INTERVIEW


the Chamber’s Enterprising Women Awards in the Social Commitment category. It was an opportunity, says Louise, to take stock and recognise the team’s achievements. “It was very much about the team,” suggests Louise. “There are males in that team as well but we have a


team that is quite heavily driven by females and they are great role models. “We’ve worked really hard over recent years to further


develop what we are doing and what we deliver as well as our relationships with the business community and schools in the local area in the East Midlands. It was good to step back, celebrate and realise what we have achieved.” With the national conversation surrounding skills


increasingly growing in volume, how joined up is this crucial area and is there an agreed, recognised and united emphasis on developing skills in young people that links in with what businesses need both now and in the future? “There is some significant work going on at the moment


around the future skills agenda. It’s something we are looking to embrace even more in the work we do. “I think we all need to push forward and fully embrace


the future skills initiative, getting young people to think outside the box and recognise that what they see as the jobs for them at the moment may not be what’s there in the future and getting them to think about how transferrable their skills are – that’s absolutely critical to their success. “There are pockets of really good practice and positive


developments, although it can be quite cyclic at times. In the past you had schools with really good careers advisers, then they lost these due to funding cuts but now the role of careers is being championed again and we have the Careers and Enterprise Company coming back in with a similar message, recognising organisations such as ourselves that are working on this agenda. The important thing is that the current trajectory is maintained.” Subject to confirmation, Learn by Design is set to


collaborate with the Chamber on an exciting new skills project, alongside other partners, in the coming months – with further information to follow. It’s a project that Louise is looking forward to working


on. “One of the key elements to get across is the excitement


the project brought about at Learn by Design when we first saw it advertised because we are true believers in really making an impact early on. “The partnership work and collaboration is growing and


there is a real desire between both education and employers to make that work – it’s going to be very rewarding to work closely with the Chamber to make a difference and I am looking forward to more details becoming available in due course.” Given Learn by Design’s strong focus on the East Midlands – as well as its work across the country – is there a broad brush approach when it comes to developing skills


in young people, or is a nuanced strategy required depending on each individual area? “As a national provider you get more traction for certain


types of workshops and projects in some areas more than others. Schools are more welcoming in some areas, for example, so it is very different depending on where you are,” explains Louise. “For example we work with the National College for High


Speed Rail in the Doncaster and Birmingham areas so we do a huge amount of work around rail and people in these areas want to engage with that. “In Derby we do a lot of work with the Rail Forum


Midlands and there is a real desire to capitalise on the city’s reputation and opportunities surrounding rail and manufacturing, whereas you might not necessarily get that elsewhere where it isn’t perhaps such a prominent industry.” So what of the future of the skills agenda and what are


the major pathways to success in this area? For Louise, inspiring the young, even earlier intervention and a forging and harnessing of the links between academia and business will be key moving forward. “There’s a growing understanding that career-related


learning is critical in those early stages – showing young people what’s available in their local community and then broadening their horizons and bringing role models in to talk to them. More employers are beginning to see that the earlier they start to engage with young people the better equipped they will be when they get to the age where they are looking for employment and they’ll understand the progression routes more effectively,” argues Louise. “There are some fantastic employer ambassadors out


there and we can help develop them to go in and work with young people – there are so many ways we can start to get young people to understand how their learning at school will translate into future career success. “The positive, especially in Derby, is that a lot of this


Learn by Design works in every corner of the UK


‘More employers are beginning to see that the earlier they start to engage with young people the better equipped they will be when they get to the age where they are looking for employment’


52 business network April 2019


work started prior to the Careers and Enterprise Company being set up with the work, for example, that the Derbyshire Education Business Partnership (DEBP) and E4E do, so there are a number of organisations that have had this level of engagement at the core of what they are doing for a long time. “It’s always been there, it’s just getting a lot more


positive backing and that provides opportunities. The focus is really on skills in young people now and I am hopeful there is going to be a real push forward towards developing young people. There’s a lot of momentum behind it and that’s encouraging – although there’s clearly more work to be done.”


The National Big Bang Fair is a key focus for Learn by Design


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