DVD set to tackle the language skills gap

Businesses from across the region have joined forces to help produce a DVD for local schools and colleges that is set to help tackle the language skills deficit currently putting a brake on the Black Country economy.

Cabinet and furniture specialists Martin & Co from Birmingham, Tipton-based Lynwood Engineering and nursing cadets from Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital have all taken starring roles in the 'Talking Business' film, designed to encourage school and college students to develop and improve their linguistic skills.

With foreign languages no longer a compulsory part of secondary school education and 70 per cent of UK businesses involved in some form of international activity, language skills are an increasingly desirable asset amongst young people in search of employment.

Managing director of Lynwood Engineering, Keith Webb, explained: 'If we were recruiting young people into the organisation, we would certainly look more seriously at those who have language skills. They do not need to be fluent but do need to demonstrate their determination to learn and an understanding that communicating with people who speak different languages is part of modern working life. In today's global markets, we can't afford not to be communicating at the same level as employees and companies in other countries'.

Produced by students from City of Wolverhampton College's MediaCoVE and available to all Black Country schools and colleges, the DVD is part of the Black Country Pathfinder 14-19 Networks for Excellence; a groundbreaking initiative strategically led by Black Country Learning and Skills Council (LSC) that aims to raise the profile of foreign and community languages to meet the needs of young people, local employers and local communities.

Pathfinder director Henriette Harnisch is delighted with the film and is hopeful that it will strike a chord with young people at schools and college throughout the Black Country. She said "By talking to local employers who are actually dealing with international customers and suppliers on a daily basis, we are hoping to show how people's language skills can be used in practice in the workplace. It is a common practice misperception that we no longer need to learn foreign languages as so many people throughout the world speak English. As the employers in this DVD have illustrated, without the ability to communicate in other languages, businesses can lose orders, make mistakes and generally lose out in the global marketplace."

Henriette Harnisch added: 'If the Black Country economy is to prosper it needs to compete as effectively as possible in the global marketplace and we are confident that projects like this DVD will encourage and inspire young people to expand and improve their linguistic skills as part of this improvement process.'

The Black Country Pathfinder is one of the 39 Pathfinder projects across the country designed to pilot practical ways of increasing curriculum opportunities for 14 to 19 year olds and encouraging more young people to stay on in learning.

For a copy of the "Talking Business" DVD, contact Henriette Harnisch on 01902 824413.

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