Skillstories

Young to get £7,000 for training

More than one and a half million young people in England are to become eligible for £7,000 each to spend on improving their qualifications.

Talents of bright pupils ‘wasted’

One in 10 academically promising state school pupils in England do not go on to university, a report has claimed.

How to solve the British maths problem?

The British are uniquely happy to admit being bad at maths, says a report. Why is that and how can attitudes change?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7435023.stm

Adult skills scheme ‘on target’

A £5bn scheme to boost the literacy and maths skills of 2.25m adults in England by 2010 is on target, a watchdog says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7438483.stm

Promote your talent online

It’s Adam Sibley here from Talented Young People. This email is going to you because you either run, work for or are a youth related organisation.

We here at Talented Young People are an not for profit organisation supporting young people with talent and we want to promote your organisation to our thousands of viewers.

To have a feature about your youth organisation on our website all you need to do is go to the website below and fill in our online form and your youth organisation will be seen by thousands of young people for free:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/getinvolved/

English@Work In Devon

Following a successful pilot our partnership of learning providers is able to offer English training at work for migrant workers in Devon. Courses are tailored to suit employer and employee needs and typically cover: Health & Safety, Communication at Work, Community and Housing. Half price offer for Devon employers! Employers DVD available to show how it has worked so far. Visit the link below.
Funded by Devon Renaissance and LSC

Legislative programme promises a better trained workforce

Radical moves to increase the number of people who can gain new skills, become more productive and develop better careers were announced in the Government’s draft legislative programme.

For the first time, employees will be given the legal right to request time to train from their employers, and apprenticeships will receive a boost under new legislation to unlock the potential of individuals and businesses.

Maths teacher gap ‘to worsen’

The shortage of qualified maths teachers in England and Wales is to worsen, a survey suggests.

Analysis of advertised teacher vacancies and numbers of trained teachers suggests there will be a shortfall in the next academic year.

Professor John Howson says the overall picture is one of a north-south divide, with the south struggling the most.

The Training and Development Agency for Schools says overall, the proportion of trainee teachers accepted is on target.

Professor Howson, from Education Data Surveys, said only about 2,000 maths teachers were likely to be trained this year, with even fewer next year.

But secondary schools across England and Wales have advertised 1,650 vacancies for maths teachers already this year.

This represented about 75% of the likely total number of maths trainees qualifying this year.

With a proportion of those expected to drop out or go to private schools, Professor Howson says the shortage will get worse.

Veolia Environment named as Employer of the Year

Veolia Environment was named Employer of the Year at the 2008 National Employer Service (NES) Learners First Awards at Alton Towers.

Veolia was singled out for its contribution to workplace learning, beating off fierce competition from the other finalist employers, who included TUI Travel and the Royal Navy. Veolia’s commitment to training involves the introduction of a state of the art training centre, Campus Veolia, as well as a programme ensuring that every employee had the possibility of achieving at least a NVQ Level 2. To date, achievements include a number of Train to Gain completions and the introduction of Apprenticeships in 2007.

Young people lack the reading, writing and maths skills that employers want

Employers are struggling to find young people with the right skills for work, suggests new research by the Learning and Skills Network (LSN).

The research reveals that when recruiting a school or college leaver employers look for people who can read, write, do basic maths and show enthusiasm for work, above anything else. But, only 13% of employers who had tried to recruit a young person said that they have always been successful. Many who failed to recruit a school or college leaver indicated that it was because candidates lacked literacy or numeracy skills, or did not have the right attitude to work.