A revolution has takenplace in the past 20 years. Thousands of schools, colleges, universities, companies and support agencies, under the National Education Business Partnership Network, are using National Education Business Activity Week this week to promote their work.
* Britain was the first country in the world to establish a business-education network.There are now 150 partnerships in the UK * 150,000 companies give Pounds 450 million a year to schools and colleges in cash and kind * Government and LEAs spend Pounds 30 million a yearon getting business involved in schools * There are permanent schemes in 92 per cent of secondary schools and 58 per cent of primary schools * One in three secondary schools provides services to industry such as maths courses for young recruits * Work experience isoffered in 99 per centof secondary schools * Two-thirds of all work experience contributes to GCSE assessment * One in ten teachers goes on a work placement every year * 350 firms produce teaching materials for national distribution * An OECD report last year put UK businesses top of the league in Europe for education links.
Sources - National Council for Vocational Qualifications, Warwick University Centre for Education and Industry and the National Education Business Partnership Network.
