Skill Ecosystem Research Articles

Governance of Skill Development and Policy Perspectives: A Comparison of India, US, EU and China

Governments across the world have developed strong policy frameworks stimulating the growth of skill ecosystems. The aim of this paper is to present the evolution of policy framework for skill development across India, USA, the EU and China from a comparative perspective. The 'Skill India Mission' emphasizes employability, while skill policies across the US are focused on reducing the dependence on skill imports. The European Agenda for Skill (EAS) meanwhile emphasizes skilling citizens for the transition towards digital and greenways. Similarly, Chinese skill policies address the structural contradictions in the employment scenario. However, the policies addressing skill development depend on multiple factors such as demographic profile, socio-economic realities, industry needs, and political aspirations. Therefore, countries around the world focused on skill development must prioritise stakeholder interventions, increase in budget allocation, integrating soft skills with academically-based education, and vocational content which is crucial for transforming the workforce.

SkillVet: Automated Traceability Analysis of Amazon Alexa Skills

Skills, are essential components in Smart Personal Assistants (SPA). The number of skills has grown rapidly, dominated by a changing environment that has no clear business model. Skills can access personal information and this may pose a risk to users. However, there is little information about how this ecosystem works, let alone the tools that can facilitate its study. In this article, we present the largest systematic measurement of the Amazon Alexa skill ecosystem to date. We study developers’ practices in this ecosystem, including how they collect and justify the need for sensitive information, by designing a methodology to identify over-privileged skills with broken privacy policies. We collect 199,295 Alexa skills and uncover that around 43% of the skills (and 50% of the developers) that request these permissions follow bad privacy practices, including (partially) broken data permissions traceability. In order to perform this kind of analysis at scale, we present <monospace xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">SkillVet</monospace> that leverages machine learning and natural language processing techniques, and generates high-accuracy prediction sets. We report several concerning practices, including how developers can bypass Alexa's permission system through account linking and conversational skills, and offer recommendations on how to improve transparency, privacy and security. Resulting from the responsible disclosure we did, 13% of the reported issues no longer pose a threat at submission time.

Transforming the Skill Ecosystem: An Analysis of Skilled in Odisha Program's Effect on Vocational Education

There is a significant role of vocational education in reducing unemployability, particularly in the context of Industry 4.0. The study has taken into account various literature reviews to understand the vocational education and its impact on unemployment, with special reference to Skilled in Odisha Program. Vocational education provides students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the modern job market. In India, the Skilled in Odisha program is a state government-led initiative aimed at improving the quality of vocational training and education. This program has had a positive impact on the state's ITIs, leading to higher enrolment and national recognition for their quality. The program has also helped bridge the employability skill gap, preparing students for the jobs of the future. As Industry 4.0 continues to transform the job market, vocational education and programs like Skilled in Odisha will become increasingly important in ensuring employability and reducing unemployment.

Strengthening precarity? A critical analysis of education and training programmes in the UK (Scotland)

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to examine the provision of education and training programmes for young people in Scotland for work and lifelong learning within the context of the skills ecosystem approach adopted by the Scottish Government.Design/methodology/approachThe research drew upon findings from a large EU-funded multi-country project which ran from 2016 to 2019 that comprised experiences and perspectives with young people who were affected by these programmes as well as the managers and practitioners tasked with delivering them. The work was conducted in Aberdeenshire and Glasgow and included in-depth interviews with young people and programme managers and practitioners.FindingsThe research showed that there is a gap between the rhetoric of the intentions of the policies and how those involved at ground level experience the programmes enacted under policies which draw on a skill ecosystem approach. Whilst there was public funding for training, it was not clear from the enactment of the relevant policies where employers' responsibilities lie. Locating the findings in the skills ecosystem model highlights the weak engagement of employers in their pivotal role in the education and training system and the resulting increased precarity of the young people's futures.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper sheds light on the shape of education and training provision in Scotland, the range of participants engaged in the provision and the commitment of providers in comparison to policy language and intentions.Originality/valueThrough the skill ecosystem approach, this paper draws together policy narratives and the experiences of young people.

Skill ecosystems in the global South: Informality, inequality, and community setting

The concept of ‘skill ecosystems’ considers how contextual and institutional factors shape the acquisition and utilisation of skills. Although initially developed in the global North, there is value in applying this concept in the global South, where large-scale skill development and vocational education reforms are underway, many of which struggle with post-training skill underutilisation. The concept requires modification, however, if it is to be meaningfully applied in the global South. To date, skill ecosystem research has focused on skill utilisation in contexts of formal employment and the institutional actors who support it. In the global South, where most people are employed in the informal sector, a different approach is required, more sensitive to regional power structures and social inequalities. Geographical research on skills can help develop a more dynamic, relational, and power-inflected version of the skill ecosystem concept. Drawing on a short-term longitudinal study of agricultural skills trainings in India, this paper argues a geographically sensitive skill ecosystems perspective helps identify how context shapes the outcomes of skill development programs. To be meaningfully deployed in relation to informal sector work in the global South, however, it must be extended in at least three ways: (1) a different set of institutions and actors must be recognized as comprising the ‘ecosystem,’ particularly those supporting entrepreneurship; (2) the community and family settings in which informal sector work takes place must be recognized; and (3) social inequalities must be considered to promote greater skill utilisation and more equitable outcomes.

