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EA Meeting Notes 28th April 2021

Thank you to our Enterprise Advisers for attending this meeting. Below are some the action points raised during the meeting as well as the EC notes from the breakout rooms. If you were not able to attend, hopefully this will provide you with a little detail and we hope to see you next time.

Agenda

10am Arrival and welcome

10.10 Introduction and Notices

10.25 Skills Action Plan

10.35 Break out room discussions

11am Resources for you

11.15 Round up and Close

ACTIONS & CONTENT BELOW

See EA Training Opportunities
Note new EA meeting format and schedule
Complete or update your website profile
Digital Poverty/Digital Capital information and questions to ask
Skills Action Plan Summary
Breakout room notes

Upcoming EA learning opportunities

EA and Employer SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) training available

SEND Awareness for Enterprise Advisers

11 May 14:00 – 16:00

This webinar aims to support Enterprise Advisers to feel more confident when working with Schools, Special Schools and Colleges around young people with SEND. Attendees will explore who the young people are to ensure they can better support Careers Leaders in their careers education development work.

Supporting Employers webinar series: Working with Young People with SEND

25 May, 15:00 – 16:30

This event will be the second in a series of peer learning events for Cornerstone Employers, Enterprise Advisers and other interested employers, with practical guidance and examples on the topic area.

The objectives of the session are:

To build employer confidence in engaging with pupils with SEND (including areas such as Health and Safety and Safeguarding)
To increase employer understanding of barriers to entry for pupils with SEND and how they can adjust their activities to improve access
To share best practice and great examples of engagement with young people with SEND across the employer network
To help employers to understand how to actively support schools, colleges and young people with SEND
To encourage more employers towards designing activities for pupils with SEND and actively seeking their participation
To raise awareness of the support available through the SEND employer resource created by CEC and Talentino

New EA meeting schedule

In response to feedback about time allocated to EA peer to peer support and free discussion, we have changed our meeting schedule to allow get-togethers monthly, with alternate aims. One more strategically focussed with input from us Enterprise Coordinators, the other allowing time for general discussion and support, problem solving and sharing.

We’re calling these meetings, FOCUS and DROP-IN. A meet will take place on the last Wednesday of every month, we’ll send a diary invite that will indicate which of the two meeting types it will be. As always we’ll be excited to see you there.

As we make our way into a changed economy and working practices, we have high hopes for realising potential this year, and raising the aspirations of our schools and college careers programmes.

A visual below outlines the changes.

Have you got a profile on our website? Does it need updating?

Having a profile on our website is a good way of showcasing your support, and helps new EAs see different types of people with diverse expertise, already working in the role.

Whether updating your profile or completing for the first time, just fill in our website profile form and return it to your Enterprise Coordinator.

EA website profile form here

Digital Poverty/Digital Capital

A guide for Enterprise Advisers

As an Enterprise Adviser, you will know that Digital Poverty is a serious issue. Inevitably, this is impacting more on those students who are disadvantaged socially or economically.

This short information and support sheet outlines and defines the issue, gives EAs some poignant questions to ask of their schools, as well as where to find help

Digital Poverty/Digital Capital info and questionnaire here

CIoS Skills Action Plan

The Local Skills Report has been developed by the CIoS LEP’s Employment & Skills Board (ESB).

The ESB is responsible for providing strategic leadership that aligns the supply and demand for employment and skills, resulting in transformational change for current and future generations.

In January 2021, DfE published its White Paper “Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth,” which set out a number of reforms aimed at putting employers more firmly at the heart of the skills system. The implementation of the Skills Action Plan is key to the development of this work in our local context.

Read the Skills Action Plan Summary here

Breakout Room Discussion notes

Groups were asked to discuss the current landscape, and what skills were now more needed than ever.

Room 1

Overwhelming positivity in terms of firms seeking to recruit – especially in relation to the hospitality Industry
Recruitment challenges can be linked to a lack of housing options through the private rental market and shorter seasonal contracts
Minack Theatre have successfully recruited young workers this year
EAs identified a need to promote apprenticeships to schools
Need clear lines of communication with schools and colleges through the Careers Leader who isn’t always responsive

Sarah Hathaway shared the latest Institute for Student Employers research students lacking skills that employers need in these times: https://ise.org.uk/page/graduates-lack-work-ready-skills-that-businesses-need-during-covid-era

Sarah also shared that ISE membership was now open to schools for free if EAs were interested/able to talk to schools about this: https://ise.org.uk/page/school-membership

Room 2

We talked about what skills were needed to enter the workplace and succeed..

Communication – top of the list. But communication in all its forms including actively listening. We need to be as good at communicating formally as informally, in a virtual setting and in person, over the phone and in email. Having a flexibility in communication styles, and understanding formal business language.
Self-sufficiency – ability to work independently without needing to be constantly supervised.
Positivity – able to work with older colleagues and contribute to a positive working environment
Responsibility – showing a mature attitude.

Our last comments were that employer still ‘recruit for attitude’.