Proskills UK managing director Jonathan Ledger is calling for the print community to back Schools Into Industry project PrintIt!. “PrintIt! needs industry help more than ever. With no other funding source, it is essential that the print, paper and allied industries and sub-sectors continue to support PrintIt! both financially and in-kind,” he said.
The call comes as a new annual report of the PrintIt! 2013/14 programme outlines future plans for the annual project, which has not received Government grant funding since March 2012. To ensure long-term self-sustainability key changes are being made to the Proskills’ suite of Schools Into Industry Programmes (SIIPS), of which PrintIt! is just one.
Proskills UK has now transformed its organisation into a registered charity (no 1155635) with the primary aim to promote, advance, and provide training and education for persons working in or intending to work in the material, production and supply industries. The Schools Into Industry programmes fall within the aims and scope of the Proskills Registered Charity. This now means that donations are eligble to be tax deductable.
To ensure that the brand is fully protected, all Proskills Schools Into Industry programmes, including PrintIt! are now registered trademarks.
Originally developed by Picon in 2005, PrintIt! has engaged over 140,000 school students from over 2,000 schools in what is the country’s largest schools competition.
The key ambitions for 2015 are:
- Update core programme content to reflect current advanced industry technology and exciting innovations, bringing science to the fore.
- Include more interactive and dynamic content and improve accessibility to content through mobile devices.
- Provide enhanced creative participant projects so as to provide an improved learning experience.
- More detailed study of potential career options and access points.
- Update the mapping of the programme content to the latest school curriculum.
- Inclusion of a new international careers exchange element enabling participants and schools to experience cultural difference.
- Offer of work experience opportunities to older participants.
- Updated links to supporting careers information, guidance and advice
- Provision of new careers information packs to support teacher delivery
- Creation of Careers Ambassadors in schools (advisors)
- Provide new careers support paths enabling participants to access apprenticeships, further education and jobs
- Develop new opportunities for employers and industry specialist ambassadors to share careers experiences through study tours and interviews
- Integrate National Careers Service and National Apprenticeship Service support and help into the programme
- Implement a tracking framework to provide participant progression and outcomes data and follow-up processes
- Dedicate more resources to support increased schools engagement
- Access more schools through key supporting programme partners
- Boost the material to attract older participants – 16-18 year olds
- Embed the programme as an option in the Fairtrade schools campaigns
- Increase the number of supporting employers through a new and sustained campaign of long-term engagement
- Create new sponsorship packages to drive up the financial and in-kind support for the programmes to make them self-sustaining
- Diversify the number of industry sectors and sub-sectors actively supporting the programme
- A new annual report produced and disseminated that demonstrates the ongoing high-value and impact of SIIPS on young people and to the industries included
Registrations are open for the 2014/15 programme, which will launch 1 November. This will see new resources, interactive learning materials and new hands-on opportunities for the students to learn about the careers available.
Register and get involved at: www.printit.org.uk