Employer Engagement within Diplomas

1. Employer Engagement within Diplomas

2. What is Employer Engagement ? ‘the whole range of activities involving collaborative contact between employer and learning provider which improves the productivity and competitiveness of the workforce and reduces the skills gap’ The term ‘employer’ is used to refer to people from all types of businesses in the public, private and voluntary sectors including large, small and social enterprises.

3. Background The Diplomas have been developed as a result of consultation with business; who clearly stated that education needed to better prepare young people for the world of work. Businesses have been involved in the content and design of the Diplomas right from the outset- principally through Diploma Development Partnerships (DDPs) which are chaired by the Sector Skills Councils. Employer Engagement is at the heart the success of the Diplomas at three key levels: • Curriculum Design and Planning- Ensuring relevance to industry requirements • Curriculum Delivery- providing industry expertise in a real or simulated work environment with 50% of the principal learning being applied • Workforce Development- ensuring educators have the knowledge and skills to prepare young people for a career in their sector and the wider world of work

4. Examples of Employer Engagement include • Setting real work projects and challenges providing applied learning opportunities • Developing curriculum resources to support learning • Providing work experience placements Linked where possible to the Line of Learning with the learner clear about how the experience can directly link to their diploma qualification • Talks in the classroom – including information on qualification routes, experience and skills required and training offered • Supporting an Enterprise Day activity • Site visits to employer premises which are focussed and support principle learning • Providing Mock Interviews to give learners the chance to practice communication with others

5. Diploma-support • Diploma-support website • The site provides a range of information and guidance to support employer engagement. Each Line of Learning is represented. There are also a range of short clips of employers giving information linking to specific areas of the Diploma Employer videos • Videos for all lines of learning looking at a range of units and topics

7. Benefits of Employer Engagement • Help provide a context for study within each Diploma line • Improve learners’ knowledge and understanding of the curriculum content for each Diploma line • Provides the chance to develop and practice Personal Learning & Thinking skills and Functional skills • Enhance Work Related Learning skills and attributes such as teamwork, problem solving and communication skills • Increase the relevance of the curriculum to careers, further and higher education and training opportunities in industry

8. Contacting an employer • Ask for support from Humber EBP helen.wilson@eastriding.gov.uk Workforce Development barbara.miller@eastriding.gov.uk • Think about the employers in your local area, who do you and the school work with already? Police, Fire Brigade, Specialist School Contacts, Governors Who do your parents work for? • Think about what you want from an employer – be very clear about what you want, when, why and the learning outcomes and benefits before making contact • Do some research, look at websites, ask a colleague if they know anyone who could help

9. Before, during and after • Before Prepare yourself and your learners for the activity with the employer. This will ensure that the session goes smoothly and all participants know what is expected of them • During Ensure that the skills that are being learnt are made explicit and where possible link them to other subject or personal experience • After Debrief on what has been learnt and make sure that learners understand the information they have been given, the skills they have learnt and where they may have chance to practice them again

10. Safeguarding To ensure any employer visiting the school is aware of your policies and procedures with regard to safeguarding. • Do they need a CRB? • If yes the time this takes to arrive needs to be factored in to the lead in time of the activity. Latest news • Vetting and Barring Scheme registration halted Tuesday, 15 Jun 2010 Registration with the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) will be halted to allow the government to remodel the scheme back to proportionate, common sense levels, it was announced today.

11. Keeping in contact • It may seem obvious but always thank the employer before you/they leave • After the event/input write a thank you letter. Letters from learners are always appreciated and can encourage the employer to do more in the future – have a template ready • Put the employer on the school newsletter mailing list, Christmas card list and • Send them regular emails to let them know how learners are doing. • Email to ask their opinion on aspects of the curriculum, employability skills etc • Invite them to events in school • Why not write a case study for the Diploma Handbook website – this promotes both the school and the employer and provides evidence for parents, moderators and other partners as to what you are getting involved in.

12. Moderators comments The following is a comment from a moderator who has worked with an East Riding School • ‘ Strong employer engagement reinforced the teaching and learning and when this employer engagement was mapped into the assignment it had a positive effect on the outcome of the assignments’