News and events
Sept 2010
3rd: CBI calls for employers and schools to collaborate for
employability
In a new report, Fulfilling potential, the business role in
education, the CBI, the UK's largest employers' body is
calling for the anticipated government White Paper on school reform
to set out a clear strategy on how businesses can get involved in
education.
Visit:
http://www.cbi.org.uk/pdf/fulfilling-potential-the-business-role-in-education.pdf
3rd: Supporting Construction Diploma Students award
Construction company Lovell's people development manager, Bruce
Boughton, has won an Education and Business Partnership award for
the company's work supporting school students studying for the
Construction and Built Environment Diploma.
Visit: http://build.co.uk/construction_news.asp?newsid=115997
1st: Survey shows work experience helps young people get real
jobs
As fewer university places force young people into gap-year
placements, a Lantra survey has revealed nearly three-quarters of
animal care and welfare businesses have recruited staff directly
from work experience. Lantra is the Sector Skills Council
for the Environmental and Land-based Sector representing over
230,000 businesses and 1.5 million employees.
Visit:
http://www.cisionwire.com/lantra/work-experience-survey-shows-long-term-employment-win
August 2010
31st: Dragon Peter Jones urges employer
engagement
Entrepreneur Peter Jones, famous for his role in TV's
Dragon's Den, calls for more employer involvement in
education. Read the full article in The Guardian
newspaper:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/aug/31/vocational-education-business-studies
6th: National Governors' Association awards
announced
Every two years the National Governors' Association (NGA) runs
national awards for outstanding school governance. The awards aim
to celebrate good school governance and spread examples of best
practice throughout the school governor community. Don't let great
work go unnoticed! NGA wants to thank good governors for their time
and efforts in contributing to school improvement. The nominators
of short-listed applicants will be invited to a prestigious
national awards ceremony in March 2011.
For more information on how to apply, see www.nga.org.uk (and click on the
Awards tab) or e-mail awards@nga.org.uk The
closing date for entries is 15 November 2010.
July 2010
23rd: Visit our Schools and Colleges campaign
update
The Visit our Schools and Colleges campaign was publically
launched on 13 July. Hundreds of schools, colleges and employers
have now registered online and schools, colleges and employers can
continue to do so until 30 September.
We want young people across England to benefit from contact with
employers of all sectors and sizes. SMEs have an equally important
role to play as multinationals.
Taking part in Visit our Schools and Colleges week is free to
everyone and onlyrequires 1 or 2 hours of your time in the week of
18-22 October to visit a local school or college, or to host a
visit. For further details or to register www.visitourschools.org
Visit our Schools and Colleges Campaign Bulletin
2
12th: KPMG research published
New KPMG research covering primary, secondary, special schools
and academies shows that the quality and amount of education and
employer engagement varies considerably between schools. A total of
63% of schools say that employer engagement is very
beneficial or extremely beneficial. While 75% of
school leaders believe that employer engagement has a positive
impact on exam results and academic attainment.
The report concludes: "Schools believe that as well as adding to
the skills of the young people, partnerships with employers inspire
and motivate young people, who not only see the possibilities that
they have after school, but understand to a greater extent the
importance of their school work. Our interviews with head teachers
supported this, with almost all mentioning in particular the
importance of employer engagement in raising aspirations amongst
pupils at an early age, especially in areas with high levels of
deprivation."
For the full report visit: Investigation of school employer partnerships,
KPMG 2010
5th: Governors Mean Business research published
This new School Governors One-Stop Shop (SGOSS) and University
of Hertfordshire research report shows the ways in which Governors
are valued by head teachers and schools. These include challenging
and holding the leadership to account, monitoring, evaluation and
getting to know the areas of school life in need of
development.
For the full report visit: Governors Mean Business;
School Governors' One-Stop Shop volunteers: Their contribution and
added value to schools in England
June 2010
22nd: Taskforce completes its first year
The Education and Employers Taskforce has completed its first
year of operation - here is our Annual Report and Accounts for the
year ended 31 March 2010.
Click here to view the full accounts.
9th: Visit our Schools: 18-22 October - Register today to take
part!
