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CompTIA’s Challenge Award winner Sharon Young is shown at a special graduation celebration for Edinburgh Community Technology Academy learners.
The event was recently held in Microsoft’s new city centre offices where Sharon was honoured for her outstanding perseverance and determination.
Single mum Sharon was originally a kiltmaker but it was only when she got a computer that she discovered a natural talent for IT. The 35-year-old completed her IT Essentials course, which she sees as a major stepping stone on her career path.
“I am keener than ever to find a full-time post in this field. I have a place at Stevenson College to study for my HNC in Computing. This will strengthen my skills and qualifications and help me find my dream job,” said Sharon.
Stakeholder Report
Winter 2008
Pictured left: Award winner Sharon Young.
The Alliance Partners started, in 2007, from the belief that, for many people, their motivation to learn is driven by a desire to develop their knowledge, understanding, skills, attitudes and behaviours to help them get a job, keep a job, get a better job, manage a career and/or have a better life. We also understood that for the unemployed and low waged/low skilled, there were considerable barriers and a lack of a cohesive Scotland-wide network to specifically address their needs.
We now find ourselves a year on with a growing network of community based organisations supported as satellites of Hub centres. We have seen ESF investment aid the nurturing of the satellites which, in turn, is producing new and up-skilled resources for Scotland’s businesses. We have seen graduates attain qualifications, some for the first time, and enter new jobs beginning a new, productive phase of
their lives. Our year-old exciting and innovative partnership with industry colleagues Cisco, learndirect scotland, and their network of more than 500 branded learning centres, has begun to produce the results that we aspire to – providing IT training to 100,000 disadvantaged individuals by 2010, to improve their employability skills and meet the future skills needs of business.
In March 2007 the first Industry Alliance for Jobs conference was held at the Scottish Parliament. A number of speakers delivered inspiring messages about the potential of this partnership to make a real difference to the people of Scotland. We also heard from some of the learners who have completed their training and have gone on to find careers in the IT industry as a result.In the coming year the Hubs will be
working hard to recruit more satellite centres to enable us to reach even more individuals who will benefit from the opportunities offered by the Industry Alliance for Jobs.
I see this project as an example of how to deliver Scotland’s Skills Strategy through broad partnership working, building on existing capacity and best practice, and delivering high quality, industry-led training.
The story so far...Microsoft Scotland’s Skills Development Manager, Bob McGonigle, shares his views on the Alliance and how far we’ve come in the past year.
Pictured above: Bob McGonigle, MicrosoftPictured below: Industry Alliance for Jobs conference, Scottish Parliament
EUROPE HELPS INDUSTRY ALLIANCE HUBS TO DEVELOP AND GROW
learndirect scotland, under the banner of the Industry Alliance for Jobs, successfully applied for funding from the European Social Fund (ESF) to develop and mainstream successfully tested innovative approaches to learning, particularly for disadvantaged groups seeking to enter the labour market.
This programme is delivered in partnership with Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, Banff and Buchan College, Dundee College, Glasgow South West Regeneration Agency, JHP Training and University of the West of Scotland. It involves the establishment and support of six hubs across Scotland who then identify, recruit, train, support and quality assure a number of ‘satellite’ learndirect scotland branded learning centres that deliver IT, employability and pre-vocational skills training to address the employability needs of disadvantaged groups.
The programme started in January 2008 and already the hubs have brought on a number of satellites who are starting to deliver digital literacy courses with their clients. Satellites range from The Wise Group to The Jeely Piece Club and Heart of Midlothian Community Trust to City of Edinburgh Libraries and Haywired.
Roger Horam of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, who is managing the ESF funded part of the programme, said: “This is a great programme that will help towards delivering the promises of 100,000 Scots trained in IT by 2010. The funding from both ESF and learndirect scotland allows us to develop the support infrastructure for the satellites and they in turn are enhancing the employability of the people they work with”.
Roger Horam, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce
The location was absolutely spectacular overlooking Edinburgh city centre from the rooftop terrace at Microsoft’s new HQ.
But the 31 learners who gathered last month weren’t there just to enjoy the view. They had worked long and hard to get to that day – the day they would graduate from the Edinburgh Community Technology Academy (ECTA).
