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Digital skills are increasingly presented as essential for work and labour market inclusion, with fears the low-skilled could be left behind. Lack of clarity about these new skill demands and limited evidence from the workplace have prompted calls to unpack skill requirements in specific sectors and occupations. This article analyses digital skills in relation to wider skills and knowledge required in a job, and examines the influence of the workplace, sector and national institutional context. The study focuses on robotic technologies in lower-skilled jobs, drawing on the experience of food and drink processing operatives, and logistic porters and service workers in public hospitals, in Norway and the UK. The article contributes to the conceptualisation of digital skills, probes country differences, and offers a grounded understanding of the challenges presented for workers in lower-skilled jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is intense debate surrounding digitalisation and its implications for work. However, empirical research within established workplaces, especially international comparative studies, remains limited. This article uses cross‐country research to further analysis of the relative importance of different institutions, actors and power relations in shaping digitalisation and worker outcomes. Through a multi‐level approach, it compares the use of industrial robots in the food and drink processing sector in Norway and the UK. Drawing on qualitative research, it explores the pace of digitalisation, the process of implementation and job and skills outcomes. The study finds strong national differences in the pace of digitalisation, and the role of unions in the process of implementation. In Norway, union power at workplace and national level, embedded in institutional arrangements, underpins more advanced use of technology and improved outcomes for workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The view that vocational education and training is central to economic prosperity and social well-being is one that is widely held by policy-makers in many countries. Delivering this agenda requires skilled and professional teachers. Ensuring that vocational teachers are able to maintain and develop both their "craft" skills and pedagogy, through continuing professional development (CPD), is, therefore, a growing area of policy concern. While research has revealed that models for the regulation and organisation of CPD for vocational teachers vary across countries, their relative effectiveness has rarely been considered. This paper seeks to address this gap by comparing the approaches currently being adopted in three countries--England, Wales and Norway. Focusing specifically on teachers of hairdressing, it explores the opportunities for CPD and considers the constraints on teachers' ability to reflect and improve on their practice. The research draws mainly on interviews with teachers of hairdressing in two English and two Welsh further education colleges and three Norwegian upper-secondary schools. The findings suggest that while hairdressing lecturers in England and Wales have more opportunities to keep up to date with their "craft", those in Norway find it easier to access pedagogic education and inhabit an institutional environment that affords more time and space to share ideas and collectively improve their practice. (Contains 4 notes.)

Current UK skills policy is centred on the need to drive up qualification obtainment and make the system more employer-led with Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) being given the role of articulating the "voice" of employers. Through a study of recruitment and selection processes in the fitness industry, this paper explores employers' attitudes to existing qualifications and whether their skill needs are being identified by their SSC. It also considers the broader implications of an employer-led system. The research is based upon interviews undertaken in 17 gyms, focusing on the occupation of fitness instructor. The findings reveal that managers adopt a wide range of approaches in how they recruit, train and value qualifications in the labour market. Although qualifications in this sector are important, the over-supply of "qualified" workers means there is little incentive for most employers to tackle low wages or improve opportunities for training and development. (Contains 4 tables and 1 note.)

In 2003, we wrote a critical reply to Frank Coffield's reflections in this journal on the significance of the Performance and Innovation Unit's project on workforce development for the future direction of skills policy in England. As Coffield made clear in a rejoinder, underpinning our arguments are fundamental disagreements about what would be required to tackle the low skills equilibrium and develop the UK as a high skills society. Coffield criticised our project for being unrealistic and as offering no threat to the status quo. In this reply, we respond to these criticisms before subjecting Coffield's own policy recommendations to closer scrutiny. The danger with following his approach is that it not only results in academics setting their sights too low but is overly optimistic about what can be achieved by working with policy makers given current political and ideological constraints. (Contains 1 note.)

Although the current Labour government is committed to developing the UK as a high skills society, there is much confusion as what such a society might look like and from where it might draw its inspiration. Some academic commentators have also expressed the need for a clearer vision of the kind of society to which the UK might choose to head for under the banner of 'high skills'. In this paper, the authors discuss whether such a vision is needed and what, in their view, this vision might look like. The authors argue that Germany and Scandinavia offer the best 'actually existing' examples of high skill societies and consider whether the UK could move towards a northern European inspired high skills model. Having identified some of the obstacles currently blocking such a project, the paper discusses whether a vision is still needed and why academics must continue to debate what it means to build a high skills society in the UK.

The role of trade unions in the social shaping of digital technologies is a vital question for research, public policy and social justice. This article draws on interviews with two unions in the grocery retail sector in the United Kingdom and Norway, and examines their involvement in technology decisions, and whether they can shape better outcomes for workers. By comparing a 'neo‐liberal' economy and a 'Nordic welfare state', the article considers whether stronger institutional power and regulatory supports in Norway provide for greater influence in a sector regarded as challenging for unions. The findings indicate relatively few country differences and help shed light on the factors that enable and constrain unions' role in digitalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]