The Visit our Schools website has just gone 'live' and you can
now register online to take part in Visit our Schools week, please
go to: www.visitourschools.org
Participating is completely free (for school/colleges and
employers of all sectors and sizes) and only requires 1 or 2 hours
of your time in the week of 18-22 October to visit a school/college
in your locality if you are an employer, or host a visit if you are
an education establishment.
May 2010
20th: Demand for highly skilled staff to grow says CBI/EDI
The demand for skilled people will intensify during the
recovery, and employers' top recruitment priorities are
employability skills such as problem solving and team working,
above exam results, a new survey reveals. The CBI believes
that business has a key role to play in the education
system.
The new CBI report, called Ready to grow: business
priorities for education and skills, is sponsored by leading
qualifications awarding body EDI. The survey was answered by 694
employers, which together employ over 2.4 million people and
represent companies of all sizes and sectors.
The report says that business involvement with schools can be a
powerful catalyst to increased academic achievement. It can
also enable young people to make better-informed decisions at
the key transition points in their education, and help them develop
the employability skills needed.
For the full report visit: Ready to grow: business
priorities for education and skills
19th: Invitation to tender
There is a call for tenders to evaluate the effectiveness of the
National Centre for Languages (CILT) language learning programme
during the current funding period. This is a national
programme that supports and inspires businesses and schools to work
together through language learning. Tenders must be submitted by 4
June 2010.
Visit Invitation for Tender in the
Research section
5th: Taskforce Research Conference announced
The Education and Employers Taskforce is sponsoring its first
research conference to bring together leading academics and
analysts from the fields of education policy and human resource
management to share their work and so build the evidence base for
what works in education-employer engagement.
The conference will be held at the University of Warwick on 15
October 2010 and is open to all with an interest. Visit: www.educationandemployers.org/researchconference
4th: 'Visit Our Schools' campaign update
The date for the Education and Employers Taskforce Visit
our Schools campaign has been confirmed as the week of
18 - 22 October 2010. To sign up for campaign
bulletins or register interest in taking part please email: carol.glover@educationandemployers.org
April 2010
28th: Taskforce welcomes new European initiatives
The Taskforce welcomes two recent European level developments in
education- employer engagement.
European Entrepreneurship Education report unveiled
The final report and evaluation of the pilot High Level
Reflection Panels on Entrepreneurship Education has been
published at:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/promoting-entrepreneurship/education-training-entrepreneurship/reflection-panels/files/entr_education_panel_en.pdf
This pilot was launched by the European Commission to facilitate
the exchange of experiences between national policy makers and to
increase coordination on ways to develop systematic strategies for
entrepreneurship education, from primary school to university.
Policy makers from 26 countries participated to this exchange,
together with business associations, representatives of teachers
and NGOs. The final report includes:
- Findings on the current state of play in entrepreneurship
education, especially in relation to the development of
entrepreneurship education strategies and their
implementation.
- A framework for mapping the area of entrepreneurship education,
building strategy, priority setting and action, using a progression
model developed from the discussions of the Panels.
- A 'cook book' of good practices which show how to address key
areas within the progression model.
EU Thematic Forum on School-Business Cooperation
The March 2010 Forum in Brussels brought together policy
officials and practitioners from across the EU to highlight and
explore and share best practice in school-business partnership
across Europe, and "to identify ways in which the EU can support
the development of high-quality school-business initiatives in the
future." The event highlighted a strong growing interest in
the European Commission and across the European Union countries in
activity to promote closer engagement of employers with schools and
colleges. Delegates heard of EU interest in identifying means
of supporting activity within member countries and policy
announcements may well be made over the next six months.
26th: First Enterprise Education Unconference
The first Enterprise Education Unconference will take
place 12-13 May 2010 in Gijón, Spain. It is an open event to engage
in a fruitful conversation about the present and future of
enterprise education in Europe. The event is backed up with a simple user-led online platform
that follows the recommendations of the High Level Reflection Panels on Entrepreneurship
Education set up by the European Commission in 2009.
Please visit: http://www.copie2.es
For further details contact: Iván Diego Rodríguez, Coordinador
Programa Educativo Emprendedores Tel (+34) 985 692 227 or fax (+34)
985 683 193. Email: ivan@valnalon.com and
web: www.valnalon.com
15th: Volunteering in education offers significant financial
benefits
The Taskforce welcomes the release of the landmark report by the
City of London Corporation detailing the skills and competencies
developed by employees involved in corporate volunteering schemes
as well as the financial value accrued by businesses running such
schemes.
