Category Archives: Education

Education, Export

Welsh businesses urged to take share of £1m export funding boost

The Institute of Export & International Trade (IOE&IT) has announced that it has made over £1 million in funding available to help British businesses to export.

The IOE&IT launched the International Trade Accelerator Voucher scheme which can help Welsh businesses large and small through access to their world class training, consultancy, and educational services. Each voucher issued is worth £1100 and can be redeemed against the wide range of services that the IOE&IT offers.

Marco Forgione, director general of the IOE&IT hailed the new voucher scheme as a “landmark moment” for businesses who look to trade internationally.

Logistics and transportation of Container Cargo ship and Cargo plane with working crane bridge in shipyard at sunrise, logistic import export and transport industry background

The International Trade Accelerator Voucher scheme is available to all UK based businesses regardless of their membership of the IOE&IT. The purpose of the scheme is to accelerate understanding, efficiency, and risk reduction in international trade.

Forgione said: “We have committed over £1 million to the International Trade Accelerator Voucher scheme to equip businesses with the expertise and skills they need to trade internationally. We believe in a vision of a global Britain that exports to the world and we back the Government’s ambitious plans to reach £1 trillion worth of exports by 2030. We want businesses to be able to take advantage of all the trade deals the UK is negotiating around the world.”

“However, we have seen a decline in the number of companies exporting in the past 12 months as highlighted by the latest edition of our UK Export Monitor, that’s why the launch of this scheme is so important right now.”

He continued: “The IOE&IT is a charitable organisation established over 85 years ago and our objective remains the same to this day, to support UK businesses in growing their trade in international markets. We believe the International Trade Accelerator Voucher scheme will be the catalyst to kickstart this growth. We have the knowledge and expertise at the IOE&IT to ensure British businesses are equipped with the skills to trade confidently and compliantly with the rest of the world.”

Applications for a voucher can be completed online at the IOE&IT website here. Upon acceptance applicants will have their voucher details emailed to them within 24 hours. The voucher can be used immediately and will be valid for 365 days to be used against any of the world class training, consultancy or education services that the IOE&IT offer.

 

Education, Wales News

Staff to own majority share of Caerphilly company

The staff of Caerphilly based company Educ8 Training Group have become majority shareholders of the business.

 

The company has announced the successful completion of an Employee Ownership Trust scheme. Its staff are now majority shareholders and collectively own 51 percent of the business.

 

The scheme will create a more employee-centric structure to empower staff and benefit the company as a whole. Educ8 has a reputation for putting employees and the community at the heart of the business and is renowned for its strong values approach.

 

Colin Tucker, Chairman of Educ8 Training said, “Since setting up the business it has always been important to have community at the heart of Educ8. Setting up this trust in favour of our employees means we can truly say Educ8 is embedded into our local communities. It will create true value and wealth for those that have contributed to its success.

 

“Our board of directors, trust representatives and all employees can continue to drive the business to even greater heights and maximise the opportunities this will bring. Employee Owned Trusts form part of the Welsh Government programme and are a key driver for wealth creation in communities.”

 

Founded in 2004 to address skills shortages in Wales, Educ8 now employs over 200 staff. In an exceptional period of growth, the company recently expanded into England with a fourth acquisition. Educ8 was named the No.1 Best Mid-Sized Company to work for in the UK in the 2021 Best Companies survey and has a proven track record in employee engagement.

 

Grant Santos, CEO of Educ8 Training said, “We strive to provide a great working environment and an enriching learning experience for our learners and partners. We champion world class employee engagement and are proud to recognise our staff in a meaningful and significant way.

 

“People are at the heart of what we do. As a company based on strong moral principles and values, this decision is a natural transition. It is our staff, the Educ8 family that has created such a great environment to work in. It is now time for all those involved to share in that success. We will drive the business to even greater heights and maximise the opportunity that the creation of the EOT brings to all involved.”

 

The transition to an EOT scheme has been funded by BOOST&Co.

 

Chris Mears, Principal, BOOST&Co said: “We were hugely impressed by the quality of the Educ8 team and the opportunity to accelerate growth in response to the critical need for high quality apprenticeships and training to address the skills gap in Wales.

