The ICG is working with the Engineering Technology Board (ETB) and other partners on a DfES funded strategy to engaging engineering businesses in: "Improving the quality and quantity of work experience opportunities and also increasing the number and awareness of apprenticeships."
An online portal is being developed where engineering companies can register their interest in providing opportunities for:
- Apprenticeships
- 14 to 19 work placements, and
- Teacher Placements.
This will be supported by offline marketing and promotion and individuals, pupils or teachers, would be able to access the site to find out about organisations in their area offering work-experience, apprenticeships, and teacher placements.
The project is specifically designed to co-ordinate approaches made to employers and offers the additional benefit of tracking learners registering through the portal. Currently the component that is fully developed is the Engineering Employers Federation run apprenticeship brokerage system. The plan is to extend and develop this, to offer a much wider range of services to engineering employers working with schools.
The benefits of this were listed as:
- Allow schools and companies to access quality IAG
- Reduce the approaches made to companies and competing/overlapping requirements put upon them
- Deal in the full range of engineering related placement requirements
- Measure company engagement in engineering activities
- Continue to promote the development and funding of new programmes where gaps exist
- Carry out a regular surveys on pupils attitudes and perceptions to measure the impact of placements
- Ensure synergy and disseminate good practice between existing programmes
It is noted that in some areas Education-Industry link organisations do a good job in brokering some kinds of placements while in other areas employers are in danger of disengagement from multiple approaches for a range of placements. So partnership arrangements are not being discounted where they would be appropriate. The planning group does not just want to add to the alphabet soup of organisations with a role in placement work, they want to add real value and up the ante on what such links can offer in this key industry sector.
Gordon Kirk
South-East Council Representative and ICG link to ETB | 