The impact of skills and training on local development

The impact of skills and training on local development

Sub-National Variation of Skill Formation Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of Skill Mismatch Across 18 European Regions

This article adopts the skill ecosystem approach to the comparative analysis of skill mismatch across European regions within different skill formation regimes. Institutional arrangements of skill formation regimes are designed at national level. However, they are enacted in regions with very different Labor market and socioeconomic conditions, which mediate the relationship between the institutional setting and its effects on the mismatch between the supply and demand of skills in a given region. Our analysis draws on quantitative and qualitative data from an EU Horizon 2020 project on lifelong learning policies for young adults that compares 18 regions in nine European countries. The data analyses show the importance of regional demand side factors in explaining skill shortages and skill surplus, and the coexistence of low-skill and high-skill equilibria in urban regions with high levels of skill polarization. Skill formation regimes present divergent effects on skill mismatch depending on the availability of jobs in the region and the level of skills demanded by the local economy. These findings suggest that combining skill formation regime and skill ecosystem approaches in comparative education research can provide better suited explanations of skill mismatch at regional and sectoral level.

Strategies in Developing an Aviation &amp; Aerospace Skill Ecosystem for the State of Telangana, India – Case Study of TASK -Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge

The aviation & aerospace sector in India has been expanding and growing through partnerships and new research facilities, thereby encouraging more players to invest and optimize the manufacturing process. Improving green and fuel-efficient technologies have contributed to a steady rise in fuelling the demand for aerospace engineers. The state of Telangana is fast emerging as a new aviation cluster with some of the country's best-qualified engineers and technicians. The potential of the aerospace industry is immense as it continuously requires skilled technicians and engineers. Considering the precision of skill required, it is imperative that rigorous training be imparted to all those who would be directly working on the components. With a plethora of job opportunities available in this industry, from engineering technicians, template makers, numeric control tool programmers, die makers, to technical writers and graphic artists, TASK has identified the gaps in the current learning landscape. It has taken the onus of working with technology partners and service providers across the aviation, aerospace and avionics value chain to train youth/professionals to be 'reskilled' to fit the aerospace and aviation sector. This paper thus explores the strategies to enhance synergies between industry, government and academia.

Vocational education and the revitalisation of manufacturing in the United States

Manufacturing in advanced open economies has experienced significant disruption. Rapid technological change, outsourcing and off shoring have beset manufacturing resulting in a general and steady decline in manufacturing employment. Despite this turbulence, there remains a strong nostalgia for manufacturing resulting in frequent public policy discussion about how best to revitalise the industry. A popular view is that a strong manufacturing industry relies upon an equally strong vocational, education and training (VET) system to provide requisite skill needs. Given the dramatic pace of change in the manufacturing industry do such arguments still hold true? This paper considers this question through an examination of what the revitalisation of US manufacturing means for employment and skills needs and the extent to which US’s decentralised and largely eroded VET system serves as a barrier to the industry’s revitalisation. Drawing upon a mixed method approach that includes primary and secondary data collected in three US cities, the paper argues that the focus on needing to have a strong VET system overlooks the emergence of flexible micro-skill ecosystems that evolve to address local skill needs. These micro skill eco-systems open the prospects for skills and training innovations to meet changing workforce needs in a changing industry.

Vocational education qualifications’ roles in pathways to work in liberal market economies

The links between vocational qualifications and occupational destinations are weak in many Anglophone countries, even though the explicit purpose of vocational qualifications is to prepare individuals for occupations. Using Australia and Canada as case studies, this is explained at three levels of analysis: at the national level by systems of skill formation and student transition; at the meso level by skill ecosystems; and by whether qualifications are used as a signal in regulated occupations or as a screen in unregulated occupations. The paper outlines three roles for qualifications in providing pathways to enter and progress in work, transition to higher level studies, and support social mobility. The paper concludes that improving links between postsecondary qualifications and occupations depends more on the structure of the labour market than on the nature of qualifications: it is mainly an issue of the demand for qualifications rather than their supply.

Labour market intermediaries: a corrective to the human capital paradigm (mis)matching skills and jobs?