 

“We are delighted to support this transaction and look forward to seeing the Group reap the benefits of employee ownership.”

 

The announcement of the scheme comes as the Welsh Government have pledged £366m to deliver 125,000 all-age apprenticeships across Wales in the next three years.

 

This major investment follows £152m of funding from the Welsh Government last year, including employer incentives to recruit through apprenticeships to help businesses’ recover from the pandemic.

 

With ongoing support from the Welsh Government, Educ8 will continue delivering quality apprenticeships and training in the workplace to ensure employers, learners, and staff reach their full potential.

 

Dealmaking experts GS Verde Group advised throughout the transaction.

 

For more information, visit www.educ8training.co.uk

Education, News

Students prefer online learning to avoid socialising, despite careers concerns

A new independent survey among more than 1,000 UK adults who have completed academic or professional courses during the pandemic has found:

·         45% said they prefer online learning because they do not have to socialise

·         62% added that online learning is much more convenient than in-person learning

·         However, 39% believe their longer-term career prospects will be worse because they received some or all of their education digitally

·         The majority (56%) crave more innovative and engaging technologies

 

Learners are favouring online tuition because they do not have to interact with their peers, despite the challenges that come along with remote learning models, new research from Soffos.ai has revealed.

The global producer of AI-powered EdTech solutions commissioned an independent survey among 1,086 UK adults, all of whom had undertaken educational or professional courses since March 2020. It found that just under half (45%) of those surveyed prefer online learning because they do not have to socialise with other people face-to-face.

The majority (62%) said online learning is much more convenient for them than in-person learning. This figure rose to 76% among the PhD students surveyed, while 67% of those studying towards professional qualifications also expressed that online courses were a better fit for their lives.

However, Soffos’ research also uncovered serious concerns. Almost half (47%) of learners said the quality of education they received diminished after the onset of the pandemic, as a direct result of the shift to online learning. A further 39% voiced fears that their longer-term career prospects will be damaged due to receiving some or all their education online.

When asked about the specific challenges associated with online learning, 54% said that skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving are harder to develop in remote settings. Similar numbers (53%) stated that online discussions and debates are less effective than ones held in person, with 51% saying they feel less creative when learning online, as the format is typically more structured.

Looking ahead, the majority (56%) of learners believe their institution should work on developing more innovative and engaging technologies to improve their learning.

Nikolas Kairinos, CEO and founder of Soffos.ai, said: “Online learning has become an introvert’s haven throughout the pandemic, and this is a truth we can all empathise with, to some extent or another. After all, learning from the safety of our own homes at a time of global crisis has provided students with flexibility and vital education continuity – not to mention some much-needed peace of mind. That said, the merits of peer-to-peer learning and in-person instruction should not be understated, nor should educators overlook the challenges students face when learning remotely.

“Education means more than just reading books or ticking off assessments. These are important, but learners must also have access to a range of opportunities that allow them to flex their creative muscle, engage with fellow students in spirited debate, and, more generally, prepare themselves for the world beyond academia. 

“Institutions should therefore prioritise the development of advanced digital solutions that take these more complex needs into account. Only then will we be able to keep up the impetus for online learning, so that students can reap the benefits in life after Covid-19.”

Education, Health & Safety, News

Memorial project launched to mark asbestos awareness week

Work has begun to create a lasting memorial to the hundreds of UK teachers who have died as a result of exposure to asbestos.

To mark Global Asbestos Awareness Week, which is running from April 1 to April 7, Northampton-based asbestos consultancy Acorn Analytical Services has launched the memorial project to highlight the issue of asbestos in our schools and the danger it poses to staff and children.

Surveys have revealed that more than 80 per cent of UK schools still contain asbestos and according to the National Education Union more than 200 teachers have died from the asbestos-related disease mesothelioma in the past 20 years.

Acorn director Neil Munro said: “People are always shocked to learn that teachers and children are being put at risk by asbestos in our schools every day.

