Tate & Lyle to drive manufacturing diploma
Ken Wilson, community affairs manager at Tate & Lyle and an employer champion for the Diploma in Manufacturing and Product Design (MPD), certainly has his work cut out promoting the qualification.
It's not seen as being as sexy as diplomas in, say, hair & beauty or hospitality, although it can often bear long-term fruit in terms of full-time recruits. But the real sticking point is how to reach smaller businesses without the resources of larger players, he says. "I have spoken to smaller businesses and they have a real problem. It's a question of what you can do and what you can't do with them."
The Diploma programme requires the support of employers, schools and colleges, united in regional consortia, to make it work. Students split their time between classroom, college and the workplace, with a minimum requirement of 10 days' work experience.
The situation is exacerbated in that, apart from his own employer and London City Airport, there are precious few bigger players in the London Borough of Newham, where he works. He is forced to focus on the small to medium-sized enterprises.
It's difficult to find the time to talk to smaller firms about the MPD, and he has to start from a fairly low awareness of it. As a qualification, it is in its infancy - it is not officially launched until September.
Even the overall 14-19 year-old diploma system is not yet well-established. "If I went to Newham Chamber of Commerce, which consists of smaller businesses, and I was to say, 'what do you think of the 14-19 year-old diploma, what are the benefits for you?' I think they would ask, 'what's that?'"
In addition, in the current economic climate, it's tough to convince businesses of the value of devoting any time at all in supporting school involvement in the MPD, he says. And that includes listening to the initial sales pitch. "I fear everyone's mind is elsewhere at the moment," says Wilson.
But there are ways forward. One way to build contacts is to make use of Newham's Trident Programme, which co-ordinates work experience placements for school children, says Wilson. "They have an enormous database of businesses for work experience and I will be trying to get them into the Diploma programme."
Wilson believes a one-to-one approach to businesses is the best way to explain the Diploma scheme, as opposed to impersonal leaflet drops and he wishes he had a whole team to engage in this face-to-face work.
Tate & Lyle has forged links with schools in Newham through the local Education Business Partnership, of which Wilson is a board member. In 2008 the company engaged with more than 1,000 local young people through work experience, site visits and school presentations.
