An Innovative Project in the North East is Paving the Way For Change in Education

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(Free-Press-Release.com) April 29, 2011 -- Skills to Shine, a new social business initiative in the North East, is challenging the way that vocational training has traditionally been regarded within educational settings and is enhancing the way that the curriculum is taught at primary schools up to Key Stage Three.
Lindsey Dunn, from Whitley Bay near Newcastle, the project’s Founding Director, has more than ten years experience of working in education and is well on the way to creating a national, sustainable business model partly funded by The Edge Foundation.

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An Innovative Project in the North East is Paving the Way For Change in Education

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Lindsey believes that the new model can revolutionise the way that students’ aspirations are managed and met.

“Technical and vocational learning is very much on this government’s agenda. What Skills to Shine is doing is introducing vocational learning to pupils between the ages of five and 13 and engaging them with the curriculum outside of the traditional classroom setting. Working in this way, it’s clear to students of all academic levels that their knowledge isn’t just coming from textbooks but from real businesses, real industries and real life situations. It’s giving the kids a real confidence boost and raising their aspirations about what kind of work they want to do after they leave school. They are visibly engaged with the curriculum and are being empowered by the chance to literally learn on the job.”
Through key values including passion, commitment, aspiration and positivity, Skills to Shine has developed a plan to engage children and young people in real, relevant and inspiring educational activities that will give them the skills to shine in their chosen career path.
Skills to Shine, has so far worked with two businesses which have committed themselves to the ethos and spirit of Lindsey’s vision. One, a company in Newcastle that specialises in urban regeneration, has supplied four mentors from within the company.

Frank Haslam Milan (FHM) have been working with Lindsey to create relevant and real lesson plans for pupils from one of Newcastle’s newest schools, the Newcastle Excelsior Academy.

“Working with a local business like this makes a lesson like geography come alive,” explains Lindsey. “The kids have to think about the real challenges faced by this company. How can they effectively meet the changing housing needs of Newcastle’s population? The pupils are also getting to see the vast number of different career options available within the building trade, from architects and surveyors to electricians and safety specialists on site. These kids are learning that the formula for π isn’t just a sum that you need to learn because it’s in a maths book, it’s a sum that you need to know if you’re going to work in one of the many jobs within this and other industries and they are seeing how it is applied in a real, relevant and practical sense.”
Another successful partnership has seen Gateshead based forward thinking waste treatment providers Graphite Resources take the science curriculum into the class rooms of Northumberland Schools in Ashington.
At the forefront of managing the local carbon economy, Graphite Resources have encouraged the students to create functional items from waste products. The enterprising youngsters have designed a portable ramp for wheelchair users, green waste paper bins and multiuse pen holders all out of recycled rubbish.

Lindsey has also arranged unique partnerships with other industry partners to offer a wealth of choice to the students taking part in this innovative pilot programme.
“We have planned five different business partnerships with companies in the City and each one will develop a different area of the pupil’s curriculum. We will work with an accountancy firm to develop the maths curriculum using a football club as the model and we also have plans to set up a creative agency to develop the student’s English and art and design skills,” said Lindsey.

“So often I hear businesses complain that the students they interview just don’t have the skills relevant to the industry they’re applying to. With schools and business working together in this way, we can solve that problem and make education relevant, real and inspiring in the long term.”
Lindsey is currently applying her ten years of experience to train teachers in the North East how to put a project together around the various business partnerships that have already been planned and already there is a lot of interest from higher education establishments including Newcastle College and Northumbria University.
David Beaney from Northumbria University’s School of the Built and Natural Environment believes that the students should follow the Skills to Shine route from an early age.

“This sort of learning is a fantastic opportunity for students to learn about and try out careers before embarking on choosing a progressive route. The expertise and the resources are already there to take this project forward across the whole country, what Skills to Shine is doing is creating the framework to make it sustainable.”
Learning doesn’t have to be all about reading and writing, making and doing can be just as valuable as Skills to Shine is proving. Ends
Photo shows Lindsey and children from Newcastle Excelsior Academy on a site visit to FHM
Photo shows Lindsey, teachers and students at an FHM workshop
Photo shows Lindsey with Ashington pupils at Graphite Resources
For more info contact Keith Newman at Highlights PR 07814 397951
Lindsey Dunn 07900 926611

More information can be found online at http://www.highlightspr.co.uk

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