“Tragically, it’s well documented that teachers and pupils have a heightened risk of contracting mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos fibres in the school environment. In fact, the risk to teachers is three to five times that for other workplaces.

“Teachers are losing their lives from acts as simple as pinning up work on noticeboards because they are unaware that they contain asbestos.

“Last year on World Teachers’ Day we launched our Asbestos in Schools awareness campaign and now we want to take that a stage further.

“What we want to do next is to pay tribute to teachers who have lost their lives because of asbestos by creating a lasting online memorial to them.

“We want the memorial to ensure they won’t be forgotten and we also hope their stories will encourage people to be more proactive when it comes to tackling asbestos in schools with which they have links.”

Asbestos was widely used in school buildings between the 1940s and 1980s and regularly used in construction in the UK up until 1999 when it was banned.  This is why the likelihood of asbestos being present in educational buildings built prior to 2000 remains high.

Families of former teachers who have died as a result of asbestos are invited to submit a short biography and a photograph of their loved one for the memorial which is expected to go live later this year.

To contribute to the memorial project email south@acornasbestos.co.uk or for further information about Acorn Analytical Services visit www.acorn-as.com

 

 

Education, News

Everyone has a right to personalised education, declares UNESCO MGIEP’s report

New global study calls for policy-makers to re-evaluate education systems

Governments, education policymakers and senior decision makers need to recognize that personalised education is an entitlement and a human right for every learner, states the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) in its new report “Reimagining Education”.

The new global International Science and Evidence Based Education Assessment (ISEE) report points towards an education that employs a cognitive-emotional approach to learning, and for education policymaking to be guided by science and evidence in the future.

The Assessment, which commenced in 2019 in Montreal and has been two years in the making, brought together more than 300 experts from 45 countries informed by a global consultation process with scientists and specialists from diverse disciplines such as neuroscience, technology, education, philosophy, data and evidence, and sustainability.

 

Reimagining education in the aftermath of COVID-19

The report, released at the UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France, comes as the world grapples with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic that has jeopardized the chances of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Decades of progress in education are also constantly threatened by conflicts, such as the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the report finding that more than a third (37%) of primary school-aged refugee children are out of school and only 24% have access to secondary school education. Access to higher education is a dismal 3% among refugee populations.

The Assessment contributes to re-envisioning the future of education to build more resilient and sustainable education systems that can weather the current crisis.

Sir Kevan Collins, Chair of the Youth Endowment Fund, UK and Advisory Board Member of the ISEE Assessment Report commented, “The ISEE Assessment is a new contribution to our work on how we reimagine education. We adopted a multidisciplinary approach to bring together the very best of what we know, ensuring that we work across a range of opportunities for children. In this work, we learned that the future belongs to those who continue to learn and that a whole-brain-centric model is critical if you want to support not only education, but a flourishing society. A prosperous, sustainable future for our planet lies so much in the quality of education provided for all our children and we must continue the debate the Assessment has started.”

 

Personalised education is a human right

The report asks governments to realise that personalised education for continued development is a human right for every learner and calls for increased investment in education, which must be directed to a cognitive-emotional whole brain-approach to education.

The two Co-Chairs of the ISEE Assessment Report, Anantha Duraiappah, Director, UNESCO MGIEP and Nienke van Atteveldt, Professor, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in a joint statement stated, “Over 80% of teachers, parents and students want exactly what personalised education – the holy grail of education – can offer. This is now possible with the support of digital pedagogy and ethical artificial intelligence. We can make sure that each learner gets the quality education they are entitled to, work at their own pace and be their own benchmark to maximize their potentiality for leading a flourishing life. We must address issues like the fact that 40% of the global population cannot access education in a language they understand and build a resilient education system for the future.”

Furthermore, the report advocates for future education policy to be guided by science and evidence and multidisciplinary dialogue.

 

Policy recommendations

A critical need that the report highlights is for decision makers to introduce education policies that focus on one’s potential and evaluate each learner’s individual learning progress as opposed to focusing on grade or merit-based assessment and benchmarking learners against each other.

