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Butler-Adams, managing director of Brompton Bicycles, has been appointed to a five-strong team heading up the Diploma Employer Champions Network (DECN), a group of employer ambassadors which aims to encourage industry engagement in the government’s new Diplomas for 14 to 19-year-olds.
Butler-Adams – seen in the video that autoplays on the Manufacturing Diploma website – is also an employer champion for the Diploma in Manufacturing and Product Design (MPD).
He said: “I became involved in supporting the Diploma in MPD because I passionately believe industry should be proactive in helping to shape the next generation of workers. The Diploma is a great vehicle for this because it gives employers a direct role to play in education. It formalises the kind of partnerships with schools and colleges I have worked to build in my time at Brompton. It places work experience, site visits, work-related projects and work experience in the context of a qualification.
“Employer involvement is crucial to these industry-linked qualifications, it is employers who help ensure the content is realistic and use their experience to bring learning to life for students. This can generate an enthusiasm for learning among young people. We want them to see education not just as a set of exams, but also as a tool for propelling them into interesting and successful futures. The end product is we, as employers, help develop a new generation of potential recruits who are better prepared for and have a better understanding of the world of work.”
The Diploma in MPD was launched in several areas across England in September this year. It teaches core topics of business and enterprise, production systems and product design and materials science, with options to take additional specialist and vocational qualifications as part of the course. All students are assessed on functional skills in English, maths and ICT, as well as generic skills such as problem solving and team working. Work experience and work-based projects are a mandatory part of the course. The Diploma in MPD sits alongside traditional qualifications like GCSEs and A-Levels and is available at three levels. The qualification offers a wide range of progression routes from further study at school, college or university to vocational qualifications or learning programmes such as Apprenticeships, or alternatively directly into employment.
