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People make the difference
Recently I read an excellent article by Angela Smith titled: How can FE providers effectively communicate with NEET young people? FE providers are Further Education colleges and NEET means not in education employment or training. FE colleges are the most likely step for NEETs to take – starting a course which could lead to training and possibly an apprenticeship and or a work placement.
The government’s target for 2010 was to reduce NEETs to 7.6%, but UCU statistics show it is at 9.8%; and Angela’s article gave excellent tips on how Colleges can effectively engage NEET young people. She made reference to a great partnership between Blackburn and Darwen’s Connexions, which have seen their NEET numbers fall to 6.7%. I found it particularly interesting the article [which you can read here] made reference to Red Bull and the reason their campaigns to young people are so successful. It is engagement; and Red Bull has understood their audience, so dialogues WITH them. It has a clear message – who they are aiming at and what their values are; and young people can identify and ‘buy’ into that! So could this approach be adopted in education? Absolutely! Especially for NEETs who have issues and need to be engaged with to see that there is life other than what they know. For them, they are constantly told what to do and so far it hasn’t worked apart from the case above. They have dialogued ‘with’ not ‘to’, and it clearly has made a difference.
The one point I would add (which may be obvious!) is that such a campaign is only as good and successful as the people behind it – especially those who will implement it. The ‘frontline’ workers who will often sit down with the young people and go through the options, providing advice to each NEET depending on their social and personal circumstance are the people who make the difference. How many times have we heard of teachers who made a difference in people’s lives? All the time! “It was because Mr X or Mrs Y who took the time to sit with me, that made a difference to my education”; and to me this is no different. Yes a vision can be set out but for it to actually make the difference, workers need to encouraged and empowered to go the extra mile to realise the extra rewards. So what are your thoughts? Who has anyone made a difference in your life?
What kind of apprentice do you want?
I was at a women’s conference recently and networking (as you do!); and in conversation with a young lady talking about my job. I told her about my programme ‘having a positive attitude’ which targets 16-19 years olds in Further Education Colleges and those not in education employment or training (NEETs). I said basically I look to shape young people’s attitudes for the workplace; focusing on a range of issues from attitudes to other people’s property, ethics, society, and politics to challenges etc.
She said she wished someone had talked to her what to expect and what was expected of her before she started her 1st job because the initial weeks were miserable for her! She learnt the hard way and really was fortunate to have supervisors who were willing to give her enough time to settle in. She said she saw herself in others who joined the office after her as they had the same issues.
It was interesting to compare her comments to today, and the students I see. Since our conversation, I have run some taster sessions of the programme at one of my local colleges and it was obvious to me (and the teachers actually!) how little the students know and understand these issues as they prepare for apprenticeships and work placements. After all my sessions (and I run them in double digits now!), the teachers have come up to me and ask if I can deliver a session to another group of students. Of course I am willing to do this, but once they realise my services are not free, their faces drop! They have no budget! No budget to cover anything other than for ‘core’ subjects which about the skill/ability – preparing them for such apprenticeships. But what about the ‘soft’ skills, young people need as well, don’t they?
So there is a gap! A gap that career development offices don’t cover because of their scope is limited and yes, resources. But the question still remains – whose responsibility is it? And before you say parents, I would say what if the parents are not in a position to do that – for whatever reason? Majority of the young people I have seen in these colleges come from low income families, so to an extent lack social skills and values; as one teacher said “they only see things through their own eyes, forgetting there’s a world out there that could see things differently!” And really that’s what I do – I open their mindsets to a possible, different way of seeing things which they seem to appreciate.
And if your organisation operates an apprenticeship or workplacement scheme, wouldn’t you want people who have both core and soft skills? Everyone has or is facing budget cuts – Further and Higher Education are no expection, but what happens to these young people? Is it enough to give them the ‘skills/ability’ to do a job, and not the ‘softer’, social skills to compliment their ablity? Soft skills are just as important, if not more in some cases.
If you took part or read comments on my poll on LinkedIn and on my website which asked – ‘what’s most required in the workplace – skill, attitude, accountability or integrity?’; you would have seen attitude and integrity came top.
Why should I care so much and share my concerns with you? Well I think everyone should care because it affects us all – if your organisation operates an apprenticeship or work placement scheme, you should care about the quality and calibre of people coming on your scheme – it has to be a worthwhile experience for both you and the apprentice. And even if your organisation doesn’t operate a scheme, then think about it for the long term – a strong workforce translates into a stronger economy. If this strikes a cord with you, and are interested in supporting this programme at a grassroots level through perhaps your CSR policy; and/or want to share your ideas on this issue, I look forward to hearing from you.
Skill v Attitude – would you rate one over the other in the workplace?
Perhaps you are teacher or career’s adviser in a school/college and you have just one work placement position, what would be more important to your client (the organisation)? Or perhaps you are the client – an entrepreneur, or employee of a small/large organisation, what would mean more to you in a student – skill or attitude?
I once heard someone say “You can teach anyone the skill, but if they don’t have the right attitude, they can’t deliver”, I agree with that, but wonder what I would do if I had to choose between both skill and attitude, which would I consider a priority? If I had two very good candidates vying for a position within DCT, what would swing it for me if the difference was between skill and attitude? Or is this a no-brainer? Would it depend on the circumstances? The candidates and the position they were applying for? Or should it matter at all?