Furthermore, the report advocates for urgent efforts to be made in reorganizing education funding to rearrange curricula, pedagogies, research and learning assessment to focus on cognitive-emotional learning.

Looking ahead, the report calls on policymakers to invest in multidisciplinary, large scale, open and inclusive research programmes in education.

Madam Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Former Minister of Education, France, said, “The findings presented in the Assessment will undoubtedly pave the way for policy and decision-making for future education systems. Now more than ever, our world needs visions for a future that is more sustainable, resilient, just, and fair. The unique findings of the ISEE Assessment deliver on this need and provide robust guidelines for future education policy.”

To download the ISEE Assessment in full, please visit https://mgiep.unesco.org/iseeaweb

 

Education, News

Caption.Ed levels the playing field for thousands of learners with brand new features

Caption.Ed, developed by CareScribe, is assistive technology that provides highly accurate, multi-lingual, and subject-specific captions for any live or pre-recorded media, including face-to-face conversations. And this April, Caption.Ed gets even better as all-new features launch in its new version.

The next generation of Caption.Ed software, live April 4th, lets users take meaningful notes alongside their transcripts so that they never miss out on what’s important. With Caption.Ed, you can annotate notes against any audio or video, highlight key information and upload additional media to support your notetaking.

All of your Caption.Ed sessions are then available to revisit at a later date, meaning you can scroll back over what was missed, revise what was said and recall why it was important.

Caption.Ed is offered as tiered packages where users can upgrade or downgrade to suit their needs. It comprises:

·         Caption.Ed Lite – For individuals who need notes, with slimmed down captioning and transcription requirements.

·         Caption.Ed Pro – For individuals who need notes, with full captioning and transcription functionality.

·         Caption.Ed Notes – For individuals who just need to take notes without transcription.

People can register their interest now via the Caption.Ed website and book a demo with a member of the CareScribe team.

 

What sets Caption.Ed apart?

Caption.Ed is designed with accessibility at its heart. In fact, it was developed by people who have accessibility needs which is why Caption.Ed has accessibility requirements baked into its very design. It has an unobtrusive user interface (UI) which takes up only a small amount of your screen, and also has the ability for the user to change the text size or the appearance of their captions to help with readability.

It’s designed to work seamlessly across in-person and online teaching, making it the perfect solution for the future of hybrid learning.

Caption.Ed is also fantastic at captioning topics which use complex terminology such as health and life science classes, social sciences, or law. It also works across different languages including: French, Spanish, Italian, German, Swedish, Dutch, Danish and Simplified Chinese.

Richard Purcell, CareScribe Director comments; “I really struggled with my dyslexia at school, medical school and finally at work. Ever since it’s been my mission to level the playing field. I founded CareScribe with the aim of improving accessibility and inclusion for everyone – be that in education or the workplace.”

 

Captioning is not just for deaf students

Captioning is often seen as a solution for people who are deaf or who have hearing loss but it has much wider applications.  Netflix recently reported that 80% of people watching their platform use subtitles. Most have no hearing loss but find that captions help to focus attention and boost comprehension. This can be an essential aid for people with neurodiverse traits that may affect working memory, concentration, writing speed and even those learning English as an additional language. For example, Caption.Ed is benefiting people with:

·         Dyslexia

·         Autistic spectrum disorder

·         ADHD

·         Auditory processing disorder

·         Mental Health Conditions

Purcell adds, “Thousands of people are already using Caption.Ed to allow them to remove barriers and participate more fully in their studies or in the workplace. As with all great assistive technology, Caption.Ed can be useful for just about anyone. Caption.Ed should be a game-changer for work, study and home life and I’m so excited to introduce our new version to users.”

 

The development of Caption.Ed  

Dr Richard Purcell is both a director at CareScribe and an NHS Doctor.  In 2013 he worked with a fellow medical student to create Medincle, a piece of software to help students cope with some of the complexities of medical jargon which has since been adopted across the UK healthcare and education space.

Richard has been developing assistive software ever since but in 2020 he put the company on hold to go back and work full time as an NHS doctor during the start of the pandemic, followed by a brief stint at St. Peter’s Hospice in Bristol. At the end of 2020 he returned to full time software development and his company CareScribe has grown from three to 30 members over the last year.

