Education and training services

Tender description

The Contracting Authority wishes to establish a programme of services with a maximum of nine (9) suitable economic operators for a delivery period of thirty (30) months. This programme will be delivered across four (4) lots, as follows: — SEMH mentoring, — engage and inspire, — transferrable skills and — vocational Routeways. The Youth Engagement and Progression (“YEP”) programme has been developed in response to a Leeds City Region (“LCR”) European Structural Investment Fund (“ESIF”) call for a Programme to support those Not in Education, Employment, or Training (“NEET”). Goldman-Mellor et al (2016) examine the characteristics of young British people who are NEET. They found that individuals with a history of behavioral difficulties, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (“ADHD”) or depression in childhood are much more likely to be NEET at age 18, even after accounting for socio-economic background, cognitive abilities and reading skill. Adolescents with mental health difficulties are particularly vulnerable to becoming NEET in adulthood, and therefore should be carefully supported and prepared for the transition to employment. Referrals will be made into this mentoring activity from C&K Careers for participants that it is felt would benefit from a targeted intervention to help re-engagement activity and transitions into work. Referrals maybe for participants who have a known issue such lack of self-esteem, bereavement, anxiety, friendships, anger management or family difficulties. In some cases however issues maybe unclear and in this case the provider would be expected to support the identification of issue and gain a better understanding of a participants support needs. Activity should utilise the existing good quality research evidence about effective interventions in the areas of cognition and learning, social, emotional and mental health, and communication and interaction. Adopting a number of approaches in the acceptance that some will work better for some participants than others. Provision under this lot should enable, engagement, achievement and successful progression of under-represented, excluded and vulnerable groups. It is envisaged that engaging and inspiring learning opportunities outside of typical educational environment will provide a crucial first step in engaging interest and progressing towards more full-time learning or into work. Provision should be focused at working with the NEET cohort at a range of levels (Entry – Level 2) to engage them in learning and co-produce learning activity. It should include a range of high quality, challenging and inspiring programmes. Provision should identify and creatively build upon a participant’s innate skills and talents as a means of engagement, ensuring that there are flexible options that can be accessed easily to match interests and aptitudes. Delivery partners will need to ensure that the activity demonstrates for participants “value added” and “distance travelled” recognised through the achievement of soft outcomes. There is widespread awareness that, combined with technical and/or academic achievement, transferrable skills are critical to young people’s success in the workplace and their development in all domains of life. However many employers cite lack of “work-readiness” as a significant barrier to them employing a young person. Employers are increasingly looking for employees who are flexible, adaptable, proactive, creative and collaborative. This provision will help to prepare young people for employment by developing the broad set of skills, attitudes, behaviors and personal qualities that will enable them to effectively navigate their environment, work with others, perform well and achieve their goals. It is expected that participants will be given the opportunity to develop their skills through experiential, active learning opportunities. Participants will be exposed to new ideas and behaviours, appropriate levels of challenge, practice, feedback and reflection. Work preparation training is important in enabling young people who are NEET to develop employability skills and appropriate workplace behavior. It is envisaged that this provision will enable the development of vocational skills by embedding practical activities which allow participants to take on responsibility, gain experience and develop their insight into the world of employment. A programme of vocational tasters should be available to those participants who are unsure what type of work they would be most suited to and enjoy. Taster provision should encompass a carousel of vocational tasters delivered by sector skills specialist staff with embedded employer interactions. It is envisaged that participants will engage in the whole carousel giving them the opportunity experience a number of vocational areas. For those that have a particular type of work in mind the vocational routeways provision will allow for a more detailed opportunity to learn about and gain experience in a sector area.