It's World Youth Skills Day on Saturday 15 July
- Friday, July 14, 2023
- Posted By The Growth Company
As we celebrate World Youth Skills Day on 15th July 2023, we’ve reflected on the part GC Education & Skills plays to help young people fulfil their potential and how we’re actively contributing to the transformation of skills for the future.
We’re fortunate to work with local authorities, commissioners and employers to help support our young people in the best way we can. With the education landscape constantly evolving, with the rollout of T-Levels for example, we understand that we must have our finger on the pulse to support our local communities and future proof the economy.
We’ve had the pleasure of helping more than 6,477 learners over the last 12 months, many of those young people, and we aim to build on that success, recognising that young people are the future. So, we sat down with Jon-Paul Rimington, Managing Director of Education & Skills, to gather his thoughts on how we are making a positive difference to the youth of today:
What we do
What sets us apart is our ability to create environments better suited to people who may not thrive in traditional settings. We provide opportunities so that people can learn in ways that truly suit them. Over the years, we’ve worked hard to understand and identify key skills gaps. By aligning our efforts with the current and future needs of employment, we’re able to focus on specific areas for growth.
Both the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham and the Mayor of the Liverpool City-Region, Steve Rotheram have called for more opportunities for young people, particularly in the tech and green skills spaces.
In response to this, we’ve successfully explored bootcamps and collaboration with employers to upskill people. Mayor Andy Burnham opened our Green Skills Academy in Trafford Park earlier this year, praising the facility we’ve created, joining forces with multiple employers to recognise their workforce needs and deliver the training needed to futureproof their business and the workforce of the future. Similarly, on a recent visit Mayor Steve Rotheram praised the positive impact that that our St Helens Training Centre is having on young people in the region.
Our aims for the future
We really want to make sure that we’re delivering in specialist areas and delivering well; we’re constantly reviewing skills needs and gaps across the region for today and the future. We’ve already done a huge part of that in priority areas such as construction, care, digital, and green skills, but we must continue tailoring our programmes to meet the evolving needs of our community.
Understanding collaboration is also the key to our success. Bringing together specialist organisations to delve into the needs of communities to make sure our educational provision is delivered in the right way to get the best possible outcomes for our learners.
Thanks and recognition
One of the things I take a huge amount of pride in, is that we're massively inclusive - we have huge amount of diversity. A lot of our offering is heavily community based. Making sure we’re an accessible, open door, is important to us. It’s something across the board, where we as a business, genuinely live by our values. So, as we continue to drive improvements in all areas, we’ll continue to honour inclusivity.
Personally, I’m most proud of the team for building trusting relationships with our commissioners and pursuing future opportunities. Every day we witness success thanks to our amazing team, who work tirelessly to transform the lives of our learners.
We deliver with passion, and we’re passionate about what we do. Hearing how our dedicated learners have overcome their educational barriers is extremely rewarding. For the future, we hope to not only grow but to grow through quality, transforming the lives of young people in the process.
Here more from Jon-Paul in this short video: