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Skills and Enterprise Training for College Success
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National Training Awards 2008
Students take The Plunge in business deep end
A training programme for young people in an area of industrial decline in the North East was known as The Plunge. So named because it threw students into the deep end of business to see whether they can sink or swim, it has earned the company behind it, The Working Knowledge Group, a place in the finals of the National Training Awards 2008.
Working Knowledge’s Managing Director, Andrew Hatcher of St Johns Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge explains: “Working Knowledge is committed to narrowing the gap between education and the workplace; raising the aspirations and employability skills of students and opening the eyes of employers to how young people can help drive business success in a rapidly changing economic environment."
“The problems the North East faced at the start of our involvement were a microcosm of what was happening in the UK as a whole. 46 per cent of young people didn’t believe that the local region offered them good employment, and as a result, nearly 60 per cent planned to go elsewhere after they left education."
“The result was that many of the region’s brightest, most ambitious young adults looked elsewhere for employment, while those who remained tend to underachieve.”
Working Knowledge was commissioned by Aspire, a business-led organisation which was working to reverse these negative perceptions, and demonstrate to young people from the North East that they do not need to leave in order to study, work and ultimately to succeed.
Together they worked with Redcar & Cleveland College because they had a new and energetic chief executive, Gray Groom.
Students worked in teams of six and were challenged to work together in uncertain conditions. They learned how to develop a unique selling point, business goal and strategy for the idea they had agreed to work on.
Workshops focused on areas of business and regional business people held meetings with each team, answering questions and giving advice on building the business. Finally student teams had to deliver a pitch to a panel of business experts.
“The Plunge was seen as a watershed at the college in many ways,” says Andrew. “ In many cases tutors reported a new enthusiasm to work with hard-to-reach students and those most disenfranchised.”
Gary Groom said: “This has been an absolutely fantastic process. The students that I have spoken to have really enjoyed themselves, learned a huge amount and have walked away inspired for the future. This is what it is all about.
“This is about young people with the right skills, with the vibrancy and the energy and the dynamism to set up and become involved in new enterprises and companies in the Tees Valley.”
For more information on the National Training Awards 2008
Click here
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