Local business

Parents want their children to do well, to fulfil their potential and enjoy new opportunities. We want all young people to participate in education or training to give them the skills they need to prosper. Young people need to be equipped to play their part in a changing global economy. We have started to take the steps needed to deliver this but there is more to do to make sure all young people are participating in education and training, and achieving their full potential.

Our vision for partnership and collaboration is wide reaching. We want everyone to support learning and development – encouraging all sectors of society to help raise aspirations and standards. The Children’s Plan set out an ambition to increase the role that businesses play in supporting schools, colleges and communities, looking to the National Council of Educational Excellence to advise on how to mobilise business.

NCEE members have shaped a clear set of priorities for where business engagement can make the most difference: schools and college leadership and governance, teacher development and recruitment, literacy and numeracy in primary schools, promoting science and maths and offering work-related learning and boosting employability, it also looked at how higher education institutions can link with schools to raise attainment and aspiration. In response to their recommendations we have produced an employer engagement strategy outlining how we will seek to work with employers in all areas of our work.

The Employer Engagement Strategy, Building Stronger Partnerships, sets out the ways in which business and employers’ engagement with schools and colleges can deliver real and tangible benefits for all. It establishes an employer-led taskforce to take forward the work on NCEE, and to advise Government on ensuring high quality support to connect businesses with schools and colleges is available across the country.