Forum’s message
BUSINESSES are confused by the Government’s new training diplomas and scared about the amount of commitment expected of them.
That was the key message to emerge from an education forum hosted by the Evening Gazette, which brought trainers together in a round-table discussion on how best to tackle “employer engagement” - the factor crucial to successful delivery of the Learning to Learn agenda, a new generation of apprenticeship programmes being rolled out across the Tees Valley as part of a national education strategy.
One contributor said he had sympathy for bosses who “just get used to one qualification and then something else gets brought in, while Michael Glenn of A4e added that many were put off by unnecessary burdens.
“We deal with companies who are unable to continue to support education activity because of increasing costs - that’s down to national guidelines and local authority protocols,” he said.
He urged fellow trainers to “be brave” and tackle those firms who had become disenchanted with a succession of initiatives by demonstrating the remarkable achievements of best practice with others.
Above all, employers valued “clarity and transparency” in their relationships with training providers, said Steve Taylor of Hall Garth School, which is the lead school for Middlesbrough in delivery of diplomas for the creative industries, working in partnership with Tees’ dynamic sector.
The forum agreed to press providers to thrash out some of the issues surrounding Learning to Learn.
The debate turned on sharing of best practice between secondary schools, such as Hall Garth, which runs a mock recruitment day with real employers every year for students in their final year of school.
Mr Taylor asked employers to rally behind a conference.
“What is a diploma and what does it mean for an employer to get on board?” he said.
“It’s good to recognise this big step employers have to take to get involved with schools,” said another. “But anything that can help young people make informed decisions about the way they go is to be applauded.”
He said there needed to be a “cultural change” in the way employers worked with schools, but for now there seemed to be “a lot of let’s wait and see” on how the diplomas developed.