Commissioned by the City of London Corporation and produced by
Corporate Citizenship, the report - 'Volunteering: the Business
Case' - tracks the learning and development of 546 employees from
16 major City firms volunteering in schools and colleges across the
UK.
Speaking alongside the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Nick
Anstee, at the launch event was the report author and director of
Corporate Citizenship, Andrew Wilson; non-executive Director of
Nomura, Kieran Poynter; Director of the Education and Employers
Taskforce, Nick Chambers and Director of Research and Policy at the
Chartered Institute of Management, Petra Wilson.
To read the full report visit:
'Volunteering - the business case'
March 2010
22nd: 'Visit our schools' campaign
The Taskforce and its partners are planning a major campaign
with the aim of encouraging leading CEOs from the private and
public sectors, at the invitation of headteachers, to "visit our
schools" during the period of a week in October.
It will be a chance for decision-makers from the private and
public sectors to hear from headteachers and young people about the
work of schools, and to witness that work at first hand. It will
showcase the great work being done by employers and schools. The
campaign will facilitate structured discussions and explore
practical ways in which we might work together to ensure that our
education system meets the needs of young people and their future
employers. If you are interested in being involved please contact:
carol.glover@educationandemployers.org
Education and employers working together - Celebrating 'The
Best in Britain'
As part of its autumn campaign the Taskforce is intending to
publicise and celebrate the great examples of schools and colleges
working in partnership with employers. We are looking for examples
from all types of schools and colleges from around Britain. If you
know of schools in your area which should be approached to be
included let us know by contacting: carol.glover@educationandemployers.org
February 2010
25th: Skills and Apprenticeships Conference
Capita's National Skills and Apprenticeships Conference
takes place 16 March 2010 in London. It follows the recent
publication of the Skills for Growth Strategy and the
introduction of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and
Learning Act. Speakers include Dr Anthony Mann, Director of
Policy and Research, at the Education and Employers Taskforce.
For further information visit http://www.capitaconferences.co.uk
11th: CBI's Richard Lambert on tackling youth
unemployment and the role of employers
Richard Lambert, Director-General of the Confederation of
British Industry (CBI), and an Education and
Employers Taskforce Trustee, made a speech to a Deloitte
breakfast meeting entitled 'Breaking the cycle of youth
unemployment: the employer/education leadership challenges' on
11 February 2010.
Read the full speech
(pdf).
1st: New research demonstrates the need for better
education-employer engagement
The Taskforce releases today four research papers which
collectively provide significant new data on the value of
partnerships between employers and schools and colleges. Three
Taskforce partners have worked with the Taskforce to bring into the
public domain, important survey findings on the views of young
people and schools towards engagement with employers.
The research papers are: IEBE's 2008 survey of 15,000 young
people who had completed work experience, BITC's 2007 survey of 400
school leaders, B-live's survey of career aspirations
highlghting a disjuncture between job goals and labour market
realities, and a rare public analysis of the impact of work
experience and part-time work on young people from large scale
longitudinal studies.
For full details visit our research section
January 2010
21st: Education and employer partnerships celebrated at
Guildhall event
SSAT hosted a policy forum of business and school leaders to
champion school/employer partnerships. The event also saw the
launch of Creating effective partnerships with
employers: guidance for teachers. Produced by the
SSAT in collaboration with the Education and Employers Taskforce,
the publication identifies the key characteristics of successful
employer engagement, presenting case studies and suggested
strategies to encourage schools to create their own effective
partnerships with employers.
The forum, held at the Guildhall in London on 21 January 2010
and supported by the Education and Employers Taskforce, was
attended by over 30 head teachers and business representatives
including BP, the Institute of Directors and KPMG.
Bob Wigley, Co-Chair of the Education and Employers Taskforce
said: 'Partnerships between employers and schools can make a real
difference to young people. The aim of Education and Employers
Taskforce is that every school and college has an effective
partnership with employers which provide young people with the
inspiration, motivation, knowledge and opportunities they need to
help them achieve their potential. Whilst the majority of schools
now have good individual relationships with some employers and
undertake activities such as work experience, we know most schools
want employers to be more heavily involved in supporting work
across all age groups and the curriculum areas. '
The read the full press release
(pdf).
