Blackpool Opportunity Area. Cornerstone Employer Commitments

Transcription

1 Blackpool Opportunity Area Cornerstone Employer Commitments

2 Introduction 2 Opportunity Areas are an important part of the Government s plan for improving social mobility through education 1. A geographical spread of 12 coastal, rural, and urban areas were identified with the aim of testing what works in a range of different communities and spreading best practice to other areas of the country. As part of the Government s Opportunity Area programme, The Careers & Enterprise Company has committed to work in partnership with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), Local Authorities, careers providers, employers and educational establishments to ensure that each of the 170,000 young people at secondary school or college in these Opportunity Areas has four or more encounters with the world of work. An employer encounter is an opportunity to learn from employers about work, employment, and the skills that are valued in the workplace. This can be through a range of enrichment activities including visiting speakers, mentoring and enterprise schemes. Research carried out by the Education and Employers Taskforce² shows that receiving four or more encounters with the world of work dramatically improves the employment prospects of young people. In the last year The Careers & Enterprise Company has targeted resources and support to all 12 Opportunity Areas. We have: - established a community of 60 Cornerstone Employers - local and national employers who work together to support young people in their area; - provided the dedicated resource of an Enterprise Coordinator in secondary schools and colleges in every Opportunity Area, and access to an Enterprise Adviser partnered with every secondary school and college; and - delivered a 1 million fund of support to the initial six Opportunity Areas via our Careers & Enterprise Fund 2016 to scale up existing, effective careers programmes. In Year 1 across the 221 secondary schools and colleges in the 12 Opportunity Areas: - 70% of schools and colleges have been successfully matched to an Enterprise Adviser. - 90% have completed the Compass self-assessment tool. 3 - Over 300,000 employer encounters have been delivered. - Over 150,000 employer encounters have been directly funded through our 1 million Investment Fund available in the first wave of six Opportunity Areas combined, reaching over 40,000 of 60,000 young people in those six areas. 1 All 12 areas featured in the lowest performing areas (excluding City of London and Isle of Scilly due to size) in both the 2016 Social Mobility Commission s Index ( and the Department for Education s own analysis of school performance and capacity to improve published in the Achieving Excellence Areas (AEA) methodology paper ( government/publications/defining-achieving-excellence-areas-methodology). 2 Percy, C. and Mann, A School-mediated employer engagement and labour market outcomes for young adults Wage premia, NEET outcomes and career confidence. In Mann, A., Stanley, J. and Archer, L. (Eds.). Understanding Employer Engagement in Education. London & New York: Routledge, pp Compass is a free tool for schools and colleges in England, that evaluates careers activity against the eight benchmarks of best practice, known as the Gatsby Benchmarks. The tool was built in partnership with the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, to help schools and colleges easily discover their strengths and find areas for improvement.

3 The role of business 3 The collective target is to deliver 46,123 meaningful encounters in Blackpool by Many employers are stepping forward to deliver programmes of activity supporting young people and improving social mobility. The ways they are doing so include: 1. Local employers delivering encounters to young people in secondary schools and colleges. These include The Careers & Enterprise Company funded activities in each Opportunity Area to boost existing activities (outlined in Appendix 1). 2. Senior business volunteers acting as Enterprise Advisers to support and advise the leadership team of the secondary school or college to shape and implement their careers plans. The Enterprise Advisers in Blackpool are from the following businesses: Santander, RBS, Crown Commercial Service, Hays Recruitment, KR Group Ltd, Blackpool Transport, The Winter Gardens, DWP Digital Group, Springfields, and four Enterprise Advisers are self-employed. 3. A small number of local businesses have signed up to become a Cornerstone Employer to drive forward a local strategy of support and engagement, building on the existing activities in the area and ensuring the local need from secondary schools and colleges is met by the business community. Blackpool Opportunity Area s Enterprise Coordinator is focused on coordinating the above activities to ensure every secondary school, college and young person is reached. What is a Cornerstone Employer? A Cornerstone Employer is a business that is invested in the successful and sustainable delivery of careers education for young people and commits to join a leadership group of local businesses to support the schools, colleges and young people in their area. The Cornerstone Employers work together with their networks and the wider business community to ensure all young people have the opportunities they need to be prepared and inspired for the world of work. Cornerstone Employers may be large or small businesses, at local or national level, but it is important that they are: 1. experienced in engaging with education and so can lead by example and share their experience with other businesses; 2. dedicated to investing time and resource to benefit schools, colleges and young people; 3. committed to working with other Cornerstone Employers in an Opportunity Area or Careers Hub; 4. willing to galvanise their business networks in the area, to collaboratively meet the needs of schools, colleges and young people; and 5. focused on sustainability and act as an ambassador and champion for social mobility.

