Southport-based Unipart Rail-Dorman will open its doors to promote the manufacturing sector to local teachers.
The train and road lighting manufacturer will welcome students from local schools on Thursday 18 November for a free, one-day teacher placement event open to schools across Southport, Sefton, Merseyside and Lancashire.
In collaboration with The Manufacturing Institute, Unipart Rail-Dorman will be showing the range of careers available within the manufacturing and engineering sectors and challenging the belief that the industry no longer offers the opportunities today’s young people want.
Organisers say the interactive placement day will offer teachers an opportunity to learn more about today’s modern manufacturing processes, to see what really goes on within the £200 billion a year manufacturing sector and find out about future career opportunities for their pupils. There will also be a factory tour with the opportunity to speak to some of the company’s employees, from apprentices through to senior directors.
The day is organised as part of The Manufacturing Institute’s Make It in Manufacturing campaign, which aims to attract the brightest and best new talent into the industry. The campaign seeks to promote manufacturing as an exciting and rewarding career for young people.
Make It campaign manager Nicola Eagleton Crowther said: “Events such as this are crucial in ensuring that teachers have up-to-date industry knowledge and experience which in turn helps to bring subjects alive in the classroom for pupils. Unfortunately it is becoming increasingly difficult for teachers to be released from school to take advantage of these types of opportunities which, as teachers play a large part in influencing young people about future careers, means teenagers are not always able to make informed choices about post-16 routes based on accurate labour market information.
“If you ask a teenager what they want from their ideal job, their wish list often includes decent pay, being creative, meeting people and travelling, early responsibility and promotional opportunities. We hope this event will clearly demonstrate to local teachers that these are typically features of a manufacturing career and show that there’s a huge disconnect between the reality of working in industry and the image that people have of the sector”.
There are still places left at the event which takes place on Thursday 18 November. If you are a teacher and would like to attend then please contact Stephen Melia at The Manufacturing Institute on 0161 875 2512.
