Employers are being urged to help raise the profile of their industry by contributing to a new website which highlights the exciting opportunities available in manufacturing.
The new site, dubbed ‘the employers' toolkit', is being put together by the team behind the development of the Diploma in Manufacturing and Product Design, which is due to be rolled out across schools in England from 2009. The site will feature case studies, videos, profiles and interactive question and answer sessions about manufacturing companies and will be targeted at teachers, parents and pupils in order to encourage more youngsters to consider a career in the industry.
Derek Jones, who is head of the development team behind the Diploma in Manufacturing and Product Design, said: "This toolkit offers employers a new way of communicating directly with potential recruits. Manufacturing is not very high on the careers wish-list of many young people, largely because they do not know as much about the industry as they do, say, media or retail. A lot of young people wrongly think that manufacturing only offers boring, low-paid jobs and that it isn't very exciting. Employers are in the best position to challenge these perceptions and demonstrate the huge range of opportunities manufacturing has to offer. The toolkit offers an easy way of doing this."
The toolkit is being designed to boost the numbers of young people taking the manufacturing diploma as an alternative to GSCEs and A-Levels.
As well as general information about companies, job roles and manufacturing operations, employers are also being encouraged to submit information about any links they have with schools and colleges for use as part of the toolkit.
The manufacturing diploma is one of 17 to be introduced in all schools by 2013. It will be taught via consortia of schools, colleges and employers, with the latter able to play a variety of roles in delivering the diploma. Examples of employers' roles might be helping to keep teachers up-to-date with industry practices or devising projects for pupils to undertake based on actual aspects of manufacturing. They will also be encouraged to offer work placements, host site visits or give talks - anything that will help bring the diploma to life for pupils and give their studies an applied, practical context.
The employers' toolkit will be hosted as a microsite within the main website for the manufacturing diploma. For more information about the diploma and how to submit your stories, visit the website for the Diploma in Manufacturing and Product Design, at http://www.manufacturingdiploma.co.uk/.
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