12th: Taskforce welcomes 10th International Education and
Business Partnership Conference
The 10th International Education Business Partnership Conference
program focuses strongly on the increasing interaction between
corporate social investment strategies, communities and learning
partnership systems and programs in many countries.
The common ground between schools, communities and business is
becoming better defined as economies and societies become more
knowledge-based and business becomes more aware of the need to be
learning organisations.
The conference will be held 25 - 28 April 2010 in Toronto,
Canada.
Read the full document
(pdf)
6th: You Gov research findings
The EDGE Annual Programme of Stakeholder Research: Business
in Schools published in January 2010 found that many teachers
did not think there were enough opportunities for children to
experience the workplace; 51% had this view, while only 28% though
there were enough opportunities. Teachers were likely to think that
there was insufficient employer engagement in their school.
Employers did not feel well informed about opportunities to
engage with school. Two thirds felt that their organisation was on
balance not well informed. Employers remained generally positive
about engaging with the education sector. Two thirds were on
balance 'more willing than not' and only 3% were not at all
willing.
Of those employers that currently do not engage, 44% were on
balance in favour of doing so in the future, while 10% indicated
that they would definitely not be willing to do so.
Young people identified a broad range of factors as important
for a good work experience placement, but were particularly
concerned with the variety of work available (48%)and the
preparation that goes into accommodating them (45%).
To read the
full research report (pdf)
December 2009
16th: Defining effective employer
engagement
The 2008 report of the National Council for Educational
Excellence recommended that every school and college should have an
effective partnership with employers. Without a clear understanding
of what is meant by 'effective' employer engagement, it will not be
possible for the Taskforce, working with partners, to benchmark
current practice and assess if new initiatives, campaigns and
communications have any measurable impact on the learning outcomes
of all young people.
This paper sets out the definition that has been developed by
the Taskforce, working with partners including Ofsted, DCSF and the
members of the Taskforce's Expert Group on Research. The paper has
been endorsed by the Taskforce's Partnership Board and Board of
Trustees. Please see full
document.
October 2009
26th: New careers, advice and guidance (IAG)
strategy launched
A new careers information, advice and guidance
(IAG) strategy was launched today at an
event attended by Children, Schools and Families Secretary Ed
Balls, Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United Football
Club and Schools Minister Iain Wright.
Iain Wright commented that the Education and
Employers Taskforce "will be playing a vital role in improving
links between schools and businesses which is essential for setting
up the new mentoring and work taster schemes".
David Cruickshank, Chairman of Deloitte and a Trustee of
the Education and Employers Taskforce, will lead a review into the
role of employers in the delivery of information, advice and
guidance, identifying best practice and how employers can be
effectively supported in this area.
Read the full press notice on the DCSF website,
or read the full version of the new IAG strategy.
15th: New independent Taskforce established to ensure all
young people benefit from effective education-employer partnerships
(press release)
A new era begins today with the launch of the 'Education
and Employers Taskforce' as leaders and experts from education,
business and government come together in an unprecedented
partnership to work for the benefit of all young people.
DCSF press release: Leading employers unite to 'Back Young
Britain'
Read the full DCSF press release on the Taskforce
launch.
September 2009
Enterprise education review
The DCSF has recently commissioned an evaluation of
enterprise education in England. The research team (a consortium of
Dubit Limited, Brightpurpose Consulting and Young People's
Enterprise Forum) are conducting a stakeholder consultation and are
very keen to speak to employers and business representative
organisations, to ensure the employer perspective is well
represented in the evaluation. Interviews would take no more than
an hour and can be done by telephone at a time to suit you.
Interested employers should contact Helen Highley: helen.highley@brightpurpose.co.uk.
August 2009
Ofsted report highlights impact of employer
engagement
The Ofsted report into the implementation of 14-19 reforms
concludes that effective engagement of employers in Diploma
teaching has positive impacts on student motivation and behaviour,
and "significantly enhances" the learning and enthusiasm of young
people for their subject of study. The full report can be
found on the Ofsted
website.