 

Key features of Caption.Ed

·         Works across live or pre-recorded media including: online meetings, classes and presentations as well as face-to-face conversations.

·         Caption.Ed provides highly accurate and subject-specific captions, for subjects such as scientific, medical or legal content.

·         Caption.Ed can capture and transcribe speech in many different languages including French, Italian, Spanish and Simplified Chinese.

·         Alongside their transcripts, users can add annotations in real time, upload additional media, and highlight important pieces of information to refer back to with ease at a later date

·         Users can revisit their past sessions and listen back to their lecture, seminar or meeting in order to recall what was said, revise and add to their annotations and export everything in a variety of formats.

·         Caption.Ed supports PC, Mac and mobile devices.

·         It works where you do, including: Panopto, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Echo360, Blackboard, Google Meet and many more!

Caption.Ed is already being used across many colleges and UK universities, including the University of Cambridge, St Andrews University, Edgehill University and many more. It’s also recommended by assessors within the Disabled Student Allowance and Access To Work.

 

How can Caption.Ed support staff in education?

In both schools and universities, Caption.Ed ensures that teaching is accessible to everyone, regardless of ability. This helps create independent learners and also allows institutions to save money on costly human note-takers.

Universities typically have to caption large amounts of media across different platforms. Caption.Ed allows content producers (such as lecturers) to generate highly accurate and subject specific captions for any of their media instantly. Transcription tasks can also be delegated across the team, which helps to reduce workloads for individuals and editing of transcripts can be done within Caption.Ed’s editing suite.

For administrators at schools and universities, Caption.Ed can help these users:

·         Take more effective minutes alongside your meetings in real time

·         Write up, download and circulate notes from meetings at a much quicker rate

·         Transcribe interviews and edit them with ease

With this in mind, Caption.Ed will be especially useful for pastoral staff and those who deal with SEND and Pupil Premium learners.

Education, News, South West

Hartpury University and Hartpury College is now using Multiwash™ from Truvox International

Located in Gloucestershire, Hartpury University and Hartpury College are among the UK’s leading specialist education providers in agriculture, animal, equine, sport and veterinary nursing. The 370-hectare campus is home to over 2,000 university and college-level students studying degrees, A-levels and diplomas, as well as undertaking cutting-edge industry research.

Adequate cleaning is crucial for the wellbeing of staff, students and visitors and we spoke to Campus Operations Manager Stephen Parker, to ask why Hartpury has recently swapped to using the Multiwash™ floorcare system from Truvox International.

 Front of house cleaning provides reassurance

“Hartpury is quite diverse, as we have everything from the world’s largest equine educational facility to cutting-edge sports facilities, so maintaining exceptional cleaning is quite a challenge,” says Stephen Parker. “We have 1,100 students living on site and another 300 off-site. We have 370 hectares of land with about 440 buildings, so Hartpury is like a village and my role is to keep the campus running safely and efficiently. We have around 25 cleaning staff who look after all of the public areas, including classrooms, gyms and all of the academic areas, plus the accommodation side across 45 blocks. In addition, there are industrial requirements, such as road sweeping, and window and gutter cleaning.

“The pandemic had a noticeable impact on cleaning regimes. When we returned from lockdown, the focus was on hygiene and cleanliness and cleaning was all of a sudden thrust into the spotlight. It went from being a behind the scenes out-of-hours activity to a front of house publicly visible process. When I started here about eight years ago, most cleaning was carried out between 4 pm and midnight, and that brought its own issues around staff motivation. Now our cleaning teams start early in the morning and are around during the day. Not only is that easier to manage, but it also gives people a focus that we have cleaning operatives, not fairies! It makes cleaning visible and that absolutely reassures people because they actually see that it’s happening. I’m a great believer in perception, so I see no reason not to continue operating this way.”

Reliability is key to success

Achieving the correct levels of cleaning requires a good and well-trained team working with the right machinery.

