Looking to build a workforce fit for the future? unLTD’s Jill Theobald meets Barnsley College’s enterprise team leader Gareth Stewart to find out why student industry placements are a ‘two-way street’ of growth and development for Sheffield City Region employers
It’s fair to say when it comes to further education and workforce development, Barnsley College has a fair few accolades and achievements to its name.
Crowned the Outstanding BTEC Apprenticeship Provider of the Year 2017 at the national BTEC Awards, ranked second in the country by NICDEX – an annual league table of more than 200 colleges published by FE Week – and not to mention, top college in Yorkshire for learner satisfaction in a recent national government survey.
But the college, attended by over 10,000 students, is also running two important programmes that could help businesses across the Sheffield City Region with their own growth, development – and perhaps even land a few accolades of their own as a result.
The college’s Gareth Stewart explains: “My role at Barnsley College is two-fold. As enterprise team leader I’m there engaging with students wanting to start their own business and helping them develop their employability skills, as well as bringing in businesses who can help with that via guest speaker slots, workshops and work placements.
“We also run two programmes – one is the College Enrichment Programme to help students develop more ‘worldly wise’ qualities on an individual level on issues they might face like mental health or healthy relationships.
“The second hat I wear is with the Industrial Placements Team and the work placement programme through that. There’s a huge change coming in further education with the introduction of T Levels in 2020 and that will really shake up work placements.
“That’s because every vocational qualification at level 3 will have to undertake an industrial placement relevant to their course. Where previously you could spend two weeks in a sector just to gain an understanding of the world of work, for T levels you will have to spend 45 days or 315 hours over a year or two years – and in a sector relevant to your course.
“Our central coordination team has been busy already building positive links with businesses across a variety of sectors in Sheffield City Region and beyond. So our Animal Management students might be placed with farms, wildlife trusts, vets and pet shops, Business students with accountancy firms, and Sports, Travel and Tourism students are working with after school clubs and sports academies, hotels and travel agents.
“Where we have more of a task is often finding placements with those in the construction and engineering sectors where it can be trickier to facilitate on-site roles as opposed to office-based ones.
“Now we want to reach even more employers in the run-up to the launch of T Levels because there is a resource here for them – hundreds, perhaps thousands, of students needing an industrial work placement in their specific sector.
“The work placement opportunity will help shape each student’s perceptions of what it’s like to work in your industry and give them hands-on experience within the work place.
“Students will need to be flexible about their expectations – not everyone wanting to be a flight attendant will be straight on a jumbo jet! – but we may be able to work with a hotel, for example. In fact, we do often point out that planes are effectively hotels in the sky!
“And it is very much a two-way street. Not only do we offer free meeting room hire space and discounted gym and facilities access to businesses providing industry placements or becoming guest speakers, but most employers realise that by helping young people they are helping themselves and their businesses.
“That might be because someone who joins on an industry placement goes on to an apprenticeship or really impresses them and they land a job.
“This is the potential workforce of the future and they may well also be able to introduce new ideas, energy and perspective into your workforce. Our media students, for example, are skilled in areas like graphic design, photography and digital which means well-established businesses will be able to benefit from their up-to-date knowledge and industry know-how.
“And that’s not the only benefit to the business – others include enhancing your brand image and reputation, developing supervisory skills within your business and, ultimately, identifying and recruiting future talent more cost effectively.”
Interested in providing an industry placement?
For more information, contact Gareth and the Work Placement team at Barnsley College:
Telephone: 01226 216 840
Email: workplacements@barnsley.ac.uk
Web: www.barnsley.ac.uk/
Twitter: @barnsleycollege
