Equality & Diversity Management Report and Action Plan
Work based learning has come to be accepted as an important avenue for upgrading skills and abilities of people who have been unable to complete formal school and college education and are thus disadvantaged in their quest for suitable and lucrative employment opportunities in comparison with their more fortunate peers. These disadvantages, which arise primarily from compelling social, educational, and economic factors, and force young men and women to drop out during the later years of school or decide against taking up a college education, result in lower employability, lesser income, reduced growth prospects and job mobility, general dissatisfaction and frustration, and unhappier total life experiences.
Work based learning, an educational avenue that has gained in prominence during the last two decades, focuses on providing learning, and upgrading of skills and abilities, in many disciplines, and is defined as a “coherent sequence of career awareness, exploration, job training and experience activities that are coordinated with school-based learning activities.” There are work-based learning activities appropriate for every grade level and courses, provided at a number of specialised institutes that have emerged all over the UK. Work based learning is, very appropriately, more relevant for comparatively disadvantaged sections of society like minorities, and people with disabilities, and gender disadvantages, who have greater probability of being excluded from the advantages of comprehensive school and college education. This report aims to study the results of a sample of such people studying at JHP Training Birmingham vis-à-vis recruitment, retention, and achievement, and analyse the results for possible causes as well for the formulation of an appropriate Action Plan for implementation. The report is structured into successive sections that briefly deal with JHP Training Birmingham and work based learning, followed by a detailed analysis of the data available, and an action plan detailing appropriate conclusions and recommendations. The report has relied extensively on information available through JHP websites and programme literature, supplemented with original information available with the preparer.
2. JHP Training Birmingham
JHP Training has been in operation since 1983 and is one of the largest and most eminent providers of vocational training and recruitment services. The organisation has more than forty centres. Since its inception, JHP Training has been able to help more than a quarter million people to achieve their career goals, by providing training options and solutions to individuals and companies. Birmingham is one of its more important locations and the organisation, which has been operating in the city since 1986, has two prime City Centre sites. The city has grown to be one of the largest centres within the group and has the competence to deliver a range of options and courses to suit the training, individual development, staff development, and recruitment needs of individuals and companies in the local community.
Birmingham has one of the smallest ethnic white populations among major British cities. The 2001 census figures reveal that 29.6 % of the estimated 900,000 population of the city are non white. The largest chunk of the non white population, 19.6 %, consists of British Asians, whereas 6.1 % are black.
JHP Training offers a number of options for both individuals and employers, based upon apprenticeship and National Voluntary Qualifications, (NVQs) available in various job related areas. These modes of training have proved to be effective and over the years have become the core functional speciality of the organisation. JHP offers Technical Certificates, which concentrate on improving employee effectiveness by developing skills and knowledge that are specific to chosen areas. These programmes involve off the job training and a certain amount of external assessment. The NVQ is an integral component of the apprenticeship scheme and is a qualification that assesses individual worker knowledge and experience of employment area and role.
Qualified assessors who regularly visit the employer’s location provide support and guidance, and assess employees on their demonstrated competencies in different aspects of of their job roles. Another important programme covers Key Skills qualifications. This programme concerns six skills, namely communication, application of number, information technology, working with others, improving own learning and performance and problem solving, which build on aptitudes learnt in full time education, and focus on transferable skills that are used all the time…
