Skills Archives - Page 4 of 28 - North East Local Enterprise Partnership

A young trainee has been offered a permanent role after completing a six-month placement at a North Tyneside community garden.

TJ Ferguson, who is 23 and lives in North Shields, has been appointed as Community Garden Assistant at Meadow Well Connected.

His new role involves gardening, horticulture and landscaping projects in Meadow Well Connected’s 5.5-acre community garden. He also supports adults with additional needs to use the garden and works with pupils from local schools who have additional needs or are disengaged from mainstream education.

“TJ fitted in well with the garden team from the outset. He’s a hard worker and is keen to get involved with work that helps the environment and supports his local community. We created this new role to ensure we could continue to employ TJ beyond the end of his Kickstart placement as he’d made such a valuable contribution to our community garden,” said Mandi Cresswell, Chief Officer, Meadow Well Connected.

“I really enjoyed my placement in the garden at Meadow Well Connected. I’ve been given chances to learn new skills, increase in confidence and work alongside lots of different people. I’m really happy that I’ve been able to continue to work here as every day is different but always fun and rewarding,” said TJ Ferguson, Community Garden Assistant.

Meadow Well Connected is one of 14 voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations in the North East which were awarded funding from the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)’s Local Growth Fund VCSE Capital Grant programme, which aims to help communities across the North East recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funding was used towards the regeneration of the community garden and to help provide training for young people in landscaping, biodiversity and horticulture.

TJ’s training took the form of a six-month Kickstart placement – part of a government scheme to support 16 to 24 year olds into work.

Helen Golightly OBE, Chief Executive of the North East LEP, said: “The aim of this funding is to support VCSE organisations in creating stronger, greener communities and helping to give people the skills they need to reach their full potential.

“TJ starting a new career and becoming part of a valuable hub like Meadow Well Connected is a brilliant example of what local communities and VCSE organisations are achieving across our region.”

Find out about other projects funded by the Local Growth Fund VCSE Capital Grant programme here.

Monday 7 March 2022, 9:30am until 12:45pm

Hybrid online and in-person event

This year’s National Careers Week will be launched in Newcastle upon Tyne, in recognition of pioneering work carried out in North East England to raise the standard of careers guidance for children and young people.

Tickets for the hybrid online and in-person event, which will include a welcome from a senior government official, are available to book now via Eventbrite.

Nick Newman, Founder and CEO of National Careers Week, said: “We are delighted to launch NCW2022 with the North East LEP and partners in the North East – a region that is providing so many great examples of how to impact positively on young people’s lives.”

Michelle Rainbow, Skills Director at the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which is co-hosting the event, said: “We know that the right kind of careers guidance can transform pupils’ outcomes for the better – it not only leads to better attainment in school but it contributes to social mobility, as it broadens horizons and raises aspirations.

“We can’t wait to share what we’ve learnt and celebrate the achievements of young people, educators and learners.”

The event, which is attended by careers leaders, educators and employers, celebrates the power of careers guidance to change lives.

Speakers at this year’s event will share best practice and findings resulting from projects carried out in the North East, including a two-year pilot to embed a careers guidance framework in primary schools, and a project which saw the region become the first place outside the USA to trial a new model of learning, which places employer engagement at the heart of student’s experiences.

There will also be sessions on labour market intelligence, skills, and how schools and colleges can make sure that children and young people are aware of all the possible pathways open to them when they leave education.

The National Careers Week 2022 launch event takes place on Monday 7 March from 9.30am until 12.45pm. Attendees can join via Zoom or in-person at the Crowne Plaza in Newcastle upon Tyne city centre.

More information and tickets are available here.

National Apprenticeship Week takes place from 7^th-13^th February and celebrating this thoughtful and effective means of developing individual skills and knowledge has never been more important.

Apprenticeships play a tremendously important part of our skills pipeline and development. They offer opportunities for young people, our wider communities and those in work. They also help answer any talent issues that businesses may be facing at a given point in time and increase productivity.

