Our ideas
Learning and Skills
We want to use the excitement generated by the 2012 Games to promote learning and skills development, and to ensure that young people and adults are equipped for the employment opportunities offered by the Games and for life in a global society.
Teachers can already access Olympic/Paralympics related materials to support classroom learning:
Olympic partners and their sponsors may want to produce further classroom materials, activities and projects in the run-up to 2012. The Department will work with them to ensure that materials and projects support learning outcomes, are high quality, and are provided as a coherent package that fits easily into the school timetable.
Enthusing young people
We are looking at how to harness the excitement generated by 2012 to interest disaffected young people in learning.
In particular, we hope that the 2012 Games will help schools to:
- make more links with businesses, so that there are more work experience opportunities.
- raise the profile of language learning. The Games will provide a range of exciting opportunities for people who speak foreign languages to use and improve their skills, and companies will need improved language capabilities in order to benefit from the business opportunities.
- ensure that young people take a more outward-looking approach to other countries, and have more opportunities to engage with young people from overseas.
The skills agenda
With key delivery partners such as the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA), we will use 2012 to help drive long-lasting system-wide change in the skills agenda.
We are developing new activities to deliver the skilled workforce needed for the Games and ensure long-term employer engagement. Sector Skills Councils are already gearing up for this, planning ahead in sectors like construction and tourism.
The impact of the Games should be felt throughout the country and Regional Skills Partnerships are already considering what impact the Games can have in their regions, and what they can do to make the most of the opportunities offered for employers and employees.
We will also be looking to maximise the links between sporting excellence that will be on show at the 2012 Games and the excellence in skills that will be seen at the WorldSkills competition that London will host in 2011.
For more details on how students and colleges can get involved alongside competitors from many other countries see the WorldSkills International website.
