Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage employers to provide work experience opportunities to people in full-time education.
Answered by Nick Boles
We want young people to have opportunities to engage with employers and the world of work throughout their education. This should be an age appropriate approach which begins with work discovery activities in primary school.
We recognise that older children will benefit from an increasing range of employer interventions including inspiring talks, mentoring and work experience. That is why the employer-led Careers & Enterprise Company is increasing the level of employer input into schools and colleges. For example, by rolling out its Enterprise Adviser Network, which works closely with Local Enterprise Partnerships to connect employees from firms of all sizes to schools through a network of volunteer enterprise advisers drawn from business.
We want more young people to have the opportunity to take part in high quality work experience that helps to prepare them for the workplace and develop the employability skills that employers require. Work experience and work placements should be an integral part of most students’ 16-19 study programmes.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Lord Heseltine's report, Tees Valley: Opportunity unlimited, published on 7 June 2016, what assessment her Department has made of the feasibility of a University Technical College or Institute of Technology in the Tees Valley area.
Answered by Nick Boles
Lord Heseltine’s report recommends that, following the Tees Valley Post-16 Area Review, universities and local employers should consider whether technical based education provision in the form of either a University Technical College (UTC) or Institute of Technology (IoT) may help to address skill gaps and contribute to meeting the future needs of business.
The Government is committed to establishing a UTC or technical academy within reach of every city. As with other new academies, proposals to establish new UTCs and technical academies are submitted to the Department twice a year. The Department for Education would consider any proposals from the Tees Valley area as it would from elsewhere. The strongest applications that demonstrate a clear need and demand for their chosen specialisms in their local area are approved to develop their plans further.
The Baker Dearing Educational Trust is funded by the Department to support applicant groups and can be contacted to discuss future UTC proposals. The process for establishing IoTs has not started yet, so no assessment has been made regarding the feasibility of an Institute in the Tees Valley area.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will (a) establish an additional National Teaching Service (NTS) pilot in Teesside and (b) give priority to the Tees Valley in the NTS national roll-out in response to the recommendation in Lord Heseltine's report, Tees Valley: opportunity unlimited to prioritise the Tees Valley for national roll-out of the NTS.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In November 2015 we announced that by 2020 the National Teaching Service (NTS) will have placed 1,500 high-performing teachers and middle leaders into challenging schools in areas of the country that struggle to attract, recruit and retain high quality teachers.
The NTS was launched with plans for a pilot scheme in the North West of England from September 2016 with the aim of attracting 100 NTS teachers and middle leaders into schools in the region. The national programme will include a clear focus on delivering cohorts of NTS teachers and middle leaders into eligible schools in Achieving Excellence Areas (AEAs) as set out in the Educational Excellence Everywhere White Paper. We will confirm our plans for rolling out the NTS in due course.