Breakout Sessions Offered to Employers and Educators

Local employers attend the 'Accessing the Hidden Workforce' breakout session offered as part of the Orkney Careers Fair.

During the Orkney Careers Fair, we offered breakout sessions to local employers and educators.

There were three breakout sessions held in the afternoon covering a variety of topics.  These included 'Accessing the Hidden Workforce', a best practice session looking at 'Careers in the Classroom', and a session looking at 'Developing Meta-Skills'.

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​Accessing the Hidden Workforce was developed by the Local Employability Partnership and gave employers the chance to learn how they can make their recruitment process more accessible, enabling them to recruit a more diverse and inclusive workforce.  It also gave advice on how reasonable adjustments can be made to enable a member of staff to succeed in their role.
 
As part of this session, the audience heard from Northlink Ferries who supported a member of staff with dyslexia to undertake their role following re-deployment within the organisation.  The member of staff also spoke about the positive impact the support they received had on them.
 
The second session was open to employers and teachers and was delivered by Orkney Builders and Paige Archibald, a teacher at Glaitness Primary School.
 
During recent building works at the school, Paige invited Orkney Builders into her class to speak to pupils about construction careers.  Together, they delivered careers education to pupils in an engaging and informative way, not only increasing careers knowledge but also developing numeracy and literacy skills.
 
This session enabled employers and educators to consider their role in helping young people make the connection between what they learn in the classroom and the world of work.
 
The final breakout session was delivered by Karen Watson from Skills Development Scotland and looked as Developing Meta-Skills.
 
Meta-skills are the innate, timeless, higher-order skills that create adaptive learners, able to succeed whatever the future brings.  From birth, children use and develop meta-skills as they test and explore the world around them.
 
This session enabled educators and employers to learn more about meta-skills, what they are and how they can be developed and utilised in education and the world of work.
 
If you were unable to attend ant of these sessions but are interested in learning more, get in touch at [email protected] and we will look to put on further sessions.