Accelerate - July 2008
Welcome to the first edition of Accelerate – a monthly newsletter to inform and engage partners in the ‘Yorkshire and Humber 14-19 Challenge’ programme.
Firstly, by way of background..........
Many of the partners receiving this newsletter will be aware of the ‘Challenge’ programme, having attended the ‘Call to Action’ Conference which took place at The Royal Armouries earlier this year or through subsequent activity, though to act as a reminder, the goal of the challenge is:
“to call all education, training and business partners to action with young people to ensure that Yorkshire and Humber is the best place to live and grow up, and to ensure we have a world class 14-19 education and training environment”.
Yorkshire and Humber is improving in terms of a range of education and training participation indicators. However it remains amongst the lowest of the nine English regions in a number of key areas. A significant number of our young people do not progress into, nor remain in further training, education or employment, and too many lack the aspirations essential for high levels of achievement and employability. To maximise the impact young people have on the economic future of the region, more of them need to achieve high standards of educational attainment, secure high levels of employment, and continue to learn and develop skills throughout their lives. Partners across the region have set themselves the challenge of working together to change and improve this situation - to share and use current resources and good practice more effectively, and to focus on activities to support 14-19 year olds to achieve their potential.
Organisations taking up the ‘Yorkshire and Humber 14-19 Challenge’ include: The Yorkshire and the Humber Local Authorities; Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber; Department for Children, Schools and Families; The Learning and Skills Council; Turner & Townsend; The Voluntary Sector Forum; Yorkshire Universities; The Regional Skills Partnership; Yorkshire Forward; Young People’s Enterprise Forum (YPEF); The Association of Colleges; and representatives from Work Based Learning Providers.
Progress made so far.......
Using the feedback from the Conference, an Action Plan has been developed and agreed by all key partners. The Plan focuses on four key themes:
- Theme 1
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Developing a planning framework that will enable all partners and interested parties to contribute effectively to the developing regional strategy.
Work to date: YPEF* commissioned a research exercise which mapped the 14-19 Partnership structures that are in place in each of the 15 Local Authorities. If you would like a copy of the research, please contact: janette.gudgeon@ypef.org.uk.
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- Theme 2
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Carrying out a statistical analysis to identify clusters of schools with similar issues that relate to attainment and encouraging them to work together.
Work to date: YPEF has commissioned Forvus, who carried out the baseline analysis of attainment and deprivation to create “families of schools” in London, Manchester and the Black Country for their Challenges, to carry out the same exercise in Yorkshire and Humber. The work will be complete by September and schools will be asked to pilot a “family of schools” concept, bringing senior staff together to learn more about the model, how it has brought about success in other parts of the country and to determine the level of interest in a full programme of support. The “families of schools” will cross Local Authority boundaries and will be encouraged to work together and learn from each other to lift performance of the whole “family”. The aim is to raise the bar across all the region’s schools, not just those that currently have the most room for improvement.
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- Theme 3
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Working with partners across the region to: share best practice in the provision of Information, Advice and Guidance; build on the Labour Market Information that already exists to produce more accessible information on training and career progression opportunities; and sharing best practice on strategies to prevent young people from becoming NEET.
Work to date: An initial piece of research has been carried out to map each of the Local Authorities’ plans for Careers/IAG provision, and further work will be carried out in the Autumn term to establish how the Challenge programme can add further value, for example, by setting up a region-wide network for collaboration. The Challenge has also supported the work of Local Authorities to map provision until 2013, when the entitlement will be introduced, and beyond. Work is ongoing with the LSC, Sector Skills Councils, Yorkshire Forward and others, to identify how existing Labour Market Information can be more readily available in a format that will assist curriculum planning. An additional £18.25M of ESF funding has been commissioned by the LSC on behalf of Challenge partners to supplement and complement existing NEET services. The commission creates a Co-ordinated NEET Response Manager in each Local Authority area, with the resources to address the gaps that are identified by the NEET partnership. The first regional meeting of these co-ordinated Response Managers took place in June. The Challenge is also working with the LSC to deliver an event in August for those organisations and agencies that have a specific remit to address the problems of the NEET group.
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- Theme 4
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Developing a Regional Employer Engagement Strategy that will lead to a significant increase in the quality and quantity of employers involved in education and training for 14-19 years olds throughout the region.
Work to date: A working group made up of Challenge partners has been formed to consider what actions need to be taken in order to deliver a strategy that will address the needs of employers, schools and colleges, taking into account the vast amount of local strategies, initiatives, programmes and projects that are either in development or already being delivered across the region. The group is tasked with advising on how we should go about developing ‘simple guides’ to enable employers to engage more easily, and for schools to tailor their requirements and messages in a way which makes it easier for businesses to engage. The Challenge is also supporting the launch of the Edge Foundation’s, ‘Business in School’ campaign, which is a pilot project that will see the introduction of a web portal, supported by an awareness-raising media campaign.
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Critical to the success of the programme is the engagement and ‘sign-up’ of partners to the Challenge, therefore if you would like to discuss any aspect of the programme in more detail, please contact Janette Gudgeon on 0113 383 0205 or email janette.gudgeon@ypef.org.uk.
Please also pass on this newsletter to anyone else that may be interested in the activities mentioned above and encourage them to subscribe by emailing ‘Accelerate subscribe’ to: kate.woodcock@ypef.org.uk.
Article posted 01 July 2008