Supported Internships for young people in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire Local Authority is fully committed to working closely with the four local FE Colleges to improve employment outcomes for young people. Parents and young people often don’t know what’s possible and there can be low expectations about what young people with learning disabilities can achieve. New legislation emphasises the need to raise employment aspirations and expectations of children and young people, families and everyone who supports them.
Finding and securing a job can be difficult and we recognize that work experience in a real employment setting is sometimes not always available for young people in Hertfordshire. Frequently young people and their families don’t always know that work is possible.
What is happening in Hertfordshire?
We want to:
•create more opportunities for employment, with high quality, tailored support at an earlier stage in the young person’s life
•use person-centred transition planning, with a focus on Preparing for Adulthood life outcomes, including employment, from year 9 while young people are in school to help raise aspirations.
•create alternative methods to help young people with additional or complex needs to find a job.
All four FE colleges in Hertfordshire have developed opportunities for Supported Internships. Evidence shows that the supported employment model of ‘place, train and fade’works and this is the basis for the development of the Supported Internship programme with Hertfordshire’s FE colleges. The overall goal of Supported Internships is for young people to move into paid employment.
Next steps
The Principals of all four FE colleges in Hertfordshire have created a partnership between education and employers to ensure the pathway to employment becomes a realistic option and part of the Hertfordshire Local Offer. This includes providing specialist Job Coaching support for young people. Supported are part of each college’s offer from September 2014.
The colleges have developed a structured study programme that includes on-the-job training provided by experienced and qualified job coaches. The majority of the young person’s time will be spent working at the employer’s premises and young people will therefore be expected to comply with the expectations of an actual job.
The main strands of Supported Internships are:-
•Delivery of the Supported Internship programme by skilled and experienced staff
•Allocation of specialist Job Coaches to each young person
•Vocational profiling and progression? planning in order to identify the best route into employment for young people
•Young person matched to an appropriate job in order to secure sustainable employment
•Use of Systematic Instruction in order to deliver in-work support and support career development
•On-going support when required once the young person is employed
There will also be support and training for employers to increase their confidence in working
with young people with additional needs to help them understand what young people can
achieve, the type of support the young person requires and help them employ a diverse
workforce.
Benefits of a Supported Internship
For the young person
•Builds confidence and motivation
•Improves their decision making skills
•Improves their communication skills
•Improves team working skills
•Develops use of initiative
•Widens their social networks
•Develops employability skills in a real work setting
•Increased job opportunities and independence
For the employer
•Savings on recruitment costs through retention in high turnover/ hard-to-fill post and the ability to try out the talent of young disabled people
•Increased workforce diversity and recognition of the contribution young disabled people can make to enhance their business
•A fully informed understanding of how employers can make reasonable adjustments for young disabled people to fully participate in the work place
•Meaningful work placements and/or rotations provide departments with fresh talent on a regular basis
•The opportunity to offer line management and supervision experience to developing managers
•Creating a pool of ‘interns’with the knowledge and understanding of the business to apply for positions within the organisation throughout the duration of the programme of study
•On-site training and support to the business and their employees
Interested?
If you would like more information about Supported Internships contact:
North Hertfordshire College: 01462 443042West Herts College: 01923 812004
Hertford Regional College: 01992 411446Oaklands College: 01727 737780
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