One of the ways that the North West Gas Alliance (NWGA) has had a positive influence on its local community was to pilot an Enterprise Learning scheme in conjunction with the Enterprise Advisory Service (EAS) - a division of the Learning and Skills Council.
This scheme was aimed at Key Stage 4 pupils and was designed to the incorporate key learning outcomes desired by the EAS.
The scheme involved a 3 day long Enterprise Education project consisting of:
Day 1. NWGA employees visited the schools and gave a presentation to the pupils about who we are, what we do and why we do it.
Day 2. Pupils visited the NWGA's office in Worsley for their activity day. This involved groups of pupils planning, designing and costing a safe and efficient mains replacement scheme, creating a resource plan, thinking of ways to overcome operational problems and how to deal with customers, taking them into consideration in the planning stage and dealing with queries during the production stage.
Day 3. NWGA staff again visited the school, and pupils in their groups presented the outcomes of their schemes.
Did the scheme achieve its aims?
Yes, the pupils completed the task and demonstrated skills relating to the initial learning outcomes, but the actual outcome of the pilot project was far further reaching than those outcomes alone.
The feedback from the students who took part was extremely positive. Here are just some of the comments we received.
"I now have more confidence. I learned team-working and listening skills."
"I thought today was enjoyable. We learnt about the different areas of work that go into one scheme alone and how they have to rely on each other to be successful."
I mentioned that not only the students but the employees, company, and industry gained from this project. But how?
If any of the employees who took part in the pilot project were interviewed and asked what they gained from the project they would use phrases such as leadership/ mentoring skills, presentation skills, confidence, project management to name but a few (similar outcomes to those expected for the pupils). Although this benefit was not anticipated when this project was in the design stage, in how many other situations would the less senior members of staff gain those skills? If they were sent on courses that are aimed at improving some of these skills how much would that have cost, and would they have gained as much?
Why else are projects like these better than a simple donation? If the employees who took part in the project were asked if they'd have thought as much of the company for which they work if that company had simply donated the equivalent amount of money to the schools rather than embarking on this project, they'd probably say no. It seems that employees want the company for which they work to be actively environmentally and socially aware, and the number of employees, who have expressed an interest in becoming involved with future projects, illustrates the positive impression that those involved have passed on.
NWGA have now extended their links with local schools and are currently piloting a Young Apprentice scheme aimed at 14-16 year olds.
