How to get involved in education and training schemes

The Education Landscape: Guide for Employers is a free resource funded by Gatsby. It was developed by the Strategic Development Network – and we asked Ruth Joseph, Employer Partnership Manager, to explain what it’s all about:

We know that small businesses often struggle to recruit the right people and maintain a pipeline of talent, but also feel bombarded and confused by information and requests to get involved in different education and training schemes. The Guide for employers, supported by the CBI, has been produced to give businesses a clear overview and a better understanding of how they can be proactive in getting involved in the many opportunities there are available.

Whether it’s careers fairs, industry placements for older students, apprenticeships, or shorter programmes to support upskilling for employees, the need for education and business to collaborate has never been stronger. For a smaller business however, the breadth and variety of the opportunities can be hard to keep up with, especially for those without dedicated Human Resources or Learning and Development teams.

As Jane Dawson, Head of Public Relations and Public Affairs at the Electrotechnical Contractors’ Association (ECA) says: “Small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy. As such, policy makers are waking up to the list of obstacles preventing their growth. Top of that list is a shortage of skilled employees. The majority of electrotechnical firms at the heart of the energy transition are small and aspirational. In a fast-moving world they can find it hard to navigate the plethora of schemes and provide the right support to learners. Rising costs for providers are also making it harder to deliver industry approved courses. And technically demanding apprenticeships like electrical, plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning are expensive to run."

So we are closely working with trade associations to help, providing their members with a clear starting point to engage in the opportunities available. There are many different ways to use the funded resources: you can use the Guide and Index as they are, apply your own logos or even tailor them to include your own case studies and apply your own brand guidelines.

As Andrew Croydon, Skills & Education Policy and Examinations Director at the ABPI says: “Industry and education providers both have so much to gain and learn from working together – which is why the ABPI continues to place a high priority on supporting the facilitating of these partnerships.

"This new education landscape guide for employers is a fantastic resource, providing fresh ideas for companies on the sorts of activity they might want to get involved with, and how to make it a success for them and the partners they work with. Following the guide's publication, we have presented it to a broad spectrum of our membership groups including the HR Directors’ Forum and the Smaller Companies Forum. In all cases, we have received very positive feedback. We will continue to promote this valuable resource in the weeks and months ahead”.