The last two years have been tough for everyone, but especially so for those taking their first steps into the world of work, who must have found it really strange. It’s only right to applaud those who have been tenacious enough to stick at it and thank the incredible employers who had faith in the system and kept going despite a myriad of challenges, not least the move to online and remote workforce management.

A real and wonderful cause for celebration this National Apprenticeship Week is the significant increase we’ve seen this year in the number of apprenticeship vacancies that are available.

Kudos to the teachers and lecturers who have promoted this valuable route to skills and employment and who take our apprentices through the programme, and to the employers who give up time and effort to work with those – young and old – learning new skills for the first time.

So many apprentices and their families have recognised the value of apprenticeships and are seeing a positive career impact. The ability for our young people to learn while they earn, develop technical and practical skills and work towards a recognised qualification, with the potential to study at degree apprenticeship levels, should not be under-estimated. We are hopeful that the current momentum and increased success we are seeing will encourage even more to follow suit and sign up.

What’s particularly exciting is the number of new apprentice routes coming through, which really create varied career options. For example, many are coming through for the first time from various employers within the public sector including many of the government departments with which we work, such as DEFRA and the NHS through to the Cabinet Office.

Our emerging sectors, from energy, offshore and health and life sciences, are also rich in apprenticeship opportunities. All of these open the door to more and better jobs and are great for those keen to develop and stay future-ready.

From what we see in schools and colleges, the apprentice route is becoming well established and our work with national stakeholders such as the Education Training Foundation and Amazing Apprenticeships is really helping our drive to achieve parity in technical and academic education. It’s a really positive step that apprenticeships are increasingly seen as a clear, proven and successful career route with parents, carers and young people.

Apprenticeships are embedded into our North East Ambition Programme and our big ask is for even more employers to get involved.

Changes to the system and particularly rules that came about during the COVID period have occasionally made navigating official websites quite complicated, however the team at North East Ambition are always here to answer any issues or questions. Our apprenticeship providers also have teams of experts dedicated to working with employers. If you’re interested, please just ask for help as it’s out there to explain and simplify the process.

Finally, I am struck when I talk to business leaders from around the country and our region about how many of them came through the apprenticeship route. We have some great ambassadors and advocates for apprenticeships and that is something to be proud of.

I hope National Apprenticeship Week 2022 inspires even more people to choose an apprenticeship, and even more organisations to reap the benefit of securing talent in this way. It’s a tried and tested way to help people into employment, to support businesses and to boost our local economy.

Visit www.northeastgrowthhub.co.uk for information and support on apprenticeships for businesses.

By Michelle Rainbow, Skills Director for the North East LEP.

Young people in Northumberland are gaining hands-on training and experience that will set them up for a future career in the North East’s growing ‘green economy’.

So far, more than 50 young people have taken part in training and practical experience at two sites – Pegswood Moor Country Park and Pegswood Community Woods, near Morpeth – as part of the Green Futures programme.

The programme is led by Groundwork North East & Cumbria and is part-funded by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)’s Local Growth Fund VCSE Capital Grant programme, which aims to help communities across the North East recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rebecca Wilson, Community Project Manager, explained: “It can be difficult for young people to get their first job if they don’t have any experience, so we want to support people aged 16 to 24 to get a taster of what it’s like to work in the green economy.”

Of the 50 volunteers, five are completing six-month Kickstart placements, which are part of a new Government scheme to give young people paid experience of the workplace.

Rebecca added: “They’re gaining skills that could help them go into jobs like landscaping or conservation, and our Kickstart trainees are completing a number of formal qualifications, like chainsaw handling, as well as informal training on hedge-laying, tree-planting, using hand tools and many other techniques that we use to enhance the parks and woods for people and for wildlife.”

One of the Kickstart trainees, Ethan Monaghan from Pegswood, said: “Green Futures is a very good opportunity that’s helped me to appreciate the world of work a bit more and it’s really nice to know the work I’m doing is helping the local environment.”

