The role of graduate programmes in transforming public services
As previous Institute for Government publications have outlined, this is an era of public service reform and public services now need to deliver better user outcomes with fewer resources. Graduate fast-track schemes are one way public services have sought to deliver this objective, with a number of public services emulating the Teach First model – an intensive graduate training programme which seeks to combat educational disadvantage through encouraging and enabling more high-quality graduates to enter teaching. But how much impact can this model generate? And what are its associated challenges? To find out more the Institute convened an event bringing together leaders from four public service fast-track schemes: Teach First (teaching), Police Now (policing), Frontline (children's social care) and Think Ahead (mental health services); from which we drew the following insights:
What can fast-trackers bring to the table?
Public service challenges are often long-standing. For Police Now Chief Executive David Spencer, this proves existing solutions aren’t working and something needs to change. From panellists’ perspective, a crucial aspect of that change is greater front-line leadership. Their experience suggests public services don’t suffer from a lack of innovative ideas, but from a lack of individuals capable of pushing these ideas to the forefront. These schemes seek individuals with the determination to, ‘keep battering away at the wall [of the bureaucratic machine]’, until bureaucracy takes notice.
Underpinning these schemes is the belief that, ‘it’s all about the people’. Policy workshops generating knowledge about how challenges should be tackled will yield limited results without people on the front line capable of implementing that knowledge accordingly. Transformation requires candidates with: (i) the leadership skills to, ‘run towards problems’, and tackle them head on, and (ii) the resilience to keep tackling these problems day in, day out on the front line. For the panellists, these schemes provide a means of recruiting suitably qualified candidates.
How much impact can fast-trackers have?
The schemes face scepticism concerning recruits’ ability to effect significant change, given they constitute such a small portion of service workforces and each intake runs for just two years. However there was panel consensus that fast-trackers’ small size doesn’t equate to small impact.
On the contrary, James Westhead, Teach First’s Executive Director of External Relations, stressed fast-trackers’ ‘ripple effect’ – citing an academic study which found evidence of teachers adapting their behaviour to greater mirror fast-trackers’ behaviour.
Additionally, there was confidence that while some fast-trackers may leave the front line upon completing the programme, this won’t halt their transformational capacity. As panellists were keen to stress, their purpose isn’t graduate recruitment but rather, leadership development. Hence, they expect that alumni will go on to hold senior leadership roles elsewhere, where they can continue ‘spread[ing] the movement’. We can’t change society in silos; tackling public service challenges demands cross-sector solutions. Alumni in positions of influence across services and sectors – promoting collaborative working and equipped with front-line experience of service operations and challenges – make this possible.
Panellists’ impact outlook emerged as distinctly ‘big picture’ – hoping fast-trackers’ short-term commitment to the programme will instil long-term commitment to driving service transformation.
What are the challenges?
Panellists identified challenges in balancing transformational aspirations with their need to be welcomed into service communities in order to generate change – demanding they avoid being so transformational as to alienate existing staff. Similarly, there were fears independent transformation agendas may be limited by dependence on government grants – forcing them to conform to certain government standards or agendas.
Audience members questioned whether public service struggles with low morale and high turnover on the front line threatened fast-trackers’ drive and commitment to implementing change. Panellists acknowledged this challenge but stressed that rigorous training processes ensured fast-trackers were both resilient and well supported, for example, training fast-trackers in units to create a quasi-family support system. Think Ahead’s joint Chief Executive Ella Joseph accepted, ‘It’s not a watertight arrangement’. But there was confidence that the right tools are in place to adequately support fast-trackers.
Next steps
There was panel-wide consensus that public service challenges need cross-service solutions, with David declaring, ‘the solution to all the problems we’ve been talking about today is collaboration, [including] across our different organisations’.
A number of inter-scheme events have already occurred. David acknowledged, ‘a lot more could be done between our organisations’. However, he identified a barrier. Namely, the schemes are largely recent start-ups – too absorbed in establishing themselves to devote significant time or resources to inter-scheme collaboration or networking. Nevertheless, there was optimism that the future will allow for greater inter-scheme collaboration, ‘and that is where we’ll start to see the most progress [in driving service transformation]’.