Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) is a seven-year programme (2014-2021) that aims to better prepare children and young people aged 3–18 for the world of work.
The headline aim of Developing the Young Workforce is to reduce youth unemployment by 40% by 2021.
The core documents that define the DYW programme can be viewed here on the Education Scotland website.
Here at The Gordon Schools, we have a continuously improving programme of inspirational activities both curricular and extra-curricular, that invite pupils to learn more about life, learning and work with a view to overtaking all aspects of the DYW standards going forwards.
Click here to view a screenshot of our DYW improvement plan 2017 – 2021.
2017/18 Headlines
Preparing Our Workforce (S1/S2)
All S1/S2 pupils attending TGS are timetabled to attend this course once a week throughout the year. The primary aim of the course is to:
…help young people understand and develop personal, social and employment-related skills that are important in life, learning and work.
POW is delivered by 16 different members of staff from various departments and faculties across the school and contains a range of theory and activities and has an underlying digital literacy theme designed to skill pupils in the use of industry-standard technology which can be used in learning and will likely be used in many workplaces (Microsoft Office 365).
Work is currently underway on developing the course for next year and creating resources to offer our S1 cohort moving into S2, potentially in collaboration with our Primary Cluster colleagues, Guidance staff and Skills Development Scotland.
TGS Apprenticeship Fair 2018
Planning is currently underway for an Apprenticeship Fair to be held at TGS during the month of June. Staff are currently working alongside DYW North East, an organisation designed to link the business community with schools, to put together a list of interested organisations for what will be the first event of its kind at TGS in recent times.
Members of the public, cluster primaries and TGS pupils will be invited to attend to speak to the organisation about Foundation, Modern and Graduate Apprenticeship schemes which are proving popular and invaluable to many pupils for which full-time College and University courses are of little interest/suitability.
Publicity around this event will start post-Easter via notifications in local media and on social media.
Information about apprenticeships are can be found at: https://www.apprenticeships.scot/become-an-apprentice/
SCQF Ambassador Programme
As part of our forward planning, it is important to realise the variety of opportunities that are available for our pupils, outside of the traditional N4, N5, Higher pathways.
The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) aims to help people of all ages and circumstances access education throughout their lifetime and understand the full range of Scottish qualifications on offer.
A copy of the interactive framework document can be viewed here.
Here at TGS, we want parents/carers, pupils and staff to be aware of the various qualifications that are accredited as well and the various learning pathways that can be explored. The aim being that pupils have the best chance of following the pathway best suited to them, as individuals.
The SCQF Ambassador group have begun disseminating information among colleagues and are about to start sharing information with pupils, parents and carers at upcoming parent and curricular information evenings to help inform curriculum and career planning exercises.
For more information about the SCQF, visit http://scqf.org.uk
My World of Work Ambassador Programme
My World of Work (MWOW) is an online platform designed to help individuals discover careers which match skills, interests, education and experience.
Various tools within the MWOW platform are use across TGS but the school felt it was important to raise awareness of the tool to parents/carers as something that could be used at home to help plan educational pathways in a non-school setting.
From February 2018 a group of trained MWOW Ambassadors will be offering advice about the platform at various parent/curriculum information evenings designed to raise awareness of the platform and how it could be used at home. It is also hoped that a group will be attending some of the cluster primaries to discuss the features of MWOW that could be useful in developing Career Management Skills incorporated in the the primary curriculm.
Find out more about My World of Work, here.
TGS DYW Roadmap
The school is developing an interactive roadmap to highlight and track the evidence from across the establishment as to how we are tackling the various standards that defined the Developing the Young Workforce programme.
An example of what the final document will look like can be found below:
NOTE: TGS kindly thanks the community of Huntly and District for their permission in allowing us to re-format the local logo as part of our aim to use DYW to connect with the community.