Transferable skills in land-based and aquaculture sectors: review

Highlights

Why was the research needed?

In 2021, the Scottish Government established the Commission for the Land-Based Learning Review. In 2023, the Commission published a report detailing 22 recommendations for Ministers based on their assessment of learning in Scotland’s land-based and aquaculture sectors.^[1]

Recommendation 12 was to “undertake research which identifies key transferable skills required across different job roles within the sector”. Transferable skills are skills that enable workers to perform effectively across a variety of situations. Improving our understanding of transferable skills required within the land-based and aquaculture sectors will help to build an adaptable workforce capable of responding to current and future changes and policies.

One of the key policy contexts for this research is the Scottish Government’s Just Transition policy.^[2] This policy involves Scotland’s shifting to the co-existence of a healthy economy and a clean environment whilst ensuring the process to obtain these is fair. Additionally, there is a high demand for seasonal workers in the land-based and aquaculture sectors, which have a high proportion of seasonal jobs and declining numbers of international seasonal workers post-EU exit.^[3] Identifying transferable skills can help support all workers, but especially seasonal workers, to apply their expertise across multiple roles year-round.

What did we do?

We reviewed existing evidence on transferable skills within the land-based and aquaculture sectors and conducted a content analysis of skill lists for various land-based and aquaculture careers featured on Lantra’s website (a land-based skills training organisation). We then carried out 10 semi-structured interviews with education and skills organisations and industry representatives from Scotland’s land-based and aquacultures sectors.

What did we learn?

The most transferable skills across the land-based and aquaculture sectors include non-technical skills like verbal communication, teamwork, and IT skills. Some technical skills are also transferable, including 360 excavator and drone operation, provided workers have adequate training in applying these new skills in new environments or industries. However, some technical skills are highly specialised and difficult to transfer between occupations and industries.

Many of these transferable skills, notably verbal communication and IT skills, are key skill gaps across the sectors, making them important areas for future training. Skill sets are more transferable between some industries than others; for example, the fisheries and wildlife management industries share many overlapping skills. Furthermore, industries in the land-based and aquaculture sectors can be clustered into three groups with similar skill sets to help coordinate training initiatives. The Just Transition is increasing the demand for cross-sector skills and making some skills more transferable, including digital skills and knowledge of conservation.

Next steps

Awareness should be raised about the transferability of people skills, such as communication and teamwork, across the land-based and aquaculture sectors. There is a need for more information on the specific skills the future workforce will require. Additionally, future research could explore how workers navigate challenges in successfully transferring skills across seasonal jobs.