What is Developing the Young Workforce?

Developing the Young Workforce (DYW), Scotland’s Youth Employment Strategy, is a seven year programme that aims to better prepare children and young people from 3-18 for the world of work. It is the Scottish Government’s response to Education Working for All!, the final report from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce, which contains 39 recommendations following extensive consultations with leading figures in education, business and equalities groups.

DYW builds on the foundations already in place as part of Curriculum for Excellence. It aims to reduce youth unemployment by 40% by 2021.

New standard for work experience

The plan includes a commitment to develop a new standard for work experience:

A modern standard should be established for the acceptable content and quality of work experience, and guidelines should be made available for employers. This should be developed by Education Scotland in partnership with employer bodies and Skills Development Scotland. This should involve input from young people. Work experience should feature in the Senior Phase Benchmarking Tool and in Education Scotland school inspections.

(Recommendation 3, Education Working for All, Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce Final Report, 2014)

The Work Placement Standard draws heavily on the key messages in Building the Curriculum 4, skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work. It provides useful guidance and support, clarifying expectations about work placements, along with the other two documents in the suite, the Career Education Standard (3-18) and Guidance on School/Employer Partnerships.

The Developing the Young Workforce report highlights the need to start pathways in the senior phase which lead to the delivery of industry recognised vocational qualifications alongside academic qualifications.

The report recognises the key role played by the regional colleges in the development of Scotland’s young workforce and the importance of colleges’ primary focus to be on employment outcomes and supporting local economic development.

Effective partnerships with schools, employers and other strategic partners are pivotal in helping ensure that opportunities for learning are available to meet the needs of all young people. By contextualising learning and aligning the curriculum to occupational practice and standards we can ensure the skills, knowledge and understanding gained by learners at college, are valued and relevant.

Colleges also have an important role to play in providing support for learners at risk of disengaging from learning and helping ensure that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) sits at the heart of development of Scotland’s young workforce.

The Certificate of Work Readiness (CWR) has been developed for employers, using the key attributes they look for when employing staff. A mixture of work experience and employer assessments lie at the heart of the Certificate and prove that a young person, aged 16 to 19, has reached an employer defined standard.

The certificate has benefits for employers and employees. For employers it has the following key benefits:

• Helps employers hire ‘job ready’ staff
• Employer controlled and endorsed employee development
• Support from a training provider
• No requirements to pay a wage although the young person may be eligible for a training allowance.

The certificate gives a young person the chance to demonstrate the value they can bring to a business. Employers can help them earn a certified SQA qualification which demonstrates that they have the right work experience for the career they want.

For the young person it has the following key benefits:

• A foot in the door with employers in an increasingly difficult employment climate
• Earn an industry recognised SQA accredited qualification upon completion
• Gain work experience.

We are engaging with the college sector to explore opportunities for incorporation of CWR delivery within mainstream provision, particularly within courses where work experience is already included.

The Certificate of Work Readiness (CWR) has been developed for employers, using the key attributes they look for when employing staff. A mixture of work experience and employer assessments lie at the heart of the Certificate and prove that a young person, aged 16 to 19, has reached an employer defined standard.

The CDN Work Readiness Activities Pack has been designed to complement existing teaching materials in relation to the Certificate of Work Readiness. The activities within the pack are interactive and a fun way to engage young people and enhance their learning. They will help you work with students to discuss and explore employability skills.

Browse CDN LearnOnline for other useful resources.