DESCRIPTION OF SECTOR
The foundational economy is built from the activities which provide the essential goods and services for everyday life, regardless of the social status of consumers. As the Regional Skills Partnership, we further define these as the services provided within the Health, Education, Social Care, Childcare & Emergency Services sectors, which are generally provided by a mixture of public and private sector organisations.
As of 2019, numbers employed in the Public Administration, Defence, Education and Health sector, the best fitting category used in public data sources, have risen to 216,100 across the region. According to EMSI data, as of 2021 there were 155,836 jobs specifically in the Education, Health and Social Care sectors.
The most prevalent jobs in these sectors are Care Workers and Home Carers (11.9%), Nurses (10.1%), Nursing Auxiliaries and Assistants (5.1%), Primary and Nursery Education Teaching Professionals (4.6%), Secondary Education Teaching Professionals (4.2%).
KEY JOB ROLES
• Care workers and home carers
• Nurses
• Primary and nursery education teaching professionals
• Nursing auxiliaries and assistants
• Teaching assistants
• Secondary education teaching professionals
• Medical practitioners
• Higher education teaching professionals
• Cleaners and domestics
• Further education teaching professionals
• Educational support assistants
• Welfare and housing associate professionals
• Nursery nurses and assistants
SECTOR CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
The CCRSP HFE Cluster group identified the following opportunities & challenges for the CCRSP Employment & Skills Plan 2022-2025:
• Continue to develop capacity across post-16 training providers to deliver new assessment and quality assurance requirements for Apprenticeship Frameworks within Health, Social Care and Early Years & Childcare and explore opportunities for educators to work in partnership with employers to co-deliver specialist provision
• Raise the profile of Health, Social Care and Early Years & Childcare sector Apprenticeships and work placement opportunities and improve promotion of these sectors as a viable career option with a particular focus on attracting new entrants through targeted campaigns for known sector skills shortages
• Continue to support access to all age Apprenticeship funding for the Human Foundation Economy sector, with specific focus on encouraging young people and those from underrepresented groups to undertake an apprenticeship
•Develop new Apprenticeship programmes where there is evidenced demand, such as degree and higher level Apprenticeships to ensure there are the necessary pathways into the Human Foundational Economy sector
• Promote the Education sector as an attractive career option to bring about positive change and an increased number of education practitioners on the Register, with a focus on recruiting those from underrepresented groups in the current workforce
• Improve the portability and transferability of qualifications and credits between educational institutions, ensuring prior learning and achievement is recognised
• Raise awareness of the innovative approaches to bite sized learning and CPD for the Human Foundational Economy workforce with targeted campaigns and case studies that promote ‘non-traditional’ pathways into the sector
• Build on the newly developed approaches to careers education, information, advice and guidance that address issues of sector perception and continue to promote the Human Foundational Economy as a viable career option
• Engage with the Qualifications Wales reviews of current and emerging qualifications to ensure that qualifications meet industry needs
• Support the increasing demand for Welsh language skills across the Education workforce
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
• Health Education & Improvement Wales (HEIW) https://heiw.nhs.wales/
• Educa8 https://www.educ8training.co.uk/
• Social Care Wales https://socialcare.wales/
• Care Forum Wales https://www.careforumwales.co.uk/
• South Wales Police https://www.south-wales.police.uk/
• South Wales Fire & Rescue https://www.southwales-fire.gov.uk/
• Open University https://www.open.ac.uk/
• Education Workforce Council (EWC) https://www.ewc.wales/
• The College Merthyr Tydfil https://www.merthyr.ac.uk/
• Clybiau Plant Cymru https://www.clybiauplantcymru.org