Let’s say it is a back-office position where he/she wouldn’t have any contact with clients…etc, I guess the skill would come more important, and before attitude – in terms of ‘must-haves’; but if it was a personal assistant position, attitude would be more relevant, right? Well you may wonder why I am concerned about something so trivial (to some!) when there are ‘other’ more important things going on in the world around us; but I think it is important if you are interested in the next generation and/or would be recruiting them in the near or not so distant future.
Recently I went to deliver the ‘Having a positive attitude’ programme to a Further Education (FE) College. I always enjoy these sessions because it is really interesting listening to young people – their views on life around them – family, school, ethics etc. I always learn something new which is very refreshing. As usual some students are not interested compared to others. Some were actually sending text messages during the talk. And no, I didn’t tell them to stop and pay attention – they had a choice – either to pay attention and learn or spend the time on what they considered more important. What would have been the point really? They knew it was wrong! To me it demonstrated their attitude – Full stop.
I had a chat with the teacher afterwards, and he had put together a good group of students to listen to me, so they were quite switched on, had goals and he said all of them are more likely to go to university; which was very encouraging – education is very important. But as I thought about how the session went, I said to myself if anyone from this group came to me for an intern position, attitude would triumph over skill.
And I don’t think my decision would change if I was faced with recruiting between 2 good candidates for a permanent, I would always choose attitude over skill, for the simple reason you can train anyone up to have the necessary skill levels required because they already have the right attitude to learn, rather than have someone who thinks they know it all, and probably drive me crazy everyday with an attitude that stinks!
So what would you base your decision on – skill or attitude? What factors would you take into consideration? Would answers differ if you worked for a corporate organisation or yourself or as a career’s advisor? Or does it matter at all? What do you think?
Giving hope to the next generation
About 3 weeks ago, I got asked to deliver a series of talks on ‘having a positive attitude’ to different groups of level 1 and 2 learners at my local Further Education College. I had a great experience with the students I saw, but was struck by how needed the talks are for this generation of young people who face huge challenges.
You never really know with young people how they are feeling on any day, do you? You just hope you come across as approachable – on ‘their’ level to reach them. Anyway I started off with an ice-breaker to warm them up; which asked them to think of a positive word that best described them using the 1st letter of their name. Interesting eh? In all of the groups, they initially laughed, but gradually saw the value. I realised it was alien for them to think about something positive about themselves; I certainly got their attention!
‘Having a positive attitude’ is interactive, because I believe for anything like this to be meaningful to young people, you have to invite them to be active participants and take responsibility in their learning to achieve their goals; it can’t be about me ‘telling’ them what I think. Anyway, we talked about where their attitudes come from, and how it impacts the ability to learn effectively, people around them and society at large. Within these contexts, we talked about how they were going to achieve their goals and the future.
Majority of the students were young men, and were honest about their opinions, which really made it easier for me to challenge mindsets and get them to come to their own conclusions about their future. Someone said “You can always teach people skills but the attitude is what they need to deliver”.
Did I win everyone over? No but almost! The feedback was a very good indicator of how much of an impact I made – I definitely struck a cord there! After one session, one young man actually walked up to me to say ‘thank you’ for everything we talked about. I was humbled because I could see on his face that he got it! You see young people are not all bad; you just have to find a way to relate to them and their circumstances. The written comments were equally as complimentary, and I was thrilled that it was worth their time.
To read the full report, please click here.
Young fathers inside
Over the summer, I watched a play called ‘Fathers Inside’, centred on young fathers in prison attending a workshop to explore what fatherhood meant to them. The workshop was organised because they were either fathers or about to become fathers, and wanted to help them identify actions they were going to take when they got out to establish or improve their relationships with their child/children. This thought-provoking play was brilliantly acted by a group of up and coming actors; and they convincingly portrayed all sorts of emotions and past memories of anger, pain, and frustration their characters were feeling.
They had to talk about their relationships with their father/father-figure, which turned out to be one of the triggers to how their lives had turned out the way it had. One character’s father was a criminal and was absent from home because he was in and out of jail so many times that he was more or less destined to followed in the same path – what else did he know? Even though he hated his father and way of life, he was repeating the cycle. The rest of the characters had similar heartbreaking stories of growing up in less than ideal circumstances, with their father’s absence playing a huge role of shaping them into who they had become.
Even mature men who are emotionally and financially ready to start fatherhood still face the odd anxiety, so I can’t imagine how a young father (between ages 14 and 25) feels and copes with the prospect of this impeding role. They are still too immature to fully understand the importance of fatherhood, so suffice it to say not very well – financially or emotionally. Then add ex-offender to that, and an already complex situation becomes further complicated. Some young fathers are fortunate to have family support and are motivated to complete their education or take up a vocation so they can provide for their child/children. But majority are really left to figure out the next steps of what life holds for them. So even those who want to do well by their children because of their own experience, invariably repeat the cycle of the absent father.
I know there are various ways to tackle this issue, but it is with this in mind that I have created the young fathers mentoring scheme. It is not geared specifically for young fathers who are ex-offenders but young fathers who maybe ex-offenders are welcome. I wouldn’t turn anyone away with a past history that is serious about taking this opportunity to turn his life around. The scheme is designed to raise aspirations, help restore self-confidence and self-belief and most importantly guide and support them to become someone their child/children can be proud to call Dad.
Anyone who chooses to mentor a young father would not have an easy task I agree, but it will be a very fulfilling time knowing that he would not only be contributing to improving one life, but potentially a whole community.
If you would like to explore the possibility of becoming a mentor, then call 020 3002 7899 for a non-obligatory chat; or visit http://www.divinecommunicationstrust.org.uk/young-fathers-mentoring-scheme for more information.
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