Executive Summary
Coventry has made significant progress in becoming a higher-skilled city in the last 5 years.
We have driven down the numbers of residents with no qualifications by 14,700. We have achieved a substantial increase in the numbers of residents qualified at NVQ2 with 43,700 more residents qualified to NVQ2 or above. We have also made significant progress in becoming a more highly skilled City with 37,000 more residents qualified to NVQ3 or above.
Coventry is a diverse city both in terms of its resident population and its business base. Coventry has the second highest resident average pay in the WM region and the lowest levels of youth unemployment. There are a wide range of vacancies with particular strengths in the public sector and advanced manufacturing, and a growing ‘culture, tourism and leisure’ sector boosted by City of Culture 2021.
Like any major city, Coventry still faces challenges. We trail national averages for skills levels and this strategy considers ways to level up. However, we do not want to improve skills levels for the sake of comparisons and measures. We want Coventry residents to have skills that match the needs of local employers, not only for now, but also for the vacancies of the future. We want to ensure learning and skills provision meets the needs of all Coventry’s communities, is fully inclusive and plays a key role in reducing poverty. We want to build aspiration throughout all educational levels, with Coventry’s young people inspired to learn, seeing clear pathways to the jobs they strive towards.
This Strategy plays a pivotal role in delivering on the ambitions of the ‘One Coventry 2022-2030 Plan’ in helping to increase the economic prosperity of the city, addressing climate change and tackling inequalities within our communities. The approach reflects collaborative principles of the One Council Plan with shared work across Council teams and services, residents, education/skills providers, employers, other public sector bodies and community organisations. It serves as a ‘framework for action’ with partners learning and developing creative solutions to skills challenges together to meet our three Strategic Ambitions and the eight Priority areas within them:
Strategic Ambition 1: A comprehensive, citywide skills offer that raises aspirations and allows each and every resident throughout their lives to reach their full potential.
- Skills Levels: To improve the overall skills levels of Coventry residents.
- Aspiration: Further develop a skills system that inspires residents to achieve from primary school through to lifelong learning.
- Progression Pathways: Providing a clear line of sight for people to progress through Coventry’s skills system.
Strategic Ambition 2: A skills ecosystem which ensures that all, including those most in need, are able to participate in, progress and achieve success.
- Community: A skills system which meets the needs of all residents and is widely accessed by all Coventry communities, including newly arrived communities.
- Inclusion: A skills system which is fully inclusive and representative of our diverse city.
- Highest Needs: A skills system which supports those most in need, with a ‘proportionate universalism' approach, helping people out of poverty and creating a more equal city. ‘Proportionate Universalism’ is an approach developed by Sir Michael Marmot and applied throughout health and other services in the UK. The resourcing and delivering of universal services is at scale and intensity proportionate to the degree of need.
Strategic Ambition 3: A flexible and responsive system that works together with our growing, investing and local businesses to deliver the right skills mix for our dynamic labour market.
- Skills for business: A skills system which provides the skills required by Coventry’s businesses, both current and future and contributes to economic growth and the prosperity of the City and Region.
- Social Value and Sustainability: A skills system which is well positioned to maximise increased commitment to social justice, respect, community, and responsibility including Coventry’s commitment to tackling climate change.
Shared goals with the Economic Development Strategy
The Skills Strategy is fully integrated with Coventry City Council's new Economic Development Strategy 2022-2025. Through the two strategies, we will achieve three common goals:
- Getting the skills and opportunities right for investment: Develop a 'team around' approach for investments and large developments with expertise brought together from across the Council to ensure early, comprehensive planning better meets business need and ensures maximum benefit for Coventry.
- Co-designing skills solutions with businesses: Designing together with the industry and skills partners to ensure the skills system is responsive, innovative and produces the right skills mix for now and the future. This includes supporting employers to maximise social value commitments.
- In-work upskilling with local employers: Collaborations which encourage access to skills and workplace development at all levels.