The government and apprenticeships pt1
In part one of a five part series, James Flanagan and Polly Newport explore the Coalition Goverment’s apprenticeship strategy. Funding and numbers The increasing importance this government attaches to apprenticeships is seen in the paper ‘Investing in Skills for Sustainable Growth [1]: published in 2010 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. It outlined […]
Sustainability: Recycling and refreshing your 360 programme
Are you going round in circles with your 360 programme? Jo Ayoubi gives us some tips to keep things fresh. 360 Degree Feedback is a critical exercise and a major investment of time and effort for the organisations that use it. That being said, it can also be a valuable tool for identifying, developing and […]
Research shows soaring demand for IT staff
The latest Technology Insights research report from e-skills UK, launched today, reveals that IT employment through to 2020 is forecast to grow at almost twice the UK average. A record 129,000 new recruits a year are needed to fill IT and telecoms jobs in the UK, both brand new jobs and to replace those leaving […]
How to make people listen
Stephen Walker talks us through the gentle art of speaking in public, the importance of rapport and points out a few basics of successful verbal communication. You don’t get very far in the training sector without having to stand up and talk to someone. Whether you are doing an internal meeting to promote a course […]
How to work with mixed ability groups
Alan Matthews provides the community with some great pointers on how to get the most out of a group of mixed ability. Many years ago, when I was a primary school teacher, it was normal to work with classes or groups of mixed abilities. This presented a challenge to the teacher, how to pitch the […]
Why we should be upskilling our workforce
Philip Whiteman, chief executive of sector skills council Semta discusses why science, engineering and manufacturing businesses should be upskilling their workforce and incorporating apprenticeships into their business plan. Despite being back in recession, the UK still has one of the world’s major manufacturing industries, contributing £140bn a year to the economy and over half of […]
TrainingZone Live 2012: Vox pops
Last month at TrainingZone Live we caught up with delegates and speakers to ask them: "Now that we're back in recession, will this see L&D departments revert to policies of three years ago?". Here's what they had to say. For more info on next year's event, click here For more info about Skill-Pill click here […]
Jeremy Humphries: “We have a vast array of fantastic talent”
What does the future look like for employees of the TV and film industry? We caught up with Skills2Film’s Jeremy Humphries to find out. What are the main L&D challenges surrounding film and TV professionals at the moment? I can speak from both sides of the camera on this – as a cameraman and […]
Oops – what about the users?
Sue Bird, director of operations at SkillSet Ltd, discusses key methods of ensuring that training is integrated successfully into system rollouts. The level of investment required for major system rollouts or upgrades means it is crucial that companies cover all bases to ensure the project is a success. However, the best laid plans can fall […]
Insight: A quarter of PwC’s graduate trainee intake this year will be former interns
As the UK’s biggest private sector employer of graduates, PwC comments on the key themes in the High Fliers The Graduate Market in 2012 report published today. Gaenor Bagley, PwC head of people, said: "Graduate recruitment is the lifeblood of our business. That’s why we continue to invest heavily in offering outstanding opportunities to students. […]
Future of learning: The L&D manager perspective
As part of our future of learning month, former acting editor Martin Couzins gets the view of two L&D manager about what the future holds. Flora Marriott, former L&D manager at Yell Adworks Be brave and don’t follow the herd. I really do hope that L&D professionals will get their binoculars out and […]
Going for skills gold
Mark Farrar tells the community how the olympic opportunity was leveraged for construction training. The London 2012 Games are a hot topic, and rightly so. But while the athletes and iconic venues attract a lot of attention, one less reported but similarly important aspect of the Games, is the skills strategy that was put in […]
Commercial skills: Making the rest as good as the best
Francis Marshall, MD of Cegos UK, looks at the importance of developing commercial skill. Strong commercial skills can make the difference between success and failure in today’s business environment, yet I am starting to question whether enough is actually being done to develop key skills such as sales, negotiation and customer relationship management – all […]
The new competency agenda
Some competencies are more valuable than others. Lynda Gratton’s latest research provides a route to the most valued competencies of tomorrow. At any point in time, some competencies are more valuable than others. Generally this is because they are easily seen to create value and others can judge them on these criteria; because they are […]
Getting a job in 2025: a look at future skills
Lynda Gratton’s new research identifies the careers and skills likely to be valued in the next decade. Even with my own three decades of knowledge about work, I find the future of work still incredibly difficult to predict. That’s why I created a research consortium designed to tap into ideas and knowledge from across […]
Growing your own – developing the future workforce
The next generation of skills are going to come from those you nurture from within the organisation, says Robin Hoyle. Before the gardeners among you get all excited about the prospect of veg tips, I’d better explain that I’m talking about managers – or senior team members or just specialists within your organisation. Every year […]
Majority of employers shun apprenticeships, survey reveals
Only one in five employers has taken on an apprentice over the last year, with the majority harbouring negative perceptions of the current workplace training system, a survey has revealed. And despite the personal urging of Prime Minister for businesses to take on more such trainees– even fewer firms (15%) plan to go down this […]
Learndirect launches Make it Count week
Learning and skills provider Learndirect has today launched Make It Count Week – an initiative to help raise the profile of learning for individuals and employers across the UK. The aim of Make It Count Week is to encourage 10,000 people to sign up to learning during the next seven days. Thirteen partners, including the […]
How Can I Motivate My Learners?
Quite often, I talk about the importance of making training sessions hands-on and interactive to utilise the various learning styles of the student, whether they be visual, audio or kinaesthetic or a mix of same, especially if the session is a lengthy one, running longer than one hour. Generally, after about an hour, participants tend […]
CBI report warns against government plans to extend training levies
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned against government plans to extend training levies or license to practice schemes. The employer group said the levy systems, which operate by charging employers in certain sectors a specified proportion of their wage bill which is then pooled and used to fund training grants within those […]
