The job readiness of young people leaving education has long been a concern for UK employers. The Deloitte Employability Skills Initiative teaches students across the country vital employability skills, helping them learn and demonstrate the capabilities and attitudes that will help them succeed in the job market and make an immediate contribution to their employers. The programme has developed significantly in 2012 thanks to a new partnership with Pearson Group Plc – the world’s leading education company and one of our clients.
In a recent survey conducted by the CBI and sponsored by Education Development International (EDI), many employers find that school and college leavers lack important skills. Nearly 70 per cent of companies say students have inadequate business and customer awareness, and over half perceive weaknesses in school leavers’ personal-management skills.
Deloitte Employability Skills impact in numbers:
- 1,800 students enrolled on the Deloitte Employability Skills course this year, taking the total number of participants to 20,500.
- Over 120 new trainers have attended the CPD programme for college trainers and 97 per cent of trainers who have previously taken the course feel that it has enhanced their teaching skills.
- 250 Deloitte volunteers took part on the programme, delivering workshops in colleges to supplement core modules.
- 92 per cent of trainers on the course feel that students are more secure about gaining employment after starting the course.
We have also seen increasing demand for volunteering places and have started to review diversification of volunteering opportunities. With Pearson taking over the operational side of delivering the BTEC Level 2 Deloitte Certificate in Further Education Colleges, we have reviewed how we can increase impact and take-up of this programme, both to students and for our people.
This includes looking at where the Employability Skills Initiative will support our social mobility agenda and fair access strategy. We are working towards improving how we evaluate and demonstrate the impact of the programme. We hope to start to develop Social Return on Investment (SROI) frameworks for demonstrating the value of the programme in the longer term.
“We live in a knowledge economy where having the right skills and understanding is vital if you want to be successful in your chosen career. Our partnership with Deloitte will mean that even more people will now have the opportunity to learn the vital workplace skills that businesses tell us that they want their employees to have. We are really excited to be working with Deloitte to provide a recognised BTEC qualification that will help people make progress in their lives.”
Rod Bristow, President of Pearson UK
