A skills conference addressing the issue of young people’s employability skills in North Derbyshire has prompted businesses to volunteer to work with schools.
Organised by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), vocational training agency Placing Futures Ltd and business organisation Destination Chesterfield, the October event at Ringwood Hall, near Chesterfield, was held to help strengthen links between schools and employers in the area, to help young people better realise their career potential.
The conference followed the launch of the D2N2 Employability Framework, at the LEP’s 2015 Annual Conference (pictured above); which is now being delivered (with £300,000 in support) through the Government-backed Careers & Enterprise Company Enterprise Adviser Network.
This Network will aim to recruit 80 volunteer Enterprise Advisers – business people or companies who will each work with a D2N2 area school – to help schools better prepare their pupils for the world of work, using the Adviser’s business contacts and knowledge.
The joint conference, held in October, attracted 75 attendees; including representatives of 13 schools, education providers and employers brought together by Placing Futures Ltd Director Gail Widerman, who is helping deliver D2N2’s Employability Framework.
The event has so far resulted in enquiries from eight businesses so far, interested in volunteering as an Enterprise Adviser to work with individual schools.
Ian Greenaway, Employability Champion for D2N2’s Skills and Employment Commission – who spoke at the Chesterfield conference – said: “The Enterprise Adviser Network is part of our overall strategy to reduce the mismatch between the employability skills our young people leave school with, or receive through post-16 training programmes, and what regional employers need to plug the skills gaps in their workforces.
“Schools and businesses working more closely together will be better for young people, increasing their chances of getting a job, and make it easier for companies to find the skilled employees they need to grow.”
For more information about the D2N2 LEP’s Employability Framework go to www.d2n2lep.org/Skills/Employability-Framework
To learn more about the work of vocational learning consultancy Placing Futures see its website at www.placingfutures.co.uk and for more on business organisation Destination Chesterfield, which works to promote the economy of the Chesterfield area, see its website at www.chesterfield.co.uk/destination-chesterfield
For more on the skills and training development work being done by the D2N2 LEP in its area see web link www.d2n2lep.org/skills
