sharing project best practices

With many of the projects Petroc manages, there is the opportunity to develop and share best practice. Often this comes about through partnership working and collaboration with other organisations on a local, regional and sometimes international level.  From resources for helping learners with additional needs access employment to information about creative careers in Europe, here is a range of resources and information that others might learn from.

Empowering Enterprise

This project, funded by the European Social Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund, helps some of the most disadvantaged young people in Devon to move forward into work or education. There is a strong focus on evaluation and sharing best practice both within the delivery partnership and with other organisations who support young people. On the project website there is a wide range of information available:

• Toolkit: A range of resources created by young people and mentors on the project with helpful information on a range of topics including the environment, money, gender identity and mental health.
• Evaluation reports: These reports share the learnings of the project so far and show the impact we are making on individuals and communities.

Personal Mentor Network

Petroc managed a partnership of delivery organisations to provide mentoring support to unemployed 18-24 year olds across Devon, Somerset and Liskeard in Cornwall. The project was successful in helping hundreds of young people into work and our evaluation report includes analysis on successful interventions, case studies and some operational lessons learned from delivering a project of this type.

European Pathways to Employment for Disabled Young People

Working with a special school in Sweden, funding from the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme allowed Petroc to investigate the most appropriate way to prepare disabled young people for meaningful employment. Here are the results of that collaboration:

The Career Pathway and all of the resources are all transferrable to work in a range of settings and could be used by practitioners in any country. We are pleased to share our research and resources with you:

• Research Report: Read about a wide range of delivery models for employability training used in the UK and Sweden to prepare disabled young people for employment. Includes a flexible Career Pathway which can be adapted to the needs of the individual student and/or organisation.
• My Employability Workbook: Used when a student first arrives at college to establish their preferences, skills profile and gather input from tutors, parents and carers. This helps staff to match students to the appropriate work experience opportunities so that they have the chance to gain experience in a setting in which they are comfortable and appropriately supported but where they will also be able to learn and stretch themselves.
• Student Work Placement Log Book: Used during work experience placements to review progress daily such as new skills gained and goal setting. Includes induction information, timesheets and an employability assessment. This is a useful tool to ensure they make progress throughout their placements and also provides a document of their achievements.
• Employment Support Information: Essential information for employers to know when the student moves into the workplace as they leave college. Includes workplace support needs, information on how they learn best, strategies for helping them, skills and ambitions. This can be given to an employer at interview and also be used as they progress at work or as a useful tool for managing any change.

Becoming a Designer in Europe

This project, funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme, allowed Petroc to work with educational institutions from a range of countries to broaden learners’ professional horizons and to help other emerging creatives understand how to follow a career path within the design industry that could lead them to work across Europe. The website created by this partnership is a showcase for the work they did.