The orthodox supply-side human capital theory (HCT) paradigm is inadequate for understanding and adjusting to labour market volatility in UK regional economies like Wales. This article explores the role of regional labour market intermediaries (LMIs) in matching supply (skills) and demand (job opportunities) in regional labour markets. Some LMIs emerge because the HCT paradigm is failing. One Welsh LMI, Shaping the Future (StF), is explored empirically using qualitative methods. StF mainly adopted HCT tenets, but with some emergent demand-side focus. Despite helping workers adjust to labour market shocks, LMIs are not equipped to fix the structural demand-side problem of finite quality job opportunities in deindustrialized regions that accentuate skill use. A broader ‘skill eco-system’ paradigm is required, emphasising the foundational economy.

Regional skill ecosystems to assist young people making education employment linkages in transition from school to work

A feature of regional development in New Zealand over the last two decades has been ongoing skill shortages reported by employers at the same time as unemployment has been relatively high. This paper addresses that issue with findings from a five-year trans-disciplinary research programme on education employment linkages for young people. The author’s contribution to that programme focused on employer-led channels at the regional level, investigating how employment opportunities and requirements in a region are communicated to young people as they make education choices. This paper pays particular attention to the role of career offices in post-school education institution, drawing on the skill ecosystem metaphor introduced initially by David Finegold in 1999 and developed more recently by the NSW Board of Vocational Education and Training in Australia in collaboration with a research team led by John Buchanan at the University of Sydney.

Plus c’est la même chose: joinery apprenticeship arrangements in Scotland

This paper examines recent changes in the Scottish apprenticeship system of skill formation for joiners through an occupational skill ecosystem lens. Building trade apprenticeships in Scotland are based around a social partnership model more akin to ‘dual systems’ than typical arrangements elsewhere in the UK. Drawing on in-depth occupational case study primary data gathered in the ‘boom’ period, this paper argues that whilst joinery apprenticeships in Scotland are far from perfect they are relatively successful in serving the needs of industry and maintaining quality. Part of this success can be attributed to the regulatory role of the Scottish Building Apprenticeship and Training Council and effective alignment of historical apprenticeship arrangements to the Modern Apprenticeship framework. Yet determination to ‘cling’ on to historical arrangements has proven problematic precisely because plus c’est la même chose, plus ça change. The global economic downturn and subsequent ‘bust’ period within the construction industry, moreover, dealt an unwelcome blow to the system and many apprentices were ‘orphaned’ in crisis. Drawing on secondary data and other sources following the current ‘bust’, this paper posits that the recent exogenous shock to the system may well have been unwelcome and difficult but it has also provided a serendipitous and necessary catalyst for change.

Rebuilding the city: a focus for European industrial policy?

While the city offers the potential of dynamic agglomeration economies which can spur the achievement of economic growth and act as an engine that powers the economy, it often appears as a centre of crisis in mature ‘developed’ regions and countries, even before the most recent economic downturn. This paper attempts to reconcile these two seemingly paradoxical observations by bringing in a strategic choice perspective to explain how concentrated strategic decision-making in the corporate entities that dominate our cities has diminished the very diversity that Jacobs identified as being essential for cities to flourish and develop. The industrial policy implications for cities are subsequently explored in terms of building new industrial districts, developing high skill ecosystems, and fostering multinational webs of cities, all with the aim of ensuring the conditions exist in cities for creativity and development to flourish, notably a diverse and democratic economic system.

Exploring Skill Ecosystems in the Australian Meat Processing Industry: Unions, Employers and Institutional Change

AbstractThis article discusses the concept of the skill ecosystem in the context of the network oriented literature on learning and skill acquisition. Three critical features of skill ecosystems are identified and then applied to an analysis of the abattoir sector of the Australian meat processing industry. The analysis highlights the important role of the employee union in the skill ecosystem, including maintaining a flow of new entrants into the sector. The article then examines the impact of major institutional change, through the deregulation of industrial relations, on the ecosystem. It concludes by discussing the applicability of the skill ecosystem concept to a mature, low-skill industry such as meat processing and then draws some conclusions about the limitations of the skill ecosystem concept itself.

