A report by YouGov Plc, commissioned by the EDGE Foundation
This annual survey measures the extent and type of education-employer partnerships around the UK, looking at the perceptions of the value of employer engagement, levels of awareness about the opportunities and types of activities available, any barriers to partnership and perceptions about vocational qualifications Apprenticeships and 14-19 Diplomas (pp 64-108). Researchers carried out fieldwork from Sept-Oct 2009, receiving responses from 2,198 young people, 1,013 parents, 1,001 employers and 1,034 teachers (covering Key Stages 3 to 5). Data was weighted for a high number of variables, including gender, age, school/college type, current activity (e.g. working full time, on a training course), industry and government office region.
Key results include:
- The majority of teachers, employers, parents and young people want to see greater involvement of employers in the educational experiences of young people. Just 1% of teachers felt there was too much employer engagement at their school, and 59% thought there was too little. 51% of teachers know they have a nominated member of staff to deal with employers and these teachers are more likely to feel their school has the right amount of engagement
- 64% of employers work with schools with significant variations in engagement according to sector (92% for the public sector, 76% for voluntary and 54% for the private sector). However, two-thirds of employers “did not feel well informed about opportunities to engage”.
- A majority of employers identify recruitment opportunities and reputation building as the key benefits from partnership – a “significant minority” identify staff development opportunities, and staff motivation (and other productivity related motivations) as benefits.
- Of National Framework activities, a majority of schools have supported three – work experience, enterprise activities and workplace visits.
- Experiences of partnership are positive on all sides – however, one-third of young people have some negative experiences of their work placements (i.e. that they “did the same all day” or “only did mundane or routine tasks”).
EDGE Annual Programme of Stakeholder Surveys: Report – full report