“We had been using another rotary floor cleaner and it lacked reliability. The machines were constantly breaking down and needing repairs, and the maintenance contract was expensive, with some machines needing servicing three times a year. Our supplier is Lydney, Gloucestershire-based DJB Supplies, and Managing Director Dave Bruce suggested we try the Multiwash system from Truvox International. We ran one for a year and we were impressed. It was easy to use and consistently reliable. We replaced all the existing machines with Multiwash, and we haven’t looked back. We’re now looking to adopt the new Multiwash Pro.

“The Multiwash machines are so easy to use and maintain and DJB Supplies gave our staff training when they first arrived to ensure the units are always working at their best, showing them how to strip the units down and check them over when required. Multiwash provides an exceptional quality of cleaning across a wide variety of flooring types, but for me the best benefit is that I don’t have to worry about them breaking down all the time like our previous machines.

“I talked about the perception that front of house cleaning provides and another benefit of Truvox’s Multiwash is that it looks extremely professional, matching in with its performance.

Multiwash is effective on all floor types

“The Hartpury campus features many different flooring types, from carpets to hard floors. The gyms have a rubberised floor that can’t be swept, and straightforward vacuuming doesn’t work. Multiwash provides the perfect solution, and we even use it on outside areas such as terraces where it does a great job on cleaning decking.

“From reptiles, llamas, and wallabies, to horses, we have a lot of animals on site, so another benefit of Multiwash is that we don’t always need to use potentially harmful chemicals to achieve the cleaning results we need. We can use water and we often just use plain warm water to clean the carpets.

“On a busy campus, reliability is a key issue to ensure success and the reliability of the Multiwash machines from Truvox International means that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to any other educational establishment. I’d also recommend DJB Supplies for their support in a seamless transition to this new cleaning solution. Moving to Multiwash has given me one less thing to worry about and the machines deliver measurably better results than our previous units.”

 

Apprenticeships, Careers, Education, News

New report from the Student<>Employer Network urges businesses to connect young people with the world of work

In National Careers Week[i] (7-12th March) Teach First’s Student<>Employer Network, a partnership led by four Teach First[ii] ambassadors, is urging UK businesses to build connections with young people and boost their employment opportunities, using guidance from its new report, ‘Connecting employers to students: a practical guide for engaging young people with the world of work.’

The report was co-authored by four social enterprise leaders: Mayur Gupta, CEO, Career Accelerator; Christine Kinnear, CEO, With Insight Education; Patricia Mbangui, Centre Leader, IntoUniversity Walworth (formerly at CoachBright) and Laura North, CEO, We Speak, who have a shared aim to create meaningful connections between schools and businesses.

The report comes at a time when businesses are increasingly recognising the value of engaging in outreach programmes to address their skills shortages, build more diverse talent pipelines and tackle growing inequalities in education and employment.

Christine Kinnear, Founder & CEO, With Insight Education says, “Many businesses want to connect with students to give something back and build their future talent pipelines, but they don’t always know where to start. Our organisations have come together to provide practical support. We have pooled our knowledge, learnings and ideas to help businesses recruit more diverse talent and connect young people to the world of work.”

The recommendations for businesses in the report include:

Put Diversity & Inclusion at the heart of programme delivery – Broad-brush diversity initiatives often fail. Organisations that embed diversity and inclusion successfully in their programmes are insight led, have examined their own diversity and inclusion data, acknowledged and addressed existing diversity gaps and ensure D&I is at the heart of their mission – with hard KPIs in place that hold companies accountable.

Invest in soft skills – Employers say soft skills are as important as academic qualifications, but graduates often lack them. Solutions include businesses collaborating with schools, charities or social enterprises to run programmes with students so they can develop soft skills before they start work. Another way is through other initiatives such as reverse mentoring programmes between students and colleagues which can help people develop soft skills.

Assume you will always pay young people – Unpaid work opportunities can exclude young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. To address this, companies could offer paid part-time work for young people to broaden the opportunities open to them. Employers should assume they will pay young people for any work, rather than asking them to volunteer.

