‘Rebuild: a skills led recovery plan’, published by the Association of Colleges (AoC), warns of increased demand for college places as high unemployment crowds young people out of the labour market; large numbers of young people needing support to catch up as a result of lost learning in lockdown; reductions in apprenticeship places, a large number of apprentice redundancies and a shortage of new places for apprentices; and large numbers of adults requiring training to help them move from struggling sectors into those that recover more quickly, or even grow.
A £3.6 billion package of incentives for business, support for students and investment in colleges would help the 760,000 people most at risk of suffering economically in this recession. It would:
- guarantee a high quality, education or training place for every 16 to 18 year old funded to meet their needs and the learning lost
- offer a suite of work-focussed training programmes, including expanded traineeships and apprenticeships designed to get young people into jobs as soon as they become available
- provide support for adults who lose their jobs to train or retrain flexibly up to higher level technical/professional level, aimed at getting them back into the workforce as quickly as possible.
- help us provide additional training to manage their transition once back in work.
Group Principal and CEO, Dr Sam Parrett OBE says: “Colleges are central to rebuilding the economy, with skills and employment being at the heart of this recovery. The AoC Rebuild campaign places the FE sector centre stage in the national skills led recovery plans and I fully endorse this approach.
I’m proud to say that much of what the campaign hopes to achieve is already in place at London South East Colleges. We have strong employer partnerships and we have recently engaged in bold and ambitious discussions about ways of working together both during lockdown and beyond.
“We are here to support our employers as well as our students and to match skills with realistic employment opportunities. We have always focussed our education and training provision on preparing our students for their working lives. This means engaging not just our own workforce, but also our employers, community partners and stakeholders to constantly refine our curriculum providing young people and adults with skills geared to local labour markets.
“We are also offering advice, guidance and re-training for adults facing redundancy or considering changing careers as part of our support in kickstarting the economy.
Find out more and read the report by clicking here.
AoC/PW