As well as the hands-on experience, the trainees are meeting people from a range of offshore and renewable energy businesses and learning about opportunities and careers in the sector.

Helen Golightly, Chief Executive of the North East LEP said: “Green Futures is giving young people in our region a step up and increasing their confidence when it comes to beginning their careers and at the same time, it’s safeguarding and improving some of the outside spaces which are so valuable to the community.”

People aged 16 to 24 can still apply to volunteer with Green Futures by emailing [email protected].

By Jane Robinson, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Engagement & Place at Newcastle University

The North East is home to some of the best universities in the world, and because of our global reputation we welcome thousands of international and EU students every year.

In the 2018/19 academic year 12,595 international first year students came to study in the North East, and a new report by the Higher Education Policy Institute and Universities UK International has looked in detail at the benefits international higher education students bring to both the UK and regional economy.

The report shows the 2018/19 cohort of international students in the UK delivered a net economic benefit to the country of £25.9 billion. In the North East LEP area, the total net impact on the economy was just under £1bn (£975.9m).

In fact the North East region, including Tees Valley, delivers one of the highest average impacts per parliamentary constituency in the country; an estimated £460 per member of the resident population, second only to London and on par with Scotland. Newcastle upon Tyne East is ranked fourth in the top 20 parliamentary constituencies in terms of the net impact international students have on the economy.

The UK’s exit from the European Union and the coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly created barriers for international students to study in the UK, something that is reflected in EU student recruitment, which is currently lower than in 2020. International student numbers have, however, stayed relatively stable in the 2020/21 academic year.

Whilst the findings in the report are extremely positive for the North East region, it fails to include is some of the other important indirect benefits international students bring to our regional economy, such as tax revenues, investment and trade links, and the soft diplomatic power exerted on an international stage as a result of the networks built up during their stays.

We only need to look at the hugely successful alcoholic tea company NOVELTEA, which was founded by two international Newcastle University students in 2016 to see this in action. Based in Newcastle, the company has expanded into several international markets – including Germany and China – and plans to create further jobs as it eyes expansion into the US. By choosing to remain in the North East to grow their business, NOVELTEA’s co-founders, Vincent Effroth and Lukas Passia, have created new jobs, boosted the North East economy, established positive trade links and raised the profile of our region internationally.

Newcastle University’s START UP programme is also supporting and endorsing ambitious international graduates to remain in the UK to start and grow businesses. Four of the programme’s graduates have been accepted onto the Department for International Trade’s (DIT) prestigious Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP), which connects companies into the global ecosystem and supports them to scale their solution to address global opportunities. The partnership between START UP and GEP allows highly motivated, talented entrepreneurs to thrive in our region and add significant value to both the regional economy and UK PLC.

The Higher Education Policy Institute and Universities UK International report focuses solely on the economic benefits international students bring to academic institutions and destinations, but I think it’s important to remember the North East benefits in a number of other ways too. The wider cultural and societal impacts are just as important to our region.

At Newcastle University alone we have over 150 nationalities represented on campus, and that diversity helps create a more vibrant and creative environment for all our students.

We’re seeing many international students remain in the North East after their studies to take up skilled positions in our emerging sectors, or start new businesses of their own, which go on to employ people and contribute to our local economy.

If we think about the North East’s strengths in data and digital, life sciences and the green economy, as well as our cultural and creative opportunities, the global links we’ve established through our international students can create opportunities for North East businesses to attract talent and investment.

I also firmly believe our UK students enjoy a better learning experience because of the diversity on our campuses. It’s a chance for them to build connections across the world that can open up a world of opportunity.

The report makes for fascinating reading, and further demonstrates the essential role universities in the North East play in delivering a stronger North East economy and a vibrant and diverse place to live, work and study.

To read ‘The costs and benefits of international higher education students to the UK economy’ visit www.hepi.ac.uk.