4 Blackpool Opportunity Area s priorities 4 In setting its priorities, the Partnership Board has focused on areas where the Opportunity Area s time and resources can achieve the best combination of short-term impact and sustainability, balancing action to support the majority of young people and help for those facing the most severe challenges. The Blackpool Partnership Board has identified the following priorities based on the needs of its schools and young people: Raise attainment and progress in Blackpool s schools. Support for vulnerable children and families to improve attendance and outcomes, and to reduce exclusions from school. Improve advice and support for young people when moving between schools and colleges and into work. Specific targets, to be met by 2020/21 include: The proportion of young people who are in education, employment or training six months after leaving secondary school will place Blackpool in the top half of the country. Key figures of Blackpool 13 No. of secondary No. of secondary schools schools & colleges & colleges 9,362 No. of pupils 46,123 Encounters target 4 over 3 years The proportion of disadvantaged pupils undertaking a Higher and Degree Apprenticeship or going to university will put Blackpool in the top half of the country. Young people in Blackpool aged eleven to eighteen will have had over 46,000 meaningful encounters with employers. 540 young people will have participated in the National Citizen Service. 4 An employer encounter, in the terminology of Gatsby Benchmarks, is an opportunity to learn from employers about work, employment, and the skills that are valued in the workplace. This can be through a range of enrichment activities including visiting speakers, mentoring and enterprise schemes.

5 The Cornerstone Employers in Blackpool will focus on: Cornerstone Employers in Blackpool 5 1. Connecting schools and colleges to employers. 2. Delivering employer encounters and ensuring that they reach all year groups and raise awareness of career opportunities in key local sectors (Energy and Environmental Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering, Construction, Visitor Economy, Financial and Professional Services, Creative and Digital and Health and Social Care). 3. Providing support and resources for teachers. 4. Galvanizing business support through customer/client networks to support the delivery of their commitments. 5. Celebrating success and promoting Blackpool Opportunity Area and Cornerstone work. Westinghouse Westinghouse is a world leader in the global nuclear marketplace and is proud to be at the forefront of the UK nuclear industry - employing 11,000 people globally. Westinghouse operates the Springfields nuclear licenced site, where 1000 employees are currently employed on the 83-hectare site near Preston, Lancashire. Up to 22% of all the UK s electricity supply comes from nuclear fuel manufactured at Springfields, contributing over 100 million annually to the UK economy. Blackpool Transport Blackpool Transport have been providing friendly and reliable transport along the Fylde Coast for over 100 years. They operate a network of high frequency buses and trams across the area with 140 buses, 18 modern light rail trams and a fleet of Heritage trams. Civil Service NW Civil Service Local NW work to bring together departments and agencies (40+) from across the Civil Service in the North West to work locally to deliver actions and opportunities. A small team themselves, they have access to thousands of employers across the Civil Service and have been mobilising them to support young people in Blackpool. (50k+ in the regions and approx. 17k on the Fylde Coast). Lloyds Lloyds Banking Group is a business that has been on our high streets for more than 250 years and today has more than 27 million customers. At the heart of the company s digital transformation and desire to keep pace with changing customer demands is its Helping Britain Prosper Plan, which focuses on the areas in which it believes it can make the biggest difference. This includes 22 specific targets designed to tackle some of the social and economic issues that matter most to Britain, and its people, businesses and communities. com/banking-with-us/in-your-community. asp.

6 Lancashire Careers Hub 6 Cornerstone Employers in Blackpool Opportunity Area will be able to coordinate with and be supported by the activity of the newly launched Lancashire Careers Hubs. Careers Hubs are a central part of the Government s Careers Strategy, based on a model successfully piloted in the North East. As part of the strategic partnership with The Careers & Enterprise Company, the Lancashire LEP will establish the Careers Hub linking 40 secondary schools, special schools and colleges with employers, support organisations and higher and further education providers to improve the guidance and support offered to students. In addition, it will continue to maintain the Enterprise Adviser Network. The Lancashire Hub will help schools and colleges meet all eight of the Gatsby Benchmarks of excellent careers education including the two benchmarks that are the main focus of Opportunity Areas: Benchmark 5 on employer encounters and Benchmark 6 on experiences of the workplace. The Hub Lead will work closely with the Opportunity Area Enterprise Coordinator to engage employers including and beyond the existing Blackpool Cornerstone Employers in order that a variety of opportunities can be offered to young people across the county.

