News From North East February 2008

Inside this issue...

Click on to your chosen topic from here

e-skills UK
The Law Society of Scotland
Carnegie College
Retail Careers
Scottish Government Website
Froth and Bubble
Contributions

e-skills UK

e-skills UK is the Sector Skills Council for IT & Telecoms, and lead body for Contact Centres.

They have published a report on the key trends, opportunities and challenges facing the UK, and their implications for skills.

The Law Society of Scotland

Legal Study and Careers Days 2008

The Society is holding two careers events for school pupils in Scotland in 2008.

The University of Dundee (Dundee) Tuesday 4 March, 10am - 2pm.
The Law Society of Scotland (Edinburgh) Wednesday 19 March, 10am - 2pm.

Law students and solicitors from a range of practice areas will share their experiences with school pupils and answer questions in a small group setting.

Pupils/teachers can register pupils for the events by emailing careers@lawscot.org.uk

Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

For more information visit The Law Society of Scotland website.

Carnegie College (Formerly Lauder College)

Their Access Centre has changed its telephone number to 0844 875 0168.

Retail Careers

Skillsmart Retail Ltd is the Sector Skills Council for the industry. This is an extract from their recent newsletter.

"In a recent survey, Skillsmart Retail asked over 400 ‘careers influencers’ what they thought was the best sector to work in: retail, hospitality, finance and banking - or none of the above.

Only 13% chose retail, far less than hospitality (22%) and less than a third of those that chose finance and banking.

The survey, designed to benchmark the opinions of Connexions staff, Heads of Careers at schools and further/higher education providers, supports findings from two 2007 studies. They revealed that, while 70% of young people aged 14-19 said they enjoyed working in retail, 70% of their parents would not want them to choose it as a career.

We have to work together to change these false perceptions. Between 2006 and 2009, over 492,000 retail vacancies will need filling due to people leaving the sector and new jobs being created. Finding the right people to fill these roles will continue to be a major challenge for employers as they strive to attract suitable candidates in an increasingly competitive market."

Skillsmart Retail has been working with retailers to change the often outdated misconceptions about the retail industry. After detailed consultation with employers, we have designed a comprehensive Careers Strategy, focusing on four key objectives:

• Improving the promotion of retail careers to young people
• Enhancing the status and credibility of retail employment in the sector
• Changing the perception of retail amongst key influencers
• Raising awareness amongst retail employers of their role

Careers Strategy Manager, Anne Richardson, is heading up the delivery of the strategy and working to keep influencers informed on the developments and opportunities in retail. You can contact Anne at anne.richardson@skillsmartretail.com or call 07795 962 452."

Also visit Skillsmart Retail website

Scottish Government Website

Date	Section	Publication
10/01/2008	Education and Skills	Home Education Guidance [Publication] Guidance to parents and local authorities on home education
29/01/2008	Education and Skills	Exclusions from Schools 2006/07 [Publication] Statistics on exclusions from Scottish schools in the academic year 2006/07
30/01/2008	Education and Skills	Being Young in Scotland: Scottish Government findings - Research Findings [Research Findings] This paper presents the key findings arising mainly out of the questions that the Scottish Government asked in the third sweep of the Being Young in Scotland survey (BYIS) undertaken in 2007
05/02/2008	Education and Skills	What is an AifL School? Parents as Partners [Publication] The Assessment is for Learning parents' triangle is a practical resource for use with groups of parents. It describes the 10 key features of an AifL School to show how parents can become involved in discussions about children's learning.
12/02/2008	Crime, Law, Justice and Rights	Evaluation of the Implementation and Impact of the Glasgow Antisocial Behaviour Taskforce [Research Publications] The evaluation of the Glasgow Antisocial Behaviour Taskforce analyses the impact and effectiveness of the Taskforce and identifies lessons learned. The Glasgow ASB Taskforce was reorganised in 2006 to become Glasgow Community Safety Services and this evaluation informed that transition. It should be emphasised that the Taskforce evaluation is not an evaluation of Glasgow Community Safety Services.

Froth and Bubble

Thanks to our regular reader in Fife for flagging up Nominative Determinism - the tendency of people to gravitate towards areas of work that fit their surname.

Contributions

If you would like to contribute an item to the newsletter we would be delighted to hear from you. Contributions can be emailed to info.ne@careers-scotland.org.uk or faxed to 01592 623199