Skills for Employment - that vital bridge between education and employment

When Skills for Employment was launched by Warwickshire County Council earlier this year it received a highly positive response from the county's business community and education providers. 

There was clearly massive support for the initiative. And why wouldn't there be?

What's not to like about the commitment of more than £2million to a programme which:

* Helps businesses to recruit talented young people

* Supports schools and colleges in their quest to find the most suitable and constructive pathway for their students

* Gives those students the best possible start to their careers.

The inception of Skills for Employment was greeted by much enthusiasm. And it has made a highly productive start.

Grants totalling more than £500,000 have already been awarded to secondary schools, special schools and colleges and partnerships set up between schools/colleges and local businesses. The vast majority of the 42 secondary schools and special schools in the county have signed up to the scheme, which is very encouraging.

Now the objective for Glenn Robinson, Warwickshire County Council's Skills for Employment manager, is to ensure that all that enthusiasm and goodwill is turned into action and positive benefit for all involved: that those businesses and education-providers exploit the advantages there for them.

Running a company is, of course, a busy and time-consuming affair and for no-one more than SMEs with limitations on personnel and resources. In schools, meanwhile, staff time is, to say the least, invariably at a premium.

It is entirely understandable if certain things, however meritorious, tend to linger longer than they should on the 'to do' list.

So Skills for Employment, with its Connect portal, has made the building of bridges between business and education as easy and smooth as possible.

"It takes two minutes to register," said Glenn. "We want the Connect portal to become the 'go to' place for business/education collaboration. We know that everyone involved is very busy so we have made the process as quick and easy as possible.

"It's great that so many businesses and schools registered very quickly. Now we just want more and more to take advantage of it. It is basically a place where businesses and schools can find out about each other, get connected, start talking and hopefully set up a partnership.

"A lot of research went into setting up Connect and making sure it offers exactly what is required. Last autumn we spoke to the headteachers of every secondary school in the county and canvassed widely among businesses to find out exactly what they wanted.

"There was clearly a lot of support for what we are doing but we that know that people are very stretched, so we needed to make it as straightforward as possible to make connections. We have done that."

The Connect portal is just one strand of Skills for Employment, an initiative unique to Warwickshire County Council, which plans to invest £2million in its vital bridge-building work over the next three years. It includes an Employability Charter to which businesses sign up to demonstrate their interest in developing the employability skills of young people from the age of 16 upwards.

Everybody benefits, says Glenn.

"Employers talk about the skills gap and how difficult it can be to recruit. There are talented young people coming through the education system. So let's match them up. If we can supply that extra recruitment pipeline then great.

"It is also a case of giving hard-pressed schools and teachers the support they need. Since central government ceased to fund careers advice in schools, they have been stretched in that area so the funding available through Skills for Employment can be a big help."

For more information please visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/skillsforemployment, call Glenn Robinson on 07825 317414 or email glennrobinson@warwickshire.gov.uk