| If your school or college is interested in taking part in the West Yorkshire Green Skills Youth Programme please click here to register >> |
West Yorkshire Green Skills Youth Programme
Green careers cut across every sector within every industry. As the economy decarbonises, millions of jobs across every sector are being transformed and most businesses are making planned investment to move to net zero.
Whilst young people are passionate about climate change, our research has shown there is low awareness amongst young people of how the net zero agenda impacts jobs and career opportunities and what it means for their future working lives. Young people also have low visibility of the jobs available and the skills required for jobs within industries such as energy, transport, construction, utilities and infrastructure, which all means that our future workforce does not have a full picture of the green job opportunities available now or in the future.
Employers also tell us that there is a shortage of green skills and a disconnect between what employers need - now and in the future -and what young people think employers are looking for.
This highlights the clear need to both raise awareness and increase engagement with young people to better understand young people’s views with the green skills agenda, which in turn will help ensure West Yorkshire and the UK meet their climate targets for 2050.
To help tackle this, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the Mayor of West Yorkshire have teamed up with Ahead Partnership to launch a Green Skills Youth Programme which will be developed and delivered with the support of the Green Jobs Taskforce.
This Green Skills Youth Programme delivers a number of innovative activities that will help bring green jobs to life for young people aged 14-17 years old, introduce them to local employers and engage them in meaningful debate and discussion around green skills.
The programme is structured in a way that will allow young people to develop essential employability skills including teamwork, critical thinking, analysis and research, creative thought, advocacy and communication skills. For older students, the project will also provide a valuable addition to their personal statement.
The programme will run over the summer holidays and during September, so there are plenty of opportunities for schools/colleges and their young people to get involved.
What activities take place on this programme?
Young people participating in the programme, either over the summer holidays or in September, will take part in the following:
- An online brief launch with inspirational role models from the green sector
- A half-day activity that will train and support young people to understand greening topics such as carbon offsetting, environmental investment and green living, create their own ideas for a local green project and take part in a Youth Voice session to have their say on the future of green jobs in West Yorkshire
- An opportunity to share their green project ideas with WYCA.
All of the activities are hosted by Ahead Partnership with easy-to-follow instructions and full information packs, making it easy for teachers and students take part.
Click here to find out what happened from these activities and how young people felt they benefitted from this exciting programme >>
Please register your interest for your students to take part
