Education & Enterprise
You’ve heard of A&E. Well this is similar, other than we help people with more than just broken legs and arms. E&E (Education and Enterprise) works with young people who may need something a little different from the regular curriculum, an extra crutch to keep them from falling.
Our talented staff members deliver a broad range of activities on behalf of national, regional and local funders and work closely with local authorities, schools, and business and community groups. Although the team is filled with talented and motivated individuals, it is really important to have the backing and support of like minded and credible organisations that can enhance projects and improve lives and communities. There are 9 main strands of the department.
Vocational Training
Clients can receive sector specific training at one of our popular ‘Vox’ centres. The atmosphere is more relaxed than regular training centres to insure clients feel more relaxed and in a better frame of mind to learn new skills.
Clients are referred to Vox by schools, the Local Authority and other agencies and work towards qualifications whilst developing their employability qualities. Key to their success is the progression of learners so we provide additional pastoral support and impartial IAG to complement their main programme of learning.
Alternative Provision
Along side training, many clients need their confidence building. This strand offers encouragement, guidance and activities for young people facing barriers to moving on in life and at risk from exclusion from school or society.
This support may take place within schools, Pupil Referral Units or in house and provides individual and small group activity to address a broad range of issues. Courses can be short, intensive programmes to cover topics such as anger management, risky behaviour and conflict resolution or longer interventions to move clients towards achievable goals, both in educational and personal terms.
NEET prevention & reduction
This is a specialist support for young people who are not in any education or training and find it difficult to be positively engaged by regular teaching and training.
Clients are engaged at neighbourhood level with all courses designed around the needs of the individual. Where possible, young people are given control of their budget so as to create the learning programme that most effectively suits their needs and further incentives are on offer to reward retention and progression.
Education Business Partnership (EBP)
Our EBP in the Tees Valley links business to education to deliver work related learning to young people.
Our aim:
To enhance the work related learning of young people in the Tees Valley,
specifically focussing on: raising educational achievement and skills, and
creating a wider culture of innovation and enterprise, thus enabling young
people to achieve economic well-being and meet existing and future local,
regional and national economic requirements.
Tees Valley EBP are also the STEMPOINT for the sub region.
Work-related learning
We also offer support for schools and colleges to help find work placements. This helps to prepare young people for the transition from education to employment, which can be a daunting time for anyone so we aim to deliver a seamless,
Specific projects include assemblies, careers workshops, visits to employers and training for school staff. Wherever possible, we use business volunteers to help deliver the programmes giving the work a much-needed ‘real life’ feel. Another key function for the team is to stay ahead of the game in terms of legislation and policy so as to provide the most up-to-date and accurate support to schools.
Enterprise education
This strand of the business offers bespoke courses and high-energy delivery on the DCSF’s current Key Stages 4 initiative and more ***
The focus of this strand is on high-energy, exciting challenges where young people are given the control to succeed – and fail! All of the activities are written from a realistic perspective and ensure that the young people are given the chance to demonstrate how they would react to change and respond to factors outside of their control.
Guidance
Also known as ‘pre-pre-start’ this activity is designed to whet the appetite of the public who may have never considered the option of working for themselves. This is delivered in neighbourhood venues and in an informal style so as to encourage people to think about business ideas and how they might develop them in the future.
Business start-up
The next stage is helping those people who want to give self-employment a go by supporting them to write business plans, secure grant monies and carry out market research. This often requires acting as a middleman and liaising with other agencies to ensure that the client accesses all of the support they are entitled to.
Business support
Further support is on hand for those existing businesses who would like to develop and expand. Our business advisers are experts in the field who can reduce the burden on clients and leave them to concentrate on the important business of running their company. This role also provides the ‘critical friend’ aspect where an adviser’s unbiased opinion might be of real benefit in the decision-making process.
Consortium management
A4e’s scale makes us the perfect provider to support other delivery organisations. This means that we can run large-scale contracts and empower local groups to do the ground-level activity, taking responsibility for the finance, partnership and legal aspects, provide networking opportunities and guide intermediaries through any practice-related updates.
E&E are always striving to improve their services and develop its functionality so it can help more people more effectively. Great partnerships have been made with Sports England, the Football League Trust and the University of Teesside’s digital animation team.
If this is enough to wet your appetite and you want to find out more about this exciting department or even feel your department could benefit from being involved do not hesitate to get in touch with one of our team.