Sharon Young, who is featured on the front cover, is one of four learners named as award winners at the event
The other winners were Aarron Mitchell who was presented with the Cisco Inspiration Award, and the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce Excellence Award was presented to James Mullin, both for their outstanding dedication and commitment to training.
Linda Ruwona was named as the winner of the Industry Alliance for Jobs Champion Award, but unfortunately Linda was unable to attend the event. Single mum Linda was diagnosed with cancer in 2001 and has since suffered two further life threatening illnesses. The Champion Award was testament to her outstanding dedication, commitment and courage.
There’s no doubt that everyone who graduated should be congratulated. As individuals they became involved with ECTA for a wide variety of reasons and they all displayed the drive and commitment to complete their courses. In fact, many of the learners have already gone on to secure full time employment in the IT field.
We wish all our learners the very best of luck in the future.
THEY ARE ALL ECTA WINNERS
ECTA award winners
Where is your hub?Our hub is in the heart of Govan on the south side of Glasgow.
How many satellites are there and where are they based?We have six satellites at the moment located at:
North Glasgow – GNRA East Glasgow – GERA & Celtic EducationWise Group – Covering mainly the central beltCastlemilk – Jeely Piece ClubBlantyre – ITEC Integrations
What types of courses are on offer?The courses range from SQA level 1’s to SQA level 3’s. In real terms this means everything from Digital Literacy to Cisco Certified Network Associate.
Tell us a bit about your learners Our learners range from 16years on the Get Ready for Work programme to any age. On our skills programme the average age is around the early 30’s. Our numbers change from year to year depending on funding.
Tell us about your staff.Our staff who teach on the IT skills side are all experts in their field of delivery and hold the necessary IT qualifications, sometimes 2 levels above!!!
What is the best thing about your hub?There are many great things about our hub. The up-to-date equipment used for training, highly trained staff, friendly staff and I could go on. But
This issue we chat to Stephen Morrison who is the Team Leader, ICT & Digital Media of Glasgow South West Regeneration Agency.
if I have to just nail it with one thing then it would be our company’s ethos.
Tell us something about one of your centres that other people don’t know?The Jeely Piece Club is not just a nursery, they do a lot of adult learning as well.
If you could develop an all-powerful pc programme, what would it do and what would you call it?Being a health freak the programme would have to be something of that nature. It would be implanted into the human body somehow and would inform the brain of what foods to eat in order to get the nutrients required for optimum performance. You would be able to programme it to whatever activity you wanted to do. Imagine!!! It would be called the “Live Forever” programme.
Pictured above: Stephen Morrison, South West Regeneration Agency. Pictured below:Learners at the Hub
BANFF & BUCHAN COLLEGE Lynda Slessor 01346 586100 [email protected] Duncan Abernethy [email protected] DUNDEE COLLEGE Wendy McEwan 01382 834880 [email protected] David Scott 01382 834880 [email protected] EDINBURGH COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY (ECTA) Karen Malone 0131 442 1400 [email protected] Roger Horam 0131 221 3186 [email protected]
North Highland College
Synergie/ITP
Banff & Buchan College
Dundee CollegeGlasgow South WestRegeneration Agency
University of the West of Scotland
JHP Training
Edinburgh Community Technology Academy
GLASGOW SOUTH WEST REGENERATION AGENCY (GSWRA) Stephen Morrison 0141 585 6861 [email protected] Stephen Barr 0141 585 6864 [email protected] JHP TRAINING Arlene Callan 0141-248-4746 / 01698-327-824 [email protected] UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND Brian Cross 0141 848 3302 [email protected] NORTH HIGHLAND COLLEGE Fiona MacIntosh 01847 889444 [email protected]
SYNERGIE Steven Nelson 01463 227580 [email protected]
FURTHER CONTACTS:For more information on the programme please contact Lindsey Mason, Industry Alliance Programme Manager on [email protected] or call 0141 285 6214
If you have anything you would like to see included in future editions of the stakeholder report please contact Audrey Simpson, Senior Corporate Communications Officer on [email protected] or call 0141 285 6207
