4. Create a National Design Education and Skills Plan:

4. Create a National Design Education and Skills Plan:

To ensure everyone can access high-quality design education and upskill for the green economy.

Recommendation summary: The Department for Education must commit to creating a National Design Education and Skills Plan, with a roadmap for repairing the decline in GCSE D&T by 2030 and targets for green design skills development.

The National Design Education and Skills Plan for England should include curriculum change, teacher retention strategies, investment for materials and machinery, and reforms to Ebacc and Progress 8. Design skills should also be fostered across the wider curriculum to ensure all young people are getting a great design education, equipping themselves for the green jobs of the future.

Within adult education, the Department for Education and the Green Jobs Delivery Group should review a) green skills gaps within the design, and b) green design training gaps within FE and technical education, and create an action plan that enables more adults to train as designers, or improve their design skills with CPD, so that they can contribute fully to the green economic transition.

Independent plans may be created by the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and The Northern Ireland Executive.

Rationale and context

Over the next decade, as we transition to a green economy, there will be a huge demand for people with a blend of technical, creative, and critical thinking skills – in other words, people with design skills. Workers with design skills are 47% more productive than the UK average, generating an extra £10 per hour in GVA. Design skills will be the foundation of many great, green jobs. Therefore, it is critical that the government strengthens design education and training.

Studying design at school is a crucial talent pipeline – seven in ten of today’s designers have studied design at GCSE level. However, entries to Design and Technology GCSE in England have declined a staggering 68% since 2011, a far faster rate than in the rest of the UK. This presents an urgent risk to the UK’s future workforce. There are currently too few incentives to teach or study design at school.

By 2030, 80% of the current workforce will still be active. Today, an estimated 59,000 people working in design industries already have skills gaps, together costing the UK £5.9bn per year. Skills shortages in design are some of the highest in the creative industries. With 25% of designers being self-employed and 92% of design businesses employing under 10 people, there is little industry resource for upskilling.

This is worrying for the UK economy: design industries like Architecture and Industrial Design are critical to achieving net zero, and design skills help future-proof jobs from climate-related economic transitions and automation.

Supporting asks

Resource designers to upskill: CPD should be freeto-access and accredited for small design firms. The implementation of the Lifelong Loan Entitlement should be brought forward, with additional bursaries for freelancers, returners and transferers.

Secure international talent: Reform eligibility for the High Potential Individual visas to include leading design schools and introduce a skilled freelancer visa route.