Press Release
Date: Thursday 21 June 2005 (NR/16/05)
Local employers 'Go back to school'
Local employers have 'gone back to school' to help teachers prepare pupils for the world of work. To equip the employers for working in schools, CCEA and Business in the Community have developed a training programme to encourage employer representatives to engage in employability activities with schools in the West Belfast/Greater Shankill area.
To celebrate the success of this programme a presentation ceremony was held at the Springvale Millennium Centre. Staff representatives from Belfast City Hospital, Belfast Telegraph, Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education, Belfast City Council, Greenpark Healthcare Trust, Montupet UK Ltd, Bombardier Aerospace, Northern Ireland Court Service, Northern Ireland Housing Executive and Prudential Assurance were presented with certificates to mark their involvement in the training programme.
Cecil Holmes, CCEA Principal Officer for Curriculum Development comments;
"The school curriculum should play a significant part in preparing young people for the changing global economy and the world of work. Employers have a key role to play in supporting schools through education for employability. Employers should, therefore, have an understanding of the revised curriculum and how they could most effectively support school initiatives.
The CCEA training programme is aimed at informing and training employers to assist schools with implementing employability activities and enterprise skills so that the pupils' experiences are both relevant and stimulating."
If your organisation is interested in getting more information relating to Education for Employability please contact Jeanette Sproule, Project Officer (Education for Employability) CCEA, by calling 028 9026 1431 or emailing jsproule@ccea.org.uk
Education for Employability is one of the central elements in the CCEA proposals for the revised Northern Ireland Curriculum. Effective preparation for the world of work is an essential part of the general education of young people.
Education for Employability encompasses four dimensions:
- work in the local and global economy;
- career planning;
- enterprise and entrepreneurship;
- skills and capabilities for work.
This means that young people in Northern Ireland in the future will have the opportunity to experience progressively enterprise activities from primary school up to the age of eighteen.
Employers have a key role to play in supporting the preparation of young people for the world of work. Employers should therefore have a clear understanding of the revised curriculum and how they could most effectively support school initiatives.
Media enquiries to Ruth Maguire on (028) 9026 1216, Mobile 07796947993. E mail rhmaguire@ccea.org.uk
ENDS
Note to Editors
CCEA is the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.
CCEA places learners and those who have a concern for their educational and personal development at the forefront of its thinking. CCEA's mission is:
"To enable the full potential of all learners to be achieved and recognised"
What we do
CCEA is a unique educational body in the UK , bringing together the three areas of curriculum, examinations and assessment.
Advising Government – on what should be taught in Northern Ireland ’s schools and colleges.
Monitoring Standards – ensuring that the qualifications and examinations offered by awarding bodies in Northern Ireland are of an appropriate quality and standard.
Awarding Qualifications
– as Northern Ireland’s leading awarding body we offer a diverse range of qualifications, such as GCSEs, including the new GCSE Double Award specifications in vocational subjects, GCE A and AS levels, Entry Level Qualifications, and Graded Objectives in Modern Languages.
- CCEA also offers a range of Awards and Certificates in Education, Training and Skills (ACETS) targeted at learners who want to get
the knowledge, understanding and skills needed
to hit the ground running in the world of work.
