If the government is serious about increasing the demand for skills, it will have to recognise that demand is shaped by a host of institutional, economic and business factors

Professor Karen Evans

Professor Evans pointed to the "lengthy list" of agencies - for example the National Training Task Force and the Training Agency - which were brought in to oversee and manage earlier policies, only to be changed or abolished as new initiatives came and went.

"Policy has in the past led to too may small initiatives, a lack of clarity about objectives and too much institutional tinkering," said Professor Evans.

The criticism comes as the government stresses its commitment to vocational education with vocational GCSEs and A-levels and lifelong learning initiatives for adults.

Changing workplace

There needed to be a "sound understanding" of the way in which the world of work was changing and its implications for employers' demands for skills and knowledge, she said.

"If the government is serious about increasing the demand for skills, it will have to recognise that demand is shaped by a host of institutional, economic and business factors," she said.

"We can not accept at face value the popular discourses of managers and policy-makers about 'learning organisations', 'knowledge management' and the 'knowledge-based economy'."

Regulated apprenticeships

Professor Evans said that in other European Union countries the apprenticeship system was supported by a statutory framework which defined what an apprenticeship was and was not.

But in the UK, there was no statutory regulation of apprenticeship.

"The weaknesses and variable quality of UK provision stems from this lack of regulation, which is a key difference between the UK and other European states," she said.

Professor Evans argued that the availability of time off or away from the job to undertake training was a major problem.

"Has this been recognised in Estelle Morris's latest intervention in recognising that classroom teachers need time, at last?!" she questioned.