7 In Partnership with Business in the Community 7 The Careers & Enterprise Company has a strategic partnership in Blackpool with The Flyde Coast Responsible Business Network, created by the local Pride of Place partnership. The network has been established to support local business, to support their local community and in particularly the young people within it. By aligning the aims and objectives of both the network and the Cornerstone Employers, we will enable effective and wide-reaching engagement with local employers. Graham Cowley Chair, Blackpool Opportunity Area - Director, Lancashire LEP At the Blackpool Opportunity Area Board, we are working together with local and national stakeholders to ensure that no child in Blackpool is left behind, and that a young person s talent and drive is what determines their future success not their background or postcode. The connection between businesses, local employers and young people is critical to making that happen. We re grateful to the Cornerstone Employers for committing to use their resources and local networks to ensure that the local business community is effectively mobilised to support the needs of local schools and colleges.

8 Cornerstone Employer Commitments 8 The Cornerstone Employers will coordinate their efforts and engage further employers with the aim of offering a range of targeted, quality activities throughout the academic year , in accordance with the needs of the secondary schools, colleges and young people in Blackpool Opportunity Area. These commitments, and progress against them, will be reviewed at least quarterly and updated as appropriate. Examples include: 1 Connect secondary schools and colleges to employers Who Category Commitment Enterprise Adviser One Cornerstone Employer representative to attend Enterprise Adviser Network meetings (termly) to provide an update and a link to the Enterprise Adviser business community. Civil Service North West Cornerstone Employers to identify ways to promote the Enterprise Adviser role throughout their employee and wider networks. The Careers & Enterprise Company team/enterprise Coordinator to support as required. Each to provide two Enterprise Advisers and ensure a succession plan is in place. Review client/supply chain networks and suggest two local businesses each that could be a suitable Cornerstone Employer. Identify channels to promote Enterprise Adviser role throughout networks.

9 9 2 Deliver employer encounters, ensuring that we reach all year groups, and raise awareness of career opportunities in key local sectors including Energy and Environmental Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering, Construction, Visitor Economy and Health and Social Care Who Category Commitment Lloyds Banking Group Employer encounters Mock interviews/ CV workshops (transition skills) Support the ambition of The Careers & Enterprise Company to have all employers engage with at least one young person for every seven employees in your local office. Support the ambition of The Careers & Enterprise Company to have all employers offering a minimum of one workplace experience (inspiration day or work experience placement) for every 25 employees in your local office. Deliver tailored programme of employability activities. Workplace visits Consider employers in their networks that could support the delivery of these encounters, as well as whether they can support the delivery themselves: Workplace visits, particularly to employers in the following sectors for all year groups: construction; health and social care; visitor economy; automotive; creative and digital; legal services; public services; STEM (energy and environmental technologies, advanced manufacturing and engineering); retail with a focus on hands-on activities; horticulture with a focus on hand-on activities. Workplace visits taster sessions Consider employers in their networks that could support the delivery of these encounters, as well as whether they can support the delivery themselves, to take place in specific schools and colleges identified by the Enterprise Coordinator: Taster sessions to provide insight into types of jobs available and skills required, for Years Work experience** (1-2-week blocks) or (regular/weekly commitment) Consider employers in their networks that could support the delivery of these encounters, as well as whether they can support the delivery themselves, to take place in specific schools and colleges identified by the Enterprise Coordinator. Work experience placements with employers in the following sectors: automotive; creative and digital; health and social care (including nurseries); legal services; public services; visitor economy; construction; STEM (energy and environmental technologies, advanced manufacturing and engineering).

10 10 2 Deliver employer encounters, ensuring that we reach all year groups, and raise awareness of career opportunities in key local sectors including Energy and Environmental Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering, Construction, Visitor Economy and Health and Social Care Who Category Commitment Members of Fylde Coast Responsible Business Network Members of Fylde Coast Responsible Business Network Members of Fylde Coast Responsible Business Network Members of Fylde Coast Responsible Business Network Members of Fylde Coast Responsible Business Network Blackpool Transport Employability skills Employer involvement in curriculum with a focus on STEM Employer mentoring Employer talks Enabling employer encounters Provide employer-led sessions raising awareness of and supporting the development of employability skills with a focus on personal attributes, for Year 7 - Year 9 in specific schools and colleges identified by the Enterprise Coordinator. Provide STEM employer-led activities for Year 7 through to Year 13 in specific schools and colleges identified by the Enterprise Coordinator. Provide targeted mentoring for individual pupils in each year group in specific schools and colleges identified by the Enterprise Coordinator. Deliver talks on careers in creative and digital, construction, health and social care, STEM (energy and environmental technologies, advanced manufacturing and engineering) and visitor economy sectors, for specific schools/colleges targeted by the Enterprise Coordinator. Provide interactive sessions and talks on career opportunities in the following sectors for Year 11 and Year 12 students in a specific college identified by the Enterprise Coordinator: creative and digital; construction; health and social care; STEM (energy and environmental technologies, advanced manufacturing and engineering). Explore potential for Blackpool Transport to provide in kind support for young people in order to overcome financial barriers to attending work experience/workplace visits.

