Manufacturers & Schools ChallengeLaunch eventAt Pipex px14th July 2015

Steve Gerry Plymouth Manufacturers’ Group

Who are we?

The Plymouth Manufacturers' Group or 'PMG' was formed in 1977.As the name suggests, its a network for manufacturers in the Plymouth area.

Who are we?

We have over sixty members employing thirteen thousand people across a diverse range of businesses from large inward investors to small private firms.

Who are we?

Plymouth’s manufacturing sector adds £0.75bn to the local economy annually.Equal to 16% of the total – compared with 10% nationally.

Who are we?

One in eight people are employed in manufacturing & engineering in Plymouth. That’s the highest concentration of any City in the South of England.

Manufacturing in context

Source – Centre for Cities Outlook 2015

What’s the opportunity?

For Plymouth's secondary schools to work more closely with local manufacturers (and vice versa).Manufacturing & engineering provide rewarding career opportunities.

What’s the Problem?

Our sector suffers from negative perceptions:• "Its only for boys"• "Its difficult - too much maths"• "Low status - an engineer is anyone

that fixes things:• A car mechanic or a boiler repair

person• "Its dirty"

What’s the Problem?

'There is a lot more to what these companies do than oil, grease and engines type stuff'.

Neill Scott Skills Support Adviser at Ridgeway School

• Only 19% of girls who achieved an A* in GCSE physics go on to study the subject at A-level. The figure for boys is better, but still under 50%.

• CBI survey evidence from 2013 suggested that among businesses seeking employees with STEM skills and knowledge, 39% faced difficulties recruiting those staff at some level.

• 87,000 graduate level engineers are needed each year between now and 2020, but the higher education system is currently only producing 46,000, which suggests that there is a long way to go to fill this potential skills gap.

The STEM/Engineering Challenge

What’s on offer?

Working with local schools and colleges, we aim to make the following four-part offer to participants …

• We will be offering a ‘special relationship’ between industry and education.

• A twinning agreement that will help cement bonds between individual schools and manufacturers.

• At the very least it will provide touch points between both parties so that each will know who to contact.

• It will also open opportunities for site visits; careers talks and much more besides.

Part One:

• We will offer a week’s work experience for a teacher or a careers adviser – per participating school.

• This will help open the individual’s eyes to what manufacturing and engineering is really all about in the 21st Century.

• We see this as being pivotal to the project as a whole.

• Providing a lasting legacy for all the countless pupils they come into contact with in the future.

Part Two:

Although it’s a relatively novel concept it’s not unheard of. Two Plymouth schools are currently participating in a Teacher Industrial Partner Scheme or ‘TIPS’ scheme run by IMechE.It’s worth reading a quote from a teacher who has attended their work placement.

Part Two continued:

“I'm ashamed, now, to admit that if a student had come to me proposing that they have a career in manufacturing, and why would they, as it’s not a career pathway we actively promote, I would have done my upmost to dissuade them. 

Part Two continued:

"After all why would anyone want to so spend their days on a dirty factory floor, doing the same mundane task over and over? I don't know where I acquired that mental image from, but it was there and in reality it's probably there in the imagination of many other teachers too, if they’ve thought about it all.   

Part Two continued:

"If industry partners need us, as teachers, to persuade our youngsters into their jobs, then they need to tackle these misconceptions that teachers hold."After working in a variety of departments she summed up her day of welding and additive manufacturing: “It was quite simply stunning! And something that I want my students to be aware of and to experience.”

   

Part Two continued:

We will make a cash donation of up to £750 to each participating school as a contribution towards the cost of supply cover while your teacher is with one of our firms.

   

Part Three:

Last but not least, we will give every participating school a chance to try out, free of charge for one whole term, a cutting edge 3D additive layer printer.

At the end of this initiative we will raffle the printers off to three lucky schools that will become their permanent owners.

   

Part Four:

A supporting marketing package worth £40k – a brief is being prepared by the SW Local Authorities.

   

In addition:

Complete the simple expression of interest form and email it through to the PMG.A maximum of 18 secondary schools will be eligible to register as fully funded participants. If necessary, schools will be selected on a competitive basis. At the same time, PMG members will be nominating their points of contact.    

What do schools have to do to join up?

• Commit to having a positive open mind to careers opportunities for their pupils within the manufacturing & engineering sector.

• A desire to foster good relations with your employer partner and to seek to maximise the benefit in so doing.

• We would like to discuss with you, your choice of the member of staff who is nominated to go forward for the week’s work experience.

• We are generally interested in how career’s advice is offered to pupils within schools and how we might be able to assist.

   

What do we expect from schools in return?

• We’re also interested in the uptake of STEM subjects The issue of gender imbalance in STEM subjects

• We would expect you to help promote apprenticeships as an option post-secondary studies

• We are supportive of intermediary parties (such as the Engineering Development Trust and STEMnet) who act in both our interests (schools and employers) and we would expect you to be too.

• Keep data to help monitor the success of the project.

   

What do we expect from schools in return?

• We fully expect our members to recognise the importance of developing good relations with local schools.

• Several employers will already be working closely with schools and we want that situation to become the norm rather than necessarily the exception.

• We expect employers to provide an easy point of contact for schools and also for intermediary bodies who operate between the worlds of education and work (as previous).

   

What do we expect from employers?

• We don’t expect particular school/employer relations to be exclusive to either party. Employers may well work with more than one school and vice versa.

• What we do expect is a willingness to assist with school activities – maybe to attend careers evenings or to give a talk on some aspect of the business within a lesson. We would also expect employers to offer occasional site visits.

• We expect in-kind contributions (such as your time) rather than necessarily financial ones.

• Keep data to help monitor the success of the project.   

What do we expect from employers?

• There are no hard and fast rules planned. The PMG Office will manage the process. We will generally look to twin firms and schools that are in relatively close proximity to each other – because that make’s sense.

• But there might be other reasons for particular twinning arrangement such as members of the school’s governing body being employees of a given firm etc.

• Either party can make the first move.

How will schools and firms be linked?

• Individual manufacturers are committed to investing a lot of time and effort into this initiative to make it a real, long-lasting success.

• However, we couldn’t have done it without the benefit of funding provided through the Plymouth & Peninsula City Deal which has helped to kick-start the programme. City Deal personnel will be monitoring the success of the project as keenly as we shall. http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/citydeal

How has this opportunity come about?

• The project will commence in the Autumn and will run until March 2017.

• Manufacturers and schools will be twinned ASAP and will be free to develop relations.

• Teacher work experience weeks will be coordinated through the PMG office as will 3D printer loan arrangements. For practical reasons these will be staged throughout the project’s lifetime – i.e. over the next 18 months.

What are the project timescales?

Manufacturers & Schools ChallengeLaunch eventAt Pipex px14th July 2015

Steve Gerry Plymouth Manufacturers’ Group

Manufacturing in context – Locally/regionally

Employs between circa 13kThe SW peninsula Devon, Cornwall & Somerset employs 80k in manufacturingContributes almost double that of the tourism sector (£4.1bn v £2.3bn)