Matt Joyce, Regional Lead: North East Ambition at the North East LEP, has been involved in piloting a new approach to careers-related learning in primary schools for the last two years. He explains what, for him, have been the most important outcomes of the project.

We’ve just finished evaluating the two-year North East Ambition Career Benchmarks: Primary Pilot which involved 70 primary schools in our region. Schools were supported to embed careers-related learning throughout the curriculum and for children of all ages, from early years through to key stages one and two, using a framework based on the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks, which have already been proven to have positive outcomes in secondary schools and colleges.

The reason we did this is because research has shown that, by the age of four, children start to have ideas about what they might do in their futures. By five and six, children are beginning to narrow their choices based on their gender, and by ten many young people have already made career limiting decisions, which are fixed by age 14.

By giving younger children the opportunity to engage with employers and further and higher education providers, and learn about the range of opportunities open to them, we want to raise their aspirations, broaden their horizons and help them see the link between what they learn in school and the real world.

What impressed me most during the project was how readily the 70 schools embraced this new approach, with massive buy-in from Careers Leaders, senior leaders, other staff and governors. They’ve demonstrated that there’s an appetite for this to happen within primary schools and that staff can see the benefits for pupils.

This has been a hugely positive experience for all the schools involved, with large increases year-on-year for the number of the Benchmarks each school has achieved. And, for me, one really important finding that came out of the evaluation is that a school’s progress within the pilot isn’t linked to their Ofsted rating.

We also saw the careers-related learning is no longer a bolt-on activity for these schools, it’s become embedded throughout the curriculum, like a golden thread running throughout the school. So children in early years, as well as those higher up the school, are benefiting.

Now the pilot has ended we’re working with multi-academy trusts, secondary school clusters and other individual schools to scale up this work and further embed a sustainable and replicable approach to the implementation of the benchmarks.

We’ll carry on expanding this approach in the North East but it would be good to see it being adopted nationally as well. I want the North East to show that this can be done and that it’s worth doing.

We’re now opening up the programme to any primary school in the North East LEP area that wants to take part, so get in touch to find out more. It’s not about making a colossal shift in the way your school is run, it’s more subtle than that – for example, thinking about how children can see the curriculum through a careers-related lens. This can enable pupils to understand how their learning links to the real world and develop the skills required, as well as allow us to tackle important issues such as gender stereotyping.

Ultimately, this is about inspiring children and making a positive difference to their futures. It can be done, and it’s worth doing, so I hope more primary schools take this chance to work with us to adopt, implement and achieve the Good Career Guidance Primary Benchmarks.

Read the North East Ambition Career Benchmarks: Primary Pilot evaluation report. To get involved in the project, email [email protected].

A pilot project to test a new approach to careers guidance in North East primary schools is being extended, after it was shown to have improved children’s understanding of the range of future possibilities open to them, and enhanced teachers’ careers-related knowledge and skills.

The North East Ambition Career Benchmarks: Primary Pilot took place over two years and involved 70 primary schools in the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area. It will now be made available to all primary schools in the area.

Matt Joyce, Regional Lead: North East Ambition at the North East LEP, explained: “Evidence shows that children begin to form ideas about their futures when they’re as young as five or six. By the age of 10, many young people have already made career-limiting decisions, which are fixed by the time they’re 14.

“We wanted to help primary schools to embed a new approach to careers guidance for younger children which has been shown to broaden young people’s horizons, help them to see the link between what they learn in the classroom and their future careers, and improve their outcomes.”

