Skills for Employability – Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Monday, 22 nd March 2010 Responding to the Economic Downturn Anna Labedzka Richmond Adult Community.

Skills for Employability – Enterprise and Entrepreneurship

Monday, 22nd March 2010

Responding to the Economic Downturn

Anna Labedzka

Richmond Adult Community College

Richmond Adult Community College

• Further Education College for adults, employers and young people

• Based in South West London in Richmond and Twickenham

• 12,000 adult 19 + students and 300 14-18 year old students

• Culturally Diverse

OUR MISSION

To enable adults to unlock their talent and fulfil their potential through learning, skills and enterprise.

RACC Annual Report 2008/9

Broad Range of Provision

• From Entry Level to Level 4 Higher Education• Vocational Qualifications, Adult Leisure Learning, Workplace

Training Higher Education provision• A wide curriculum range across all subject areas with the

largest areas being Preparation for Life & Work, Arts, Media & Publishing, Languages and Business & ICT

Strategic Objectives 2009-12

Our strategic aims for 2009-2012 are :• Curriculum development to meet changing needs, • Fostering enterprise skills, • Increasing dialogue with learners and stakeholders, • Progressing as a leading proponent and advocate of

equality and diversity, • Embedding stronger systems for safety and security, • Increasing engagement with employers and the wider

community, • Improving financial viability and value for money,• Contributing to a sustainable green economy.

Richmond upon Thames: Social & Economic Context

• Richmond upon Thames is a London Borough with a population of 180,000

• Well-located in South West London close to Heathrow with good links to Central London

• Well-educated and diverse community• Comparatively wealthy population, made up of a

high proportion of young professionals and the proportion of its population in the poorest segment is less than a third of the UK average

Social & Economic Context (cont.)

• Locally the main employment is in the service industries such as tourism, leisure and retail

• High level of commuting by resident professionals to Central London

• It has traditionally benefitted from a highly skilled workforce in which only 2.9% of adults hold no qualifications which is lower than the 8.7% average in London

Major London Tourism Destination

Impact of the Recession

• The Borough has experienced a very sharp rise in unemployment as a commuter suburb for the City of London.

• Not so rich in Richmond - There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of Richmond residents who are in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance since April 2008.

• Rising Unemployment in LBRUT 2008: 1154 2009: 2718

Impact of the Recession (cont.)

Employment opportunities? There is a mismatch between types of jobs available and types of job seekers has caused concern for local stakeholders. Vacancies are generally in low-skilled areas like retail, security and personal care while many of local job seekers have lost highly skilled jobs in financial services.

A Curriculum for Enterprise

• The College has recognised its vital role in helping local people to overcome barriers to employment and social inclusion, not just through training for employment but through learning for enterprise, well being and enhanced quality of life.

• The curriculum seeks to support our learners to achieve their potential by creating fresh starts and new opportunities for everyone.

A Curriculum for Enterprise (cont.)

• A key strength of the College is the workforce - professionally and industrially active lecturers who are experts in their field.

• The College is an outstanding teaching facility and a hub of expertise on enterprise generation in key industrial sectors.

Recession Busting Courses

• “Start your course for success” theme was introduced in 2008/2009 (Summer Term)

• There was a number of “recession busting” courses priced as low as £1 per hour.

• Courses on offer in 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 have been focussed on developing:

- enterprise (business start ups, E-bay for business, self-confidence development)

- business survival (introduction to PR, marketing and advertising)

- volunteering - skills for re-employment and career change

Business and Media Courses

• Business and Enterprise courses ranging from NVQs to Diploma in Business Management (levels 1-5). A large proportion of the business and media courses cater for the potential business owner or self-employed.

• Working closely with the Head Office of Ebay based in Richmond the College delivers a whole suite of enterprise courses around e-commerce from 1 day tasters up to Foundation Degree Level.

Recession Busting Events

The College has adopted a pro-active role in helping the local community to cope with the economic downturn

• Business Breakfast (November 2008) – the event offered businesses a chance to network and meet College’s training team.

• Surviving Recession Day (March 2009) – the event was aimed at individuals and families. It was large scale all day free event with 16 exhibitors from public, voluntary and private sectors and 22 workshops

Recession Busting Events (cont.)

• Careers and Enterprise Days (July & November 2009) – free afternoon events aimed at individuals facing unemployment, redundancy or considering a career change. A number of workshops was offered including ‘Becoming Self-Employed’, ‘Routes into Teaching’, ‘Application Writing and Interviews’

Professional and Executive Seminars

• The College actively contributed to the organisation of the seminars addressed to professionals facing redundancy or unemployment. First series (three seminars for the same group of people) was organised in September 2009. The following key features were addressed:

- CV writing

- how to become self-employed

- career planning

- financial information

- careers advice and life coaching

- courses offer• The seminars were hailed a success and additional series followed in

January 2010.

Recession Recovery in Richmond upon Thames

• The College has been actively involved in the recession recovery activities co-ordinated by the Business, Skills and Economic Development Partnership (BSEP, a thematic partnership of the Local Strategic Partnership) chaired by the Principal.

• RACC, on behalf of BSEP, led the research on help and assistance offered by partners in the economic downturn.

Recession Recovery (cont.)

• Two information leaflets were produced based on the outcome of the exercise: - The leaflet for individuals provides advice on what to do and where to get help from local partners.

- The leaflet for businesses focuses on where to get financial & start up advice for new and existing businesses.

• In total 8000 copies of these publications were distributed in the Borough. Electronic versions of both leaflets are available on College’s website http://www.racc.ac.uk

Benefits for Learners – Creation of Entrepreneurs

• The College has measured the impact of its courses since 2005 using destination survey of a sample of 20% of learners.

• The area that has seen the greatest change between 2005-2008 was the area of enterprise outcomes. In 2005 23% felt enabled to be self-employed or start a business as a result of undertaking learning at RACC. By 2008 31% respondents (475 students) replied positively that they had either started a new business, gave them an opportunity to charge for their work, enabled them to work professionally in this area, enabled them to become self-employed or set up their own enterprise.

Benefits for Learners (cont.)

• The “enterprise” category was split into four sub-categories as following:

- Started a new business (9% ) - Gave me the opportunity to charge for my work

(30% ) - Enabled me to work professionally in this area

(44%) - Enabled me to become self-employed (17%)

Does it work? What the Students and Participants say

‘It was a thoroughly enjoyable course which has encouraged me to set up my own business. I would add that I would not have embarked on the HNC/HND had I not first whet my appetite at an evening leisure course in jewellery.’ Jewellery student

‘As a result of this course, two other students and myself have set up our own gardening business. It has enabled me to change my career and improve my quality of life.’ Horticulture student

Does it work? (cont.)

‘Superb advice given – exceeded expectations’ Feedback from Careers & Enterprise Days

‘I just wanted to thank you very much for organising this event. I thought it was exceptionally well run and the speakers were very interesting. It has certainly got me in the right frame of mind to get going with my plans’ Feedback from Careers & Enterprise Days