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Education and training
Overall, the justice sector workforce is better qualified than the UK workforce:
- 12% have a Level 1 or no qualifications, compared to 27%
- 59% of the workforce have a Level 2 or 3 qualification, compared to 46% in the UK workforce
- 31% are qualified to Level 4 and above, compared to 27%
The proportion of the workforce with degrees (including first and higher degrees) has increased over the last five years, which is more than the proportion of workers in all sectors.
The distribution of staff by ‘highest qualification’ banding was different in Scotland, which may be due in part to different qualifications. There is, however, some evidence to suggest that relative to the UK fewer staff have degrees, but more staff are qualified to Level 3 and 4.
Employers report the minimum level of qualifications required by recruits for the following roles are:
- managers – 46% of employers would expect a professional qualifications
- professionals – 52% expects a professional qualification
- administrative/secretarial – 52% expect 5 or more GCSEs
Overall, justice sector employers are more likely to expect recruits to have a professional qualification, a degree or no qualifications, but this is not reflected in the overall qualification level of the sector workforce. For detailed data on expected minimum level of qualifications for other occupational groups go to the Skills for justice UK Skill Needs Assessment (2005).
Source: UK Skill Needs Assessment 2006 and UK Skill Needs Assessment 2005
Qualification level of the sector workforce, 2004
Source: UK Skill Needs Assessment 2005, figure 2.2. Data based on trends for 1999-2005 from the Labour Force Survey.
Training
Employers in the sector report difficulties in finding quality people to give training and difficulties in finding appropriate IT training. Barriers to training are indicated to be: financing; disruption to work and lack of sufficient training provision.
There is a heavy reliance on in-house training or a specific training unit, particularly in the police and law enforcement sub-sector where 97% of training is sourced this way.
Organisations in Wales have difficulty finding appropriate, quality training and in Northern Ireland there is a lack of IT training.
Source: UK Skill Needs Assessment 2005
Sector qualifications
Advanced Apprenticeships
Advanced Apprenticeship are available for a range of Community Justice occupations in England and Wales including:
- Youth Justice
- Drugs and Alcohol Work
- Victims, Survivors and Witnesses work
- Probation Services
- Community Safety
For information on Advanced Apprenticeships in the community justice sub-sector go to the Skills for Justice website.
Foundation Degrees
Skills for Justice have developed a Foundation Degree framework specific to the sector.
National Occupational Standards for:
Implications for information, advice and guidance
Some implications for IAG are identified in the Skills for Justice briefing paper (2006) including:
- importance of transferable skills as a significant proportion of people enter the justice sector at an older age
- variety of organisations and the provision of IAG provision in larger organisations
- variety of different occupations
- understanding of legal and political changes which influence skills needs and changes
- reliance on volunteers and the need to attract more into the sector and to up-skill these volunteers, but also provide IAG
- knowledge of the full range of opportunities within the sector
Last cached: 2008-05-06 11:43 AM