11 3 Identify ways to work with schools in providing young people with support on resilience and wellbeing 11 Who Category Commitment Alumni activity Identify young ambassadors such as apprentices (including use of the Lancashire LEP Apprenticeship Ambassadors) or mentees with the potential to talk in educational establishments to share their experiences with pupils, with a focus on confidence and resilience skills. 4 Provide support and resources for teachers Who Category Commitment Teacher CPD Share best practice with Cornerstone group on how you currently support and provide resources to teachers. Blackpool Transport Sharing best practice Host teachers at site/office visits with or coordinated by Careers Leaders. Offer placement days to teachers, and consider a whole school approach with placement days for both teachers and pupils simultaneously. Consider use of Lancashire LEP resources on local market information/growth sectors. Ensure Enterprise Advisers are aware of the resource and raise awareness amongst teachers. Share work with a specific educational establishment identified by the Enterprise Coordinator, on relating work experiences to the curriculum.

12 5 Galvanise business support through customer/client networks to support the delivery of the Cornerstone commitments 12 Who Category Commitment Employer engagement Send communications to customer and supply chain networks to explain your role as a Cornerstone Employer and ask them to offer their support to deliver activities, as required, by contacting the Enterprise Coordinator. For the schools where you have staff acting as an Enterprise Adviser, advertise requests from these schools to your networks. Support engagement with BITC Responsible Business Network by aligning relevant priorities, supporting engagement activity and sharing best practice. Review your client/supply chain networks and suggest two local businesses each that could be a suitable Cornerstone Employer. Cornerstone Employers to hold a wider employer business breakfast as a collective, frequency to be determined, to ensure the ask of the local business community is in line with the needs of the schools and colleges and addresses Opportunity Area priorities. Cornerstone Employers to host and invite their networks to attend.

13 6 Celebrate success and promote Opportunity Area and Cornerstone work Who Category Commitment 13 Blackpool Transport Employer engagement Share a min. of one case study per term which showcases your work with schools, together with your hints/tips for other businesses to follow your example. One Cornerstone Employer representative to attend BITC Responsible Business Network Steering meetings to provide an update and link between groups on local priorities and activities. These should include alignment to Local Enterprise Partnership growth aims and support known expansions, investments and infrastructure projects, providing wider employer engagement and identification of further encounters and employment opportunities for young people Work with Enterprise Coordinator on a potential workshop with The Careers & Enterprise Company funded programme providers, National Citizen Service, National Collaborative Outreach Programme (NCOP) and any other local programme providers as relevant, to understand their programmes and any volunteer or support requirements to identify opportunities to collaborate or spread the call for volunteers through your networks. Blackpool Transport to provide a case study on outcomes for pupil resulting from involvement in mentoring programme and consider as youth ambassador. * The ambition of The Careers & Enterprise Company is that all Cornerstone Employers work together to achieve the Cornerstone commitments laid out in this plan. In order to achieve a specific commitment, the contribution of individual employers is likely to vary, for instance some employers may take a lead whilst others support. This reflects the diversity of Cornerstone Employers in terms of industry, size and resourcing. Specific commitments are discussed, and activities set at quarterly roundtable meetings. ** Work experience needs are linked to Blackpool Council s Project Search

14 Appendix 1 14 Programmes and activities funded by The Careers & Enterprise Company and selected by schools and colleges in the Blackpool Opportunity Area Grant Recipient EBP NW Future First EDT UR Potential Volunteer It Yourself Young Enterprise Programme details Be Inspired programme providing work experience preparation and placement; mock interviews; world of work/careers event. Future First aim to see every state school and college supported by a thriving alumni community which improves students motivation, confidence and employment prospects. Participants enhance their STEM technical, personal and employability skills through industry-led projects and specialised taster courses. Package includes STEM Day; STEM Family Challenge; STEM team project introducing STEM employability skills - GO4SET. Peer mentoring and volunteering programme to support young people to develop new skills and opportunities, enabling them to reach their potential through volunteering, community projects and training opportunities. Volunteer It Yourself (VIY) challenges young people to learn vocational trade and building skills whilst volunteering to help transform youth clubs and community centres in need of repair or improvement. Young people are supported in developing both practical/vocational skills and broader/softer employability skills through their VIY experience. Young Enterprise helps young people develop key employability skills, financial capability and entrepreneurship. The Young Enterprise offer consists of four activities - Learn to Earn; Employability Masterclass; Tenner Challenge Plus; The Company/ Team Programme. For further details about provider programmes, please visit The Careers & Enterprise Company s Provider Directory: For further information please contact: The Careers & Enterprise Company 2-7 Clerkenwell Green London, EC1R 0DE +44 (0)

15 16 The Careers & Enterprise Company 2-7 Clerkenwell Green Clerkenwell London EC1R 0DE