Shaping the future: A 21st century skills system for Wales

Article

Wales faces significant disruptions over the coming years. With fundamental change comes the risk of new inequalities but also the opportunities for far-reaching reform. While global and UK-wide trends such as Brexit and climate change may not be fully within the control of government in Wales, their effects, and who wins and who loses as a consequence, is not predetermined – they will be shaped by public policy decisions and choices here in Wales and at the UK level. At the centre of many of these policy choices will be the skills system and how it can be shaped to meet these 21st century challenges.

The Welsh government seems to be aware of how important the skills system could be over the coming years, developing a number of strategies relating to skills in recent years. To date, however, the scale of the government’s ambition with reforms has not always matched the scale of the challenge.

This report marks the second and final report of our project considering what a 21st century skills system needs to look like to meet the challenges and opportunities that Wales faces. Through desk-based research, literature and data reviews, and face-to-face research with a range of stakeholders within and around the skills system in Wales, we have developed an outline of the attributes we believe a 21st century skills system in Wales needs to display, and a series of recommendations for how Wales can get there.

We will need action beyond government alone, and we will need to reshape the economy in Wales, with employers, workers and government all pulling in the same direction. The risks of not doing so are significant, but the rewards for getting this right could be huge: meeting the challenges and opportunities facing Wales in a way that narrows inequalities and delivers a fairer and stronger economy in Wales.

You can also download a summary of the report here.

Related items

  1. The health mandate: The voters' verdict on government intervention

    The nation’s health is now a top-tier political issue.

  2. Reclaiming social mobility for the opportunity mission

    Every prime minister since Thatcher has set their sights on social mobility. They have repeated some version of the refrain that your background should not hold you back and hard work should be rewarded by movement up the social and…
  3. A photo of a hospital corridor. A bed on wheel sits waiting while a person in scrubs runs away blurred in the distance

    Realising the reform dividend: A toolkit to transform the NHS

    Building an NHS fit for the future is a life-or-death challenge.