Ghazal Vahidi and I had the privilege of presenting our research on education and skills policy to the 5th International Conference on Transitions, Careers and Guidance in Iceland last week.
In the presentation we drew on our paper Comparing the conservative and labour party’s proposals for skills: what’s the problem represented to be? to talk about the problematic dominance of human capital theory in the education and skills policies of both of the main political parties in the UK.
In the presentation we set out our analysis of two key policy documents: the Conservative government’s White Paper Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth and the Labour Party’s Learning and Skills for Economic Recovery, Social Cohesion and a More Equal Britain and used Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to Be?’ approach as an analytical approach.
We argued that the UK’s consensus around skills remains reliant on Human Capital Theory after 30 years, despite the lack of evidence that this approach effectively addresses social inequalities or enhances economic productivity. We also highlighted how economistic assumptions have consistently shaped educational outcomes and advocated for a more holistic approach to education policy that integrates broader social and economic considerations, aiming to balance economic productivity with personal development and social empowerment.
This is what we had to say…