Economic development strategy - London Borough of Hillingdon

EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
Strategic priorities
Attainment and employment issues
14-19 Education
The availability of an educated and highly skilled
workforce is at the heart of the knowledge
economy. Equally skill deficiencies are at the root of
the deprivation suffered by many people. Therefore
addressing local skills deficiencies is the key to
preserving the future viability of the local economy
and the prosperity of local communities.
Table 1 illustrates that academic attainment in
Hillingdon schools is below the London average and
significantly below the outer London average. In
the academic year 2003/4 1,527 16-year-old pupils
left school without attaining level 2 (equivalent to 5
GCSE passes at grade C or above) and 25% of these
failed to attain level 1 (pre GCSE). The trend is
generally better in schools in the north of the
borough than those in the south, see table 2. In
addition to this, participation in post-16 education
and training in Hillingdon is generally low and
Hillingdon has the highest proportion of young
people in the NEET category (Not in Employment,
Education and Training) than any other West
London borough.
% Attained
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Table 1: GCSE results in 2003
5+A*-C 5+A*-G 1+A*-G
Grades A* - G
Hillingdon
West London
London
Urgent action is required to address falling
education attainment and the high number of NEET
youths. A possible course of action is to broaden out
the learning experience in partnership with
businesses, to create more vocational education
Wards
Table 2: Population aged 16-24 with level 1 or no
qualifications
Botwell
Townfield
Pinkwell
West Drayton
Yeading
Yiewsley
Heathrow Villages
Barnhill
East Hillingdon
Charville
Brunel
Uxbridge North
Uxbridge South
South Ruislip
Cavendish
East Ruislip
Northwood Hills
Manor
West Ruislip
Northwood
Harefield
0 200 400 600 800
Population
opportunities. Such initiatives could include preemployment
schemes, where 16-19 year old
students work with employers, building their skills
and the employer’s confidence in ‘the product’.
Involving businesses in work-based training will
increase the range and flexibility of employment or
training provision. Whilst vocational studies
represent only a small proportion of demand for
education, it is viewed that this form of education is
beneficial for those who have been disadvantaged
from formal education. Therefore there is enormous
potential for schools to develop vocational studies
whilst continuing to provide academic courses.
Post-19 Education
Academic underachievement is not just an issue for
the current generation of school leavers, as low
skilled workers currently dominate Hillingdon’s
workforce. It is estimated that 43% of the
borough’s working aged people have no more than
level 1 education. Table 3 illustrates the difference
in the qualifications of those aged 25-39 years
throughout the borough, table 3 shows that those
with lowest qualifications are concentration in the
south of the borough.
HILLINGDON’S ECONOMIC STRATEGY FOR A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY 2005-2015 - A PROSPEROUS BOROUGH
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