As this is the final blog for the 2009/2010 academic year I thought I would sign off by providing you with some interesting resources and downloads for you to peruse in your own time over the coming months so that, if you feel they are relevant to your programme of work for 2010/2011, you can integrate them.
On March 11th this year, the SELB in conjunction with Dungannon/Cookstown Business Education Partnership (BEP) relaunched its revised website with emphasis on current labour market information (LMI). Read more
The re-launch was accompanied with a teachers' pack of materials for the careers teacher to read through and decide how he/she might integrate the contents into a sixth form programme. If you didn't receive a pack you can email me your address and I'll forward you a copy of the pack.
Interestingly, the two occupational sectors featured on the site are both STEM sectors; food and engineering, and companies within the two sectors have recently been making the news.
Food and Drink is now NI's second biggest manufacturing exporter and accounts for almost 20% of our total manufacturing sales. Writing in the Belfast Telegraph's NI's Top 100 Companies (April 2010), Robert Hamilton comments that
Food is one business that tends to remain strong during a recession. What we have been seeing over the past few years is the development of an industry that's now more outwardly focused, innovative and competitive than ever before.
Dungannon's Dunbia is one of the food companies featured on the site. It is one of the UK's biggest, most successful and innovative companies, turning over £500m per annum. Recently it secured a deal with ASDA to produce the supermarket's premium Extra Special sausage range for the NI market. Dunbia entered the sausage production category after acquiring Stevenson and Co pork facility in Ballymena last year. The move highlights Dunbia's continuing growth within the meat processing sector. The move highlights ASDA's commitment to the sustainability of local agriculture, which is such a key contributor to the province's economy.
O'Kane Poultry has been in the news recently with news of a £20 million new factory expansion. Work on the site is to begin within weeks. Currently the company employs 1450 workers. The investment will secure jobs and create further opportunities for suppliers. The O'Kane Group is one of Ballymena's largest employers, operating two feed mills, three hatcheries and three processing plants producing more than 500 different product lines. It is a major supplier to the retail and food service sector. In the year to April last year the company turned a profit of £1.6m on a turnover of £140m. O'Kane's along with Moy Park and Glenfarm holding is part of the Rose Energy consortium which has submitted plans to build an incinerator near Crumlin, Co Antrim, fuelled by poultry waste.
Writing in the April copy of Career Guidance Today (Volume 18.2), Pauline Tait writes positively on three DVDs from Classroom Video publishers which provide an excellent resource to support a careers education programme for young people in school or college.
Selling Yourself Successfully is a set of 3 x 26 minute DVDs designed for use within a careers education programme. The focus is on helping people find employment. All three DVDs; The Application Form; The Interview; and The Career Portfolio are well presented using young people as case studies to illustrate the topics covered. Though there is regular reference to the Connexions service in England, the inclusion of views from employers makes for interesting comment, discussion and activities with the students. All three DVDs are supported by a comprehensive resource packs available online. Read more
Recently I came across a very interesting resource on the motor industry. Read more
The site will give you an insight into everything you need to know about careers in the motor industry and will provide you with resources for project work. In addition, there are a number of interesting case studies and career films on Careersbox Read more
The TUC produces a monthly labour market information (LMI) report providing ongoing analysis of labour market trends and forecasts, and some of the facts behind the headlines. In its bi-monthly Economic Report it considers the wider economic context, with a special focus on a different policy issue each month. Read more Not only might this prove useful to you the careers teacher, but sixth form students of economics, history, politics mght find some very useful material for debate and assignments within the reports. Why not explore the TUC's public policy blog? Read more
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