The college sector will need more investment long term to ensure it can upskill the workforce post-Covid, Scotland’s further education minister has said.

Further education, higher education and science minister Richard Lochhead told Tes that although investment had been made into the sector, the coronavirus pandemic meant that “we recognise a lot more has to be done to support colleges to ensure they have the means to respond to the needs of the labour market and our young people going forward.”

He added: “There is already substantial investment in the sector, but clearly, going forward, we know there will have to be further investments over time to make sure that the upskilling and the training is there to get the economy going again and also to support many of the new agendas. “

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‘More than one role’

He said he agreed with much in UK education secretary Gavin Williamson’s speech last week on the importance of colleges, but “would say to Gavin Williamson, and to every other minister who takes an interest in these issues, that colleges in particular have more than one role to play here”.

“They have to deliver the skills for the workplace and also face their own communities in terms of the needs of citizens who we can’t afford to be left behind by the impact of Covid-19. That is about reaching out and making sure that the opportunity is there for people from all walks of life and all different backgrounds to get a step up onto the ladder.”

He explained: “One of the huge challenges I’ve faced through the pandemic is that we have not had the [Barnett] consequentials from the UK government to allow us to invest in the college sector in Scotland. And although we have managed to bring forward new resources for digital inclusion and also estates maintenance, we have not had the substantial consequentials that we were hoping to receive.”

The Barnett formula is used by the Treasury to adjust the amounts of public expenditure allocated to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to reflect changes in spending levels allocated to public services in England.

Mr Lochhead said the latest schemes announced by the chancellor last week, including the Kickstart scheme for young people at risk of unemployment and initiatives supporting apprentice employers, were largely UK-wide, and therefore would not lead to consequentials.

“That leaves us in a position as a Scottish government that if we want to invest more in any particular sector, then we have to take that money out somewhere else. Saying that, we are absolutely clear that colleges have a massive role to play and they will be at the heart of our economic recovery strategy. So I have no doubt that we will be having plenty of discussions with the sector in the coming weeks and months.”

Mr Lochhead said the college sector in Scotland had successfully played a role in the economic challenges the country had faced over the last 10 years.

And he said while many college policies, including those around apprenticeships and youth unemployment, would likely need to be refreshed now, he had been “very heartened by the willingness of the colleges to say they are going to step up to the plate and they have been helpfully thinking seriously about what contribution they’re going to make” in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

“In Scotland, we have 19 higher education institutions and 26 colleges as well, plus the thousands of committed individuals working in community learning and developments together as a huge resource - all playing the role, all collaborating closely together, as we move forward.”

“I’ve met people in Scotland who can walk through the door, with no qualifications, and then walk out the door a few years later with a PhD. We need more of that, we need the system to work closely together. We’ve got a diverse sector, both in terms of further and higher education, they can all bring their individual strengths to table, but it just needs a lot more collaboration, particularly at the regional level.

“I think one of the ways for post-pandemic is within a regional context for all our college and university leaders, and community leaders and school leaders to be working very closely together to look at the needs of their regions and the massive opportunities that are there for the future.”

Mr Lochhead said Mr Williamson had made “a lot of valid points” in his speech. “He is right at this juncture, given the challenges facing many of our young people in particular, that our colleges do indeed have a major role to play in moving the country forward. I do think it’s also an important message that further education, higher education and colleges and universities are all on a par and there is not any one route to success.”

However, he said: “I do think we have a responsibility as ministers to avoid any statements that can be divisive. We all have to ensure this is not seen as a college versus universities debate. So my eyebrows were slightly raised by his mantra of ‘further education, further education, further education’, and perhaps in his next speech to the higher education sector, he will be saying ‘higher education, higher education, higher education’.”

He said it was important, going forward, to “look at what’s required for our younger people, and people of all ages, given the pressures facing the economy, and then determine the best role to be played by our colleges and by our universities, as opposed to saying that one particular sector has all the answers. And into that mix must go adult education in the community through community learning and development. And that’s why I’m very much in favour of a systems approach to post-16 education.”

Mr Lochhead said there was one area where he would have placed a “different emphasis” to Mr Williamson: “Education and skills, of course, is about supporting people’s aspirations to have a good career and decent income to provide good standard of living. But there’s much more to education than that.

“Education is not just about getting the best-paid job. It’s also about making sure people have a gateway to improving their life chances and developing as human beings, as well as acquiring skills, and the qualifications that we need to encourage for the new economy.”