 Widen the talent pool – A report from the Social Mobility Commission[iii] highlights that some industries focus on a small number of elite institutions for recruitment and fail to recruit talented young people from less advantaged backgrounds and such barriers needs to be recognised to generate change.

Understand the student voice – To recruit more diverse young talent, businesses should consultant with young people and ask them what they think. It is also important for businesses to give young people a voice in their companies and provide more opportunities to increase their contribution and participation.

Increase workplace encounters with students – Students often do not have enough meaningful encounters with employers. Equally, employers are often unaware of how to connect with students during the school day (usually during curriculum or pillar days). Solutions include companies creating pupil friendly sessions for school curriculum days, offering workplace encounters to all year groups and developing contacts with career leads in local schools.

How to offer meaningful experiences of the workplace – Work experience placements sometimes do not always provide a realistic picture of day to day working life. Consequently, pupils may not have all the information to make an informed decision about which sectors they would like to work in. Each school is different, so any work placement, internship, a day in the office or a workshop delivered in school, must be tailored to the pupils taking part.

How to partner with state schools – It can be challenging to build relationships with busy state schools. Recommendations include leveraging existing school links within the company. Even if companies currently only have private school or grammar school links, contacts at these institutes will have some connections to state schools.

Designing sustainable and impactful school outreach programmes – There are many barriers to designing a sustainable and impactful school outreach programme, including lack of knowledge, other business priorities and employees at a company not reflecting the demographic of students in state schools. Recommendations include being open about the desired outcomes from the start, co-creating the programme with diversity networks and other departments in the business, and adding school outreach into someone’s job or a committee.

Having a holistic organisational approach when running school outreach – If initiatives aren’t connected to a company’s wider business strategy, then it can limit their overall impact. Gaining senior buy-in for school outreach work is important to ensure this type of work gets sufficient support in an organisation, as are stakeholder meetings with different departments and external partners.

Businesses that are leading the way by engaging and employing young students include Accenture, Deloitte and PWC who have Teach First Ambassador Networks composed of Teach First ambassadors who now work at these companies. Through their networks and utilising their teacher expertise, they deliver high-quality outreach offers to schools.

One of these is Cyrus Suntook, Accenture Teach First Community Sponsor & Social Mobility Network Co-Lead who writes a foreword in the report. He says, “The scale of inequality that faces our society has only been exacerbated by COVID-19. For young people and students, this has meant huge disruption to critical, formative years, and – in many cases – major challenges to their hopes and aspirations. Those closest to those challenges, such as teachers and social workers, need and deserve the active support of a broader community to address these. Collaborative, multi-lateral partnerships such as the Student<>Employer Network are a critical part of the solution, offering a holistic approach to improving student outcomes and connecting businesses and young people in meaningful interactions.”

The Student<>Employer Network is running a webinar on Monday 25 April, 11.30am-12.30pm to show businesses how easy it can be to start engaging with students. To book a place, go to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/building-meaningful-connections-between-schools-and-businesses-tickets-289255489957

To download the new report ‘Connecting employers to students: a practical guide for engaging young people with the world of work’ click here.

There is also a website www.studentemployernetwork.com

Education, News

Sommet Education launches “fast-track, career impact” executive programmes for hospitality industry professionals

Sommet Education has launched a new portfolio of executive programmes, offered at two of its top-ranked institutions Les Roches Global Hospitality Education and Glion Institute of Higher Education, tailored to the fast-evolving world of the hospitality industry.

For employers, ensuring the development of high-potential employees and guiding them towards leadership positions is a key factor in attracting and retaining talent, whilst continuous development of individual skills and knowledge has become a necessity in the careers of all professionals and currently represents the main determinant of employability.

So , for ambitious professionals eager to learn alongside a high-calibre, international peer group wanting to upskill and fast-track their career alongside employment, Sommet Education has designed three programmes: an Executive Master’s in International Hotel Management by Les Roches Marbella; an Executive MBA in Global Hospitality Management by Les Roches Crans-Montana; and an Executive Master’s in Luxury Management and Guest Experience by Glion Institute of Higher Education.

