2015 round-up: EDT experiences, Apprenticeships & the need to stop re-inventing the wheel

My last blog of 2015 and a fairly short one.

Another year during which so much has happened. Importantly, a year in which EDT has once again delivered so many life determining experiences to young people, which is after all our mission. The outcomes of these experiences will contribute to the STEM talent pipeline, and EDT remains committed to getting more young people inspired to follow STEM related careers.

Whilst everyone would agree that the overall objectives and skills needs remain the same, it is clear that the specific focus tends to evolve as the external landscape changes. One example is the welcome focus on Apprenticeships.  The Government has committed to creating 3 million additional apprenticeships by 2020, and I expect that STEM skills will be a key segment of this. This is good news. The need to ensure that these are quality apprenticeships is paramount. We need these apprenticeships to be at level 3 and above because that is where we need the future skills.

I was pleased to learn recently when attending a conference that the focus on industry sectors created and progressed by government these past few years will be maintained. Continuity and consistency when dealing with this long term challenge is essential. The apprenticeship levy which the government proposes to introduce in 2017 is aimed at facilitating this process.

At EDT we recognise that we have a responsibility and the expertise, and indeed the passion, to assist with this focus. We can do this by adapting our flexible range of work related programmes linking schools and employers so that we can assist employers with the creation of a local talent pipeline in to the apprenticeships; providing young people with relevant careers awareness and employability skills.

We have the presence around the UK and the relationships with schools and employers built up in some cases over many decades to help facilitate these links, and hopefully develop them into strategic partnerships, which really is the only way to ensure that the pipeline can be developed and then sustained over many years.

However, I would like to see more partnership working during 2016. There are too many initiatives which appear to be trying to achieve a similar objective – at least on the surface. EDT is ready to play its part wherever we can, having over 30 years of experience in delivering quality experiences which have already inspired thousands of young people to consider careers in STEM, many who are now working in industry.

So that’s it for 2015. I thank all our partners and stakeholders for all their support this past year and wish you a restful festive season and look forward to continuing our work in 2016.