Midlands-based Festival Housing Group (FHG) has won an award for its training and employment opportunities scheme for local schoolchildren (pictured right).

The housing association, which offers affordable housing in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, recently won the developing skills and capacity category of the UK Housing awards.
 
The Skills for Life project was originally set up as a management training initiative for eight FHG staff members, designed as a community project challenge.

Organisational development consultancy Echelon Learning was commissioned to run the programme a couple of years ago and FHG staff came up with the idea to teach schoolchildren property maintenance skills.

The Year 10 and 11 pupils at Droitwich Spa High School learned a range of property maintenance skills while working for one day a week at FHG, for two years. They were taught practical skills such as electrics and plumbing by Association employees and received a qualification recognised by City and Guilds.

The project also aimed to further develop the leadership, management and communication skills of the FHG employees. It was supported by a coach and a website which included online project management and knowledge tools.

Linda Gittings, training officer at FHG, said: “One of the key benefits of this project for us is that we are developing an understanding of and methodology for coaching at work and embedding learning into the organisation in practical and sustainable ways. It is helping improve individual and team effectiveness and aligning our outputs more closely to customer needs, which is, in turn, improving customer satisfaction.”

Kay Dovey, Festival Housing HR director, said: “The aim of the project was to give four local youngsters, who had very little in terms of future prospects and motivation, a real start in life. After working on the project for a year, our project team worked with Droitwich Spa High School, as well as with colleagues, to create a new experimental programme of work that could ultimately result in a Modern Apprenticeship for the students involved.”

FHG has said that it will fully employ at least one of the students currently on the scheme as apprentices once they leave school.

Subscribe to TJ news bulletins:

| Subscribe to our L & D RSS Feed

Related News

• Dr Peter Honey
• Martyn Sloman
• Is that wise, sir?

Related Discussion Topics

• Scandinavian Working Environment
• Diagnosis of management skills
• Managing people questionnaire

Latest News

• Health sector workforce skills need to be utilised more effectively, report finds
• Millionth worker completes training through Train to Gain
• Last week to apply for cash in return for help in NEET survey
• On demand software training company bought by compliance specialist
• ‘Inpats’ increasingly being used by organisations to bridge skills gaps