City & Guilds

3y

It has never been more critical for the UK to move towards greener sources of energy production and our efforts must be bold if we are to meet our commitments in the race against climate change. Yet the majority of UK energy workers say that they don't believe the sector is adequately prepared for a green future. We have launched our research in partnership with Engineering UK, which includes a survey of 1,000 energy sector workers, of which 500 in high carbon energy industries (such as oil and gas), and 500 in low carbon industries (such as wind, solar and nuclear). Our research reveals that, concerningly, only a third of workers are confident they’ve got the skills needed for the next phase of net zero. And nearly two thirds of workers in high-carbon roles expect their jobs to be at risk in the next two years because of decarbonisation of the power system. In the month that the Climate Change Committee report criticises a failure of action on climate goals, employees in the energy sector identified a worrying lack of leadership and support in the drive to decarbonisation in UK energy. Our new research found that just 42% of energy sector workers felt that businesses were ready to meet the commitment to decarbonise the energy sector by 2035, with just 42% believing that the Government was doing enough to support this change. We believe now is the moment to unite and work in partnership to equip the energy workforce with the green skills required.

City & Guilds

3y

City & Guilds has appointed award winning TV presenter, and one of the UK’s most well-known craftspeople, Jay Blades MBE, to the role of Vice President. In his new role Jay will act as an ambassador for skills, amplifying the message about the critical importance of vocational skills development to individuals and wider society. Jay is known across the country as the host of several successful TV shows watched by millions of homes across the UK. His new role with City & Guilds unites his passion for the preservation of traditional craft skills with his belief in the transformative impact that skills-based education can have on people’s lives. Since leaving school at the age of 15 with no qualifications and being diagnosed with dyslexia himself, Jay has spent much of his career supporting vulnerable people in society through community work and helping them gain the skills they need to thrive in the future. In the years ahead he will collaborate with City & Guilds to amplify the messages about the importance of skills-based education and the need to support people who face barriers to the workplace to gain life transforming skills. As Vice President, Blades will champion City & Guilds’ efforts to bring skills to more people and unlock the power of skills development in helping more people into secure employment and improve their lives.

City & Guilds

3y

Improving ex-offenders’ prospects through Groundwork’s ‘Green Start’ programme As part of Groundwork’s commitment to enhancing opportunities for employability, back in 2021 they launched their ‘Green Start’ programme, in partnership with us at the City & Guilds Foundation. The programme delivers training for ex-offenders to develop construction and land-based skills, including carbon literacy and green skills. Developed in partnership with employers to foster real job opportunities, the 10-week programme combines theory with practical skills development in joinery/carpentry, plastering, tiling, bricklaying and flagging. Crucially, the programme also engages with issues of sustainability in construction, with sessions on environmental concerns and carbon literacy being well-received by learners. 89% of programme participants have successfully passed City & Guilds Level 1 Health & Safety in Construction, and over half of those have gone on to pass their Level 2. Impressively, 35% of prisoners on the programme are now carbon literacy qualified, with a 100% success rate.

City & Guilds

3y

We’re happy to announce our new partnership with Deliveroo! We’ve given 15,000 Deliveroo riders access to our ‘ready for’ online courses, with the aim to help people retrain and move into industries facing skills shortages, such as construction, social care, and hospitality. What’s more? 25 of their riders will also be funded to train for careers in the rail industry.

City & Guilds

3y

Earth Day: Small Steps, Big Impact - Why It Matters to City & Guilds Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22nd to raise awareness about environmental issues and encourage people to take action for a cleaner, healthier planet. The first Earth Day took place in 1970, and since then, it has grown into a global movement that mobilises millions of people each year. You may not consider yourself an environmentalist, but Earth Day is still relevant to you. It's an opportunity to connect with nature, realise the impact of our daily actions, and learn how small changes can make a big difference. Earth Day and City & Guilds Celebrating Earth Day is an important statement about our ongoing commitment to the planet. City & Guilds has started its Net Zero journey to reduce global warming and the impacts of Climate Change. We: -have started to train staff in Carbon Literacy; -have set up a Planet working group to reduce our impact on the environment; -are exploring our role in equipping organisations and industries with the capabilities to decarbonise their products and services.

City & Guilds

3y

New research: Our Neurodiversity Index report Last year we started talking to Do-IT Solutions, a global market leader in neurodiverse screening and assessment. And with them we have been trying to promote a shift away from a negative framing of neurodiversity which focuses on what people cannot do, towards an approach which is inclusive of all the ways of thinking and emphasises what people can do. Back in the Autumn we put a callout to individuals and organisations to complete our survey, which would help us to create our Neurodiversity Index. Just under 1000 responses later, and it’s clear that neurodivergent employees are impacted by a lack of training and support in the workplace. 58% of neurodiverse employees have felt comfortable disclosing their condition and have received a good or OK response. And 40% of neurodivergent employees say they are impacted most days in the workplace by their condition. We want this research to be a benchmark for organisations helping them consider what actions they should take to create a more inclusive workplace for all.

City & Guilds

3y

Kineo have launched a brand-new analytics tool created to provide organisations with insights into their online learning content and platforms. Kineo Analytics works as a cloud service and tracks data across the full learning experience allowing L&D professionals to identify how learners engage with courses and how effectively they are at building skills. With learning data and analytics becoming more popular among L&D leaders, it’s important for them to know that they are getting a return on investment and spending time, energy, and budgets in the right places. Senior business stakeholders want to know more of how to improve their offering going forward to ensure talent development and performance improvement. By analysing staff learning habits, organisations can make data-driven decisions on the content they need and create focused learning delivered in the best way. For more information on Kineo Analytics visit kineo.com/services/learning-content/elearning-analytics

City & Guilds

3y

Youth Misspent Report launched! We’ve launched our latest research report Youth Misspent – a critical piece of work from the Communications team, championing young people’s futures. This research highlights that the odds are being stacked against young people’s futures and career aspirations – particularly the most disadvantaged. We polled 5,000 18–25 year olds across the UK to find out about their experiences of education and the workplace. They told us that they are facing what they see as a hostile labour market with limited opportunities to get a foot on the ladder and progress, and that they felt unsupported by government and employers as they attempted to enter the labour market. We found that young people had faced incredibly high levels of disadvantage throughout their childhoods and young adult life. So it is perhaps unsurprising that equivalent of almost a quarter of a million young people believe they will never be able to start working. A terrible waste of young talent. As we enter economic recession, young people are a critical part of the UK’s recovery story.