The utility of operationalising the concept of skill ecosystems

PurposeThe primary purpose of this paper is to highlight the utility of operationalising the concept of skill ecosystems, or more accurately “intermediate occupational skill ecosystems”.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws on the process and findings of an empirical study of intermediate occupations in Scotland which set out to explore changing systems of initial skill creation and related problems of skill by embedding these systems within the broader canvas of skill ecosystems.FindingsOperationalising skill ecosystems not only provided a framework from which to explore and provide an explanation of changing initial systems of skill creation but also supported broader conjectures on the nature of developments and problems within intermediate occupations.Practical implicationsThe operationalisation presented has relevance to policy makers and academics beyond the scope of this particular examination of intermediate occupations. For policy makers, it emphasises that better skills utilisation cannot be reduced to the level of the individual; that the supply, demand, development and deployment of skills are interrelated and not discrete; and that the roles and relative influences of actors in a position to help build and sustain better skill ecosystems are changing. For academics concerned with exploring changing systems of skill creation, this, or some similar, operationalisation, has potential practical application in terms of supporting key stages in the research process.Originality/valueThis paper's value centres around the proposition, and illustration, that it is possible to effectively utilise a simple operationalisation of the inherently “messy” concept of skill ecosystems without losing the essence and complexity of the relations and dynamics embodied in the concept.

Skills in context: what can the UK learn from Australia's skill ecosystem projects?

For over two decades, UK skills policy has focused on boosting the supply of skilled or qualified labour. Despite significant progress on this front, British productivity continues to lag behind that of major competitors, while policy makers increasingly confront the challenge of ensuring that skills are utilised effectively in the workplace. With policy in this area relatively underdeveloped in the UK, this article considers the lessons that might be drawn from Australia's recent experiment with skill ecosystem projects, which are explicitly aimed at helping organisations to enhance their capacity to develop and deploy skills.

Skill shortages in health: innovative solutions using vocational education and training

This article reports findings of a project funded by the Australian National Council for Vocational Education Research. The project explores solutions to current and projected skills shortages within the health and community services sector, from a vocational education and training perspective. Its purpose is to locate, analyse and disseminate information about innovative models of health training and service delivery that have been developed in response to skill shortages. The article begins with a brief overview of Australian statistics and literature on the structure of the national health workforce and perceived skill shortages. The impact of location (state and rurality), demographics of the workforce, and other relevant factors, on health skill shortages is examined. Drawing on a synthesis of the Australian and international literature on innovative and effective models for addressing health skill shortages and nominations by key stakeholders within the health sector, over 70 models were identified. The models represent a mixture of innovative service delivery models and training solutions from Australia, as well as international examples that could be transposed to the Australian context. They include the skill ecosystem approach facilitated by the Australian National Training Authority Skill Ecosystem Project. Models were selected to represent diversity in terms of the nature of skill shortage addressed, barriers overcome in development of the model, healthcare specialisations, and different customer groups. Key barriers to the development of innovative solutions to skills shortages identified were: policy that is not sufficiently flexible to accommodate changing workplace needs; unwillingness to risk take in order to develop new models; delays in gaining endorsement/accreditation; current vocational education and training (VET) monitoring and reporting systems; issues related to working in partnership, including different cultures, ways of operating, priorities and timelines; workplace culture that is resistant to change; and organisational boundaries. For training-only models, additional barriers were: technology; low educational levels of trainees; lack of health professionals to provide training and/or supervision; and cost of training. Key enhancers for the development of models were identified as: commitment by all partners and co-location of partners; or effective communication channels. Key enhancers for model effectiveness were: first considering work tasks, competencies and job (re)design; high profile of the model within the community; community-based models; cultural fit; and evidence of direct link between skills development and employment, for example VET trained aged care workers upskilling for other health jobs. For training only models, additional enhancers were flexibility of partners in accommodating needs of trainees; low training costs; experienced clinical supervisors; and the provision of professional development to trainers. There needs to be a balance between short-term solutions to current skill shortages (training only), and medium to longer term solutions (job redesign, holistic approaches) that also address projected skills shortages. Models that focus on addressing skills shortages in aged care can provide a broad pathway to careers in health. Characteristics of models likely to be effective in addressing skill shortages are: responsibility for addressing skills shortage is shared between the health sector, education and training organisations and government, with employers taking a proactive role; the training component is complemented by a focus on retention of workers; models are either targeted at existing employees or identify a target group(s) who may not otherwise have considered a career in health.

Skills in Australia: Towards Workforce Development and Sustainable Skill Ecosystems

This article argues that there is a need to move beyond narrow ways of thinking about training to incorporate broader notions of ‘workforce development’ and ‘skill ecosystems’. A market-based approach to skills development is contrasted with a social consensus model, which takes a more integrated view of how skills are formed and sustained. However, following a review of Australia’s brief and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to develop something akin to a social consensus approach, we argue that there is much to be gained from a workforce development approach and an understanding of skill formation as occurring in the context of skill ecosystems. To be most effective this approach to skill formation requires the facilitation of networks and nurturing of partnerships among the different agents and agencies concerned with skill development. Recent initiatives in Australia that explicitly adopt a skill ecosystem and workforce development orientation demonstrate the potential of these approaches to overcome many of the problems associated with currently dominant market-based approaches and avoid the pitfalls of social consensus models.