils in 1986, and the capping of local government finance for other councils.
In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Government-funded projects for training and work-experience were being managed locally by newly created, employer-led Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs), and the sectorally-based statutory Industrial Training Boards were abolished. A programme of reform of occupational qualifications had been started, whereby national vocational qualifications (NVQs) were to be based on 'standards of competence' required in employment. All Government-funded training programmes for the unemployed carried a guarantee that participants would be helped to achieve an NVQ, or credit towards an NVQ (albeit that, in most cases, these were at the lower levels and in occupations where entry did not require qualifications as a pre-requisite).
The new Labour Government took over this pattern of arrangements, increasing the scope and introducing additional elements, such as guidance for individuals and employment subsidies for employers taking on participants on such schemes. The 'New Deal' provisions also included the possibility that social security support would be reduced or withheld from unemployed persons refusing to take up opportunities under the scheme.
So there has been a growth over the past two decades in the scale and scope of programmes of skills training and related support, for those who are unemployed. A variety of agencies are involved in the provision of these programmes, with the funding being channeled through, and managed on behalf of the Government by, locally-based, employer-led Training and Enterprise Councils. In addition to public and voluntary sector agencies, commercial organisations have also become involved in such provision. The number of people engaged in the design, implementation and management of such programmes has grown, and these have increasingly been required to achieve National Vocational Qualifications in the areas of training and assessment.
Entry to this occupational area is very open, and often training jobs have been taken up by individuals who were formerly unemployed, although these have mostly been in previous employment. Because Government-funded employment and training schemes are intended to enable achievement or partial achievement of NVQs, there is a requirement for assessors themselves to achieve the relevant NVQ-units (referred to as D32 and D33 awards). These are normally gained post-entry, but are often pre-requisites for promotion and progression in this field. The two professional bodies merged in 1994 to form the Institute of Personnel and Development, which provides for a variety of modes of entry to professional membership. A number of postgraduate diploma and masters level courses are available, but these relate to training and development (or 'Human Resource Development') more widely. Indeed, the main emphasis of such programmes is on training within employment rather than for employment.
Much of the underlying theoretical basis for this perspective tends to be that of occupational psychology, particularly dealing with the concepts of skills and learning, motivation and personality. The focus tends to be on the individual rather than social structures and systems, and the assumed nature of organisations is based mainly on functionalist theory. The key areas of expertise are those of training needs analysis, design of training programmes, instructional technique and coaching, assessment, and counselling. In addition, administrative and management skills are required by those who organise, administer and manage such programmes and projects.
Figure 6 illustrates advertisements for typical jobs in this area.