• Home
• Services
• About
• Contact us
• Search

• Services
• Sector Research
• Strategic Area Assessments
• Tackling Labour Market Disadvantage
• Investment in Skills

• About Us
• Clients
• Research Team
• Associates
• Support Team
• Specialist Skills & Resources

Labour Market Intelligence for the Qualifications Strategy for Foreign Languages and Intercultural Skills

Client
The National Centre for Languages

Completion date
April 2008

Research description
The main purpose of this research programme was to develop labour market intelligence in order to inform the development of a qualifications strategy for languages and intercultural skills and which also met the research and reporting standards required by the SSDA. This included:

• A Skills Needs Assessment covering the current and likely future demand for skills within languages and intercultural skills (Stage 1 of the SSA process);

• An Essential Skills Supply Assessment, which provides a detailed analysis of provision and investment in education, training and skills across the sector (Stage 2 of the SSA process);

• A gap analysis, which provides a basis for communicating key supply and demand issues and potential solutions which would improve future business performance within the sector.

The research methodology adopted sought to compensate as far as possible for information weaknesses in relation to the language and intercultural skills sector by:

• Maximising the use of the extensive range of employer research carried out by CILT, Regional Language Networks and the Language Skills Alliance;

• The innovative use of existing datasets. Although the National Employer Skills Survey (NESS) in England is not capable of being analysed in relation to the language and intercultural skills sector (because there is no SIC code) or occupations, it has been possible to analyse NESS by examining employers that have highlighted language training as a skills gap and/or recruitment difficulty;

• Carrying out a programme of qualitative research with both employers and learning providers.

Back to Sector Research home page