An independent evaluation found that primary school Careers Leaders who took part in the pilot project reported significant improvements in their own knowledge, skills and understanding as well as their pupils:

87% of Careers Leaders now rate their ability to design and deliver career-related learning across all year groups as good or very good (compared with 12% at the start of the project)
83% of Careers Leaders now rate their ability to monitor and demonstrate the impact of careers-related learning activities as good or very good (up from 6% at the start of the project)
93% of Careers Leaders say pupils believe they can achieve their career goals if they work hard (compared with 63% at the start of the project)
87% of Careers Leaders believe pupils understand the link between skills they develop in school and their future career options (compared with 34% at the start of the project)

The two-year pilot project, which was delivered by the North East LEP with support from independent charity EY Foundation, supported 70 primary schools to adapt the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks for primary-aged pupils and embed them throughout the school. The benchmarks place employer engagement at the heart of careers education and require that careers guidance is linked to the curriculum and is tailored to meet the needs of all pupils.

Jodie McNally, EY Foundation Head of Programmes and Regions said: “I’m delighted to see the positive impact that bringing careers aspiration and inspiration to a younger age can have. Having demonstrated the potential of this concept, it should be replicated across the country to bring together employers and the labour force of the future at a much earlier age.”

Donna Scott, Careers Leader, Barnes Junior School, said: “It has been an extremely worthwhile pilot to be part of and the Benchmarks will continue to enhance the provision in school. Our children are interested in the connection between what they are learning and real life, and it make sense to link today’s learning to future aspirations – to help nurture and develop our pupils’ confidence to chase their dreams.”

Following the success of the pilot, the North East LEP will now scale up this work and further embed a sustainable and replicable approach to the implementation of the Good Career Guidance Primary Benchmarks across the region and beyond. Read more about the results of the pilot project at www.northeastambition.co.uk and read the evaluation report here.

As the House of Lords Youth Unemployment Committee publishes its Skills for every young person report, Ellen Thinnesen, Chair of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership’s Skills Advisory Panel comments on the recommendations.

The North East Skills Advisory Panel and the North East LEP’s Skills Director, Michelle Rainbow, have been involved in putting forward evidence and recommendations for this report and we’re pleased to see today that our recommendations have been included.

We particularly welcome that the report recognises careers education, information, advice and guidance as a critical component of young people’s education and that it should be introduced at primary school level, using the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks as a framework. Here in the North East, we’ve recently completed a successful two-year pilot project to translate and test an adapted set of benchmarks as a framework for primary schools. The results, which will be published next week, show a significant, positive impact on both pupils and teachers and we’re now scaling up the programme in the North East LEP area beyond the initial 70 primary schools involved.

We also welcome the recognition that effective engagement between businesses and education providers supports young people’s progression into the workplace. This is a key focus of the North East LEP’s North East Ambition programme and our work with schools, colleges and employers throughout our region, whilst acknowledging every area is different and requires specific intervention.

The recognition of the importance of engaging school governors in supporting schools to embed careers guidance throughout the curriculum also reflects our own experience, and we were the first LEP in the country to sign the School Governor Champion Charter.

A particular strength of the North East LEP is that we’re well placed to help create strong partnerships between the education and business communities. This has helped us to focus on skills development for young people that reflects the skills priorities of industry, making sure that schools and colleges are setting young people up for a successful future. To implement this in the North East, we’ve supported employers to co-design and deliver the T-Level curriculum and we’ve commissioned research into skills gaps in industry so we can ensure young people are being equipped with the skills they’ll need in their future careers.

The recommendation of a Career Guidance Guarantee to ensure that every disadvantaged young person has access to tailored, one-to-one careers guidance is also welcome and reflects what we learnt through our two-year Opportunity North East pilot, which has highlighted the impact of more intensive career guidance and the importance of robust data to inform careers guidance and education.

And finally, recommendations from our apprenticeship group around policy changes and the removal of barriers, which we hope will enable more employers and young people to benefit from on-the-job training, also feature in today’s report that you can read here.

Find out more about the work of the North East LEP on this agenda here.

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership and Durham University Business School have published a new report looking at how COVID-19, and the introduction of widespread flexible working, has contributed to the Good Work Agenda in the North East.

Researched and written during the coronavirus pandemic, it provides a unique insight into how changing working patterns accelerated employers’ ability to ensure better working practices for their employees, providing better quality and more meaningful work.

