Survey stresses importance of management qualifications

Citation

(2003), "Survey stresses importance of management qualifications", Education + Training, Vol. 45 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2003.00445aab.005

Survey stresses importance of management qualifications

Survey stresses importance of management qualifications

Findings from a survey of managers and chief executives working in colleges, adult education and work-based learning highlight the importance of management qualifications and identify a clear need for structured professional training and development. The survey, which generated almost 2,000 responses from senior staff working in post-16 education and training, is the largest and most comprehensive leadership and management survey within the English learning and skills sector in recent years. It set out to discover the views of managers on the range of management qualifications currently available to them, their professional-development priorities and the current management issues where they need most support.

Respondents were mostly chief executives, senior managers or middle managers, working for general further-education colleges (57 per cent), organizations providing work-based learning (15 per cent) or local education authority adult-education services (9 per cent). Three top priorities emerged as important development needs for all managers:

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  Dealing with conflict. This was particularly important for managers in further-education colleges.

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  Making effective use of management-information systems.

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  Evaluating financial proposals. This was particularly important for middle and supervisory managers planning resource requirements.

But there were also significant differences between managers from each of the three sectors on their priorities in other areas. For instance, managers in further-education colleges identified maintaining morale and motivation in staff as their most pressing need, whereas managers in adult and community learning highlighted dealing with inspection. Managers in work-based learning environments opted for evaluating financial proposals in planning resource requirements as their top priority, followed by preparing an operational plan.

The Government has also published its response to the final report of the Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership (CEML). The government strategy, at the centre of the response, is to raise awareness of, and increase the demand for, the benefits of improved management and leadership skills among business leaders and organizations. The then education and skills secretary, Estelle Morris, said: "Around 4.5 million individuals in the UK have significant management responsibilities, yet many businesses say their managers lack the skills and qualifications to lead their workforces effectively. We have to tackle this problem head on so that business and public services can continually raise their game – crucial to improving productivity. We will now take forward the recommendations from the Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership to improve these skills across the board through an advisory panel of business leaders and ministers. Our focus will be to stimulate demand, improve supply and secure effective delivery of management and leadership skills."