These distance learning programmes, which will equip participants with the skills, knowledge and network needed to compete for the most demanding positions in the global hospitality market, run for nine to 12 months in duration. They are divided into different modules, allowing participants to study without interrupting their career and balance fast-paced professional activity with in-depth learning.

Face-to-face presence is condensed, intensive, and aimed at broadening horizons through behind-the-scenes field visits to prestigious brands and innovative operators in state-of-the-art hospitality destinations in London, Dubai, Spain and Switzerland. The key objectives of these programmes include networking and bonding with experts and peers.

The executive programmes are taught by the institutions’ faculty, senior industry professionals and acknowledged experts in their chosen fields. Packed with high-level business and management content, including finance, strategy and sustainability, the programmes conclude with a hospitality business capstone project that challenges participants to find actual solutions in a real-world context.

Participants can also benefit from personalised coaching by leading executive search consultancy. Sessions will tackle their personal project and branding, thus enabling them to take the next step in their professional career.

Sommet Education Chief Academic Officer Pierre Ihmle said:

“The fast-paced evolutions in the hospitality industry and the high demand for qualifications have accentuated the fact that staff in general, and even professionals with an established track record, need to continuously learn to grow their career and thrive in their professional life. These three dense executive programmes enable professionals to secure a rapid and efficient return on investment in their career while remaining in their positions.”

Charity & CSR, Education, News

UK’s largest composite decking brand launches national recycling competition for schools

Following its huge success in 2021, the UK’s largest brand of sustainable composite decking and cladding, Composite Prime has launched it’s school recycling programme, ‘Message in a Bottle Top’. 

The nation’s schools are being called upon to highlight the significant impact plastic waste has on the environment by collecting and transforming plastic bottle tops into life-sized art murals and sculptures. The winning school will receive a playground makeover worth £5,000 plus eco-friendly Composite Prime decking. 

Composite Prime director, Charles Taylor commented: “With everything from giant jellyfish to a great white shark, the sculptures created by schools up and down the country were incredibly creative and showcased a huge amount of plastic waste. The response to the 2021 campaign was incredible, it saw 785 schools, 845 teachers, 110,432 children and 194,360 parents collect over 90,000 bottle tops.”

Built in line with the national curriculum and fulfilling learning objectives across art and design, science, maths and citizenship, the Message in a Bottle Top campaign also supports step 4 of the Ecoschools’ seven step programme. The initiative provides teachers and support staff with associated learning resources; including lesson plans, presentations, artist top tips and activity worksheets to complete in class and at home. 

Charles continued: “Our Message in a Bottle Top campaign has been created specifically to target younger generations and Composite Prime is extremely proud to play a small part in educating the next generation about sustainability. We can’t wait to see the engagement with the campaign this year, and the incredible entries we’re hoping to receive.”

Working alongside We are Futures, who run The National Schools Partnership (NSP), the Message in a Bottle Top campaign is a cross curricular programme which inspires key stage one and two pupils to collect and repurpose their own bottle tops into thought-provoking art, showcasing the creatures they hope to protect from plastic pollution.

All competition entries submitted by schools, ahead of the deadline on 20 May 2022, will be independently judged by Composite Prime and the winning school will receive a playground makeover worth £5,000. The top ten schools will have the opportunity to showcase their artwork in an online exhibition and two runners up will receive tablets worth more than £100. 

Charles Taylor added: “We want to demonstrate to children that there are a variety of creative ways to approach environmental sustainability. In the same way these fantastic sculptures are produced from plastic bottle tops, our products are produced from recycled materials; reducing the amount of plastic entering natural ecosystems along the way. We hope that schools across the country feel that the programme shares a very important environmental message with young people about wildlife and the effects plastic waste has on it.” 

Composite Prime creates eco-friendly and socially responsible decking and cladding products, made using recycled plastic and FSC® certified oak wood flour. Each square metre of composite decking contains the equivalent of more than 3,000 plastic bottle caps or 280 plastic bottles. In the seven years of operation the brand has saved the equivalent of 176 million plastic milk bottles from landfill and over 1.8 billion bottle top caps.