Is a new conversation about skills policies possible?

National policy frameworks in English-speaking countries have been dominated for over 40 years by the skills paradigm that positions skills as the attributes individuals need to meet the needs of employers. The OECD (2026, p.36) explains that while definitions of skill differ, a convergence is emerging in which “Skills are generally treated as individual attributes that are developed through learning or experience and are closely connected to the execution of tasks in real world environments.” This continues a work-taskbased orientation that has led to vocational systems supporting a minority of young people into skilled occupations, whilst others are channelled into routinised and undervalued service and welfare roles. The role of policy has been to provide levers to strengthen employers’ role in decision-making.

Yet, there are signs that policy understandings of skill are beginning to shift to more expansive understandings. For example, in both England and Australia, the idea of broadening the language ‘skills’ and expansive thinking about the employer’s role have received some attention in research and policy circles (Lilly, 2026; Qualification Reform Design Group, 2024; Robson et al., 2026). Might this represent the possibilities for a broader and more meaningful language to frame education? And could this lay the ground for new approaches to policy infrastructure, in which wider and more distributed groups of actors can participate in dialogue and governance?

This seminar series asks two related questions: firstly, can we talk about skills differently? How did we arrive at a lexicon that reduces competence, skill, outcomes and learning to their lowest common denominator? What other conversations about young people’s routes into skilled work are possible? How might researchers facilitate these conversations, pointing to ways to enable the many to access the benefits, rather than a small “technical elite”? This seminar series brings together international scholars whose research is already contributing to new thinking in this area; and hopefully to an overdue reconceptualisation of TVET in the Anglosphere.

Secondly, what kind of policy conversations could implement more expansive notions of skill? What kind of policy infrastructure could enable these conversations? These questions are urgent and important for England when the devolution of skills policies to regions is already under discussion. The seminar series brings together policy experts from England, which forms the focus of our discussion whilst drawing on lessons from other jurisdictions to promote policy learning.

First Session: The outcome we live by: denaturalisation of skill through a manual to the Finnish ‘osaaminen’ – Dr Penni Pietilä, Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Department of Social Science, University of Eastern Finland

Thursday 29 October, 5:15 pm – 6:15 pm Online & Seminar Room K/L, Department of Education, University of Oxford