The new research supports existing Good Work pledges, charters and toolkits published by organisations including the North of Tyne Combined Authority, Northern Trades Union Congress, and North East England Chamber of Commerce.

Drawing on more than 20 qualitative interviews carried out between January and April 2021, the report includes a set of recommendations to support other businesses in the North East to implement and carry out better working practices for their employees.

Michelle Rainbow, Skills Director at the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “The unique thing about this research is that it was developed in real time during the pandemic, which was a period of huge change for businesses.

“Almost all organisations were compelled to introduce some form of flexible working, which introduced its own set of challenges for employers and employees. How do you provide a supportive and rewarding working environment when your staff are instructed to work from home by government?”

“What we’ve found is that lots of businesses in the North East have been installing the principles of Good Work as a result of the pandemic. The introduction of remote and hybrid working has helped employers focus on important employee issues, such as work/life balance, flexible working, health and wellbeing, and communication.”

Organisations including AkzoNobel, Citizen’s Advice Bureau, Irwin Mitchell LLP and Quorum Business Park took part in the research. Employers discussed how the experience of adapting during the pandemic has introduced better working practices for employees, particularly around areas like flexible working, encouraging a healthy work/life balance, and what the future of work will look like post-pandemic.

Contributors described good work as being more than just having a good job; it was about delivering justice, fairness, transparency, opportunity, balance, enjoyment, and support.

A spokesperson from law firm Irwin Mitchell said: “Although we were quite flexible before COVID-19, we have been really flexible during it, and I think it will be about maintaining that and looking at different ways to support people within the various things that they go through in life.”

A spokesperson from AkzoNobel said: “Obviously when you introduce a policy like flexible working, people immediately think it is just for mothers who have children, to allow them to do drop offs. We very much promoted it in that it is not, if you have got a hobby on a Friday afternoon that you want to go and do, we want to encourage you to go and do it.”

The Good Work Agenda and flexible working report was conducted and written by Dr. Cat Spellman, Prof. Jo McBride from Durham University Business School, and Dr. Andrew Smith from Sheffield University Management School, in collaboration with the North East Local Enterprise Partnership. It was funded by a Durham ESRC IAA grant awarded by national research body, UK Research and Innovation.

Professor Jo McBride, Chair in Work and Employment Relations at Durham University Business School, said: “COVID-19 restrictions forced a rapid extension of a more flexible way of working. For many organisations this contributed to a reflection and reassessment of the future of work in their workplaces. It also led to the realisation for some of the significant value of a workforce.

“At a time when organisations are faced with an opportunity to proactively change the way they work and improve their employment relationship, this is also a perfect opportunity to link into and develop the Good Work Agenda.”

Michelle Rainbow from the North East Local Enterprise Partnership added: “I think the timing of the publication of this research is important because many organisations are considering what the future looks like in terms of how and where their employees work.

“The insight we have gathered will, I hope, give businesses confidence in knowing they’re not alone in tackling these issues. The conclusions and recommendations in the report are focused on centering policies around employees’ needs, welfare and wellbeing; and that is at the core of the Good Work Agenda.”

The impact of COVID-19 on the Good Work Agenda and flexible working is available to read on the North East Local Enterprise Partnership’s Evidence Hub via evidencehub.northeastlep.co.uk.

For more information about the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, visit www.northeastlep.co.uk.

For more information about Durham University Business School, visit www.dur.ac.uk/business.

Category: Skills

Traineeship leads to permanent role at North Tyneside community garden

Tickets now available for National Careers Week 2022 launch event

Celebrating apprenticeships and their many benefits

Young people in Northumberland gaining skills for a green future

How international students help create a more prosperous North East economy

Evaluating the impact of careers-related learning in North East primary schools

Project to improve careers guidance in North East primary schools extended after positive impact on pupils

North East work on skills development recognised in House of Lords youth unemployment report

New report shows impact of COVID-19 on Good Work Agenda in the North East