Every December, a new wave of reports land, each promising to predict the future of skills. Most add noise. The latest NFER report, Rethinking Skills Gaps and Solutions, does something different. Christine shares why it doesn’t just forecast demand, it reframes the problem.
The UK’s biggest skills challenge is not a lack of skills at all. It’s a misalignment between what people can do, what jobs require and what the system recognises and rewards.
And unless we act, that gap is set to widen.
Essential Employment Skills: The Real Currency of the 2035 Workforce
According to NFER, the skills that will matter most by 2035 are not technical novelties or sector-specific add-ons.
They are Essential Employment Skills (EES):
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Problem-solving
- Planning and organising
- Creative thinking
- Information literacy.
These are not:
- “soft skills”
- new skills
- optional extras.
They are the capabilities that allow people to adapt, progress and remain employable in a labour market shaped by automation, professional growth and increasing complexity.
Crucially, many workers already use these skills and many employers already value them.
The challenge is that our systems still struggle to teach, recognise and develop them intentionally.
The Skills Gap Nobody Is Talking About
We often assume skills gaps sit mainly in low-skilled roles.
NFER’s analysis of nearly 12,000 workers tells a very different story:
- High-skilled jobs already show the largest Essential Employment Skills gaps
- Lower-skilled roles often contain high levels of under-utilised skill
- By 2035, the number of workers with substantial EES gaps could almost double.
This is not a pipeline issue. It’s a system alignment problem.
A problem rooted in:
- job design
- access to development
- under-recognised capability
- reduced autonomy
- and, in some cases, skills withdrawal when people feel undervalued or overwhelmed.
This makes the skills conversation inseparable from belonging, confidence, identity and job quality.
Why Essential Employment Skills Matter for Further Education
Further Education sits at the intersection of policy, people and practice.
Across colleges, ITPs and adult learning, we see every day that:
- confidence drives capability
- Essential Employment Skills underpin retention and progression
- adults returning to learning rarely lack ability, they lack belief.
The NFER report validates what many in FE already know:
➡ Essential Employment Skills are the real engines of employability
➡ They sit at the heart of inclusion and progression
➡ They connect curriculum design, quality improvement and workforce development
If we want meaningful system change beyond 2026, EES must stop being a side conversation and become part of curriculum DNA.
Three Strategic Reflections for FE Leaders and Curriculum Teams
- Curriculum must be EES-led, not EES-adjacent
Embedding Essential Employment Skills is not an add-on or enrichment task.
It is how learners develop agency, transferability and confidence across contexts.
- Leaders need visibility of latent skill
Some of your most capable staff and learners may be operating below their potential because the system fails to recognise or stretch their strengths.
- Belonging is not pastoral — it’s strategic
Skills withdrawal thrives in low-trust, low-autonomy environments.
Skills activation happens where there is clarity, respect and permission to contribute.
The Future of Work Is Increasingly Human
We often talk about “preparing people for the future of work”.
But the future of work depends increasingly on human capability: how we think, communicate, collaborate and adapt.
Further Education is uniquely positioned to lead this shift, not loudly, but deliberately and confidently.
Not by adding more content.
But by aligning curriculum, leadership and workforce development around the skills that matter most.
This isn’t a new challenge.
It’s an overdue opportunity.
Are we ready to take it?
If you’d like a concise one-page leadership briefing on the NFER report — focused on what FE leaders actually need to know about Essential Employment Skills, curriculum design and workforce alignment — get in touch. I’m happy to share it.