it is odd walking back through the gates in that it ISN’T odd-everything (the buildings) strangely familiar (I suppose it is the one place in my life apart from my home where I have spent 7 years in succession visiting every day-so it must have left an imprint)! Although I was glad to see they had finally taken down the fading maps of the area in the corridor by the hall (that I used to gaze at in the 70’s during breaks), that were certainly there up until last year..

The lads were there for their Work Experience prep day, and were then off for a couple of weeks in the world of work-I hope they remember the two main things I told them-it’s ok to be nervous, and there isn’t such a thing as a stupid question (unless the same one is asked too many times). They were impeccably behaved when I spoke to them, and I heard the rest of the day turned out well.

I met the new Head briefly-Mr Quinn-and am impressed by the impact he’s already had in his short time there. I hope to see him again early in the new year to see what else we can develop with the school to find new ways of creating better support for the WRL and WEX needed by young people.

TGBS-staff and lads-you are doing a great job-am proud to say I went there.

The school are using us to help them prepare some of their boys for work..and I am going along to open the event with some supposed words of wisdom..

trouble is, I will (as I have done for the last couple of years) be a grey haired bloke stood at the front blah-ing about how this use to be his school and live round there..trying to find something that might inspire or for the lads to find relevant to them.

so this year I will talk about my own work experience (you know the one..have changed the blog photo for now as a reminder)

what were my learnings from my own work experience?

-I had to find my own work placement, but I knew the sort of thing i was looking for. Who does that for young people? How random are their work placements because there is a lack of thought?

-I had set my own objectives for what I was hoping to achieve, but had no idea if it was possible. How are YP helped to define their objectives when they have no idea what work looks like in the first place?

-I had no idea what to expect from the experience..which contributed to the nerves. The list went something like..where do I go, how do I get there, will I be late, what do I wear/when do I wear it, will they like me, will I be able to do what they ask me, will I understand what is going on, what happens if I don’t like it, who do I turn to if it gets too much/not what I thought…

So who (on average) helps calm YP’s nerves and boost confidence before/during the event?

Afterwards..well, I think I was able to evaluate whether it had worked, and what I had learned. This as trainers and educators know (reflection) is an important part of the consolidation of learning. How many YP are given that opportunity to reflect and consolidate knowledge gained? Asked what it now means (through a coaching process) for them as individuals and what they are now going to do differently?

At BXL we can help both adults and young people through this process, often by the assignment of a key worker-but of course the funding has to come from somewhere, and it certainly isn’t available to all the 10-15,000 YP who need a placement every year in Birmingham and Solihull.

So who else can help..?

-School-many schools do run WEX preparation and have WEX coordinators who manage the process very well

-parents..but again, if parents haven’t got guidelines for work experience, it can make it harder to contribute. We’ll have a look at providing some parental guidance for WEX next

employers-we’ve just published some guidelines for employers-a lot of it is Health and Safety related, but the preparation and process I’ve described above actually is the core experience that has the value for YP..have a look here for more info

so off to work now for the day job.. I will update tomorrow after my visit!

Subtitle
propose la mise à jour gratuite de son how2beat_thebeat…
“un truc gratos” de 17 morceaux pour 27 minutes.

+ Subtitle, how2beat_thebeat3.1

[subtitle space / briefcaserockers.com]

Today saw the first Education Business Exchange event in the Midlands, hosted by BXL.

We used the opportunity to both give an overview of what the major brokers have on offer for working between businesses and schools, and to have a lively debate on what is currently working/what the gaps are in what is on offer.

We had great contributions from many schools, colleges, employers and brokers-so thanks to all who attended.

What next? We will capture the outputs and share these via our next newsletter in December-but as a summary:

-we need to create more ‘in school’ work experiences

-we need to create more/consistent ‘out of school’ work experiences eg through the Partnership Centre model

-employers, young people and educators need more help in preparing for work experience placements, and how to leverage the learning better/create opportunities for linking to accreditation

The next Exchange event is in February-again, we will notify more in due course via our websites and email newsletters.

We are now working towards this Thursday morning..BXL’s first Business Education Exchange event at the Chamber of Commerce in Edgbaston.

This is a quarterly event designed to be ‘the’ place where educators, businesses and brokers can exchange ideas and debate priorities.

Apart from demystifying the current potentially confusing offers of interventions from brokers such as CBI, BITC, the Chamber, YE and ourselves, we will be looking at how we support creating a positive step change in the work experience that our young people in this region can access.

On the day BXL will also launch guidelines for employers who support youngsters in work experience, as changing government policy has created uncertainty in both educators and employers about obligations and risk assessments.

In the meantime you can always access advice through our website or offices through www.ebpartnership.org.uk

(a pause for thought whilst I am waiting to hear if the menu is finally accepted…)

talking to some secondary heads and businesses, I asked the question-is the traditional 2 week UK work experience for year 10 really useful, or really outdated?

first-why did we do this? Answers:

Education-because it is easier to send young people out en bloc, because at the end of the summer term what else can you do with them, and because, er..we’ve always done it that way!

Business-because..er, we wish the schools would stagger this, but don’t seem to be able to have an effect.

Question-who says we need to do this? Answer-well, Ofsted don’t demand it (they ask for Work Related Learning evidence, not WEX per se), Employers certainly don’t create the demand (they are usually asked to do it to help the young people out), and there isn’t it seems a statutory right or direction that it happens.

What is dictated though by the Local Authority and LSC is that every placement has to be health and safety checked by a contractor, risk assessments carried out at an individual pupil level, and employers are coming under more pressure for CRB and other safeguarding checks. So all in all, a lot of effort and expense when we aren’t quite sure of the outcomes we are looking for?

So, why on earth do we bother? Where is the evidence that this is a good use of everyone’s time and money? Especially when some schools are collapsing the curriculum so that year 10 start work on year 11 work early, the ‘Rarely Cover’ issue means that teachers are not available to easily cover colleagues absence, and young people if out on work experience whilst their class-mates are being taught end up being behind the very strict timetables.

At BXL we are running a debate on this issue at our Education Business Exchange breakfast on 26th November (See here for details). We want to know how we need to change our provision to REALLY meet the needs of our young people, and our education and business partners.

We’ll let you know what the assembled thoughts were…we have some potential solutions, but want to ask the experts!

Photographed by Kmeron

There is the song Horse And I recorded in HD on my YouTube

There will be soon a post about it on kmeron

And all my Concert Pictures can be seen on : musicfromthepit

– License

The best 54 party so far!!
Thanks everyone for coming, hope you enjoyed yourself as much as we did!
See you at the next party (Exit54 – 18 dec @ Paddestoel).

Lineup:
DMX KREW (UK)
SKIPPLE & BRAIDEN (UK)
DEKMANTEL (NL)
+ 54KOLAKTIV DJS

Pictures by Max Pinckers

Voor de mensen die zich dat af en toe nog eens durven afvragen, maakte de Zevende Dag een leuke reportdage op de afgelopen Brussels Girl Geek Dinner in Vilvoorde.

…Sacrée Cervoise !

Samedi 26 ( 14 – 23h) & Dimanche 27 (11 – 18h)

[2°] TP au marché… (c'est pas gagné  

1 + 8 + 15 = 3  …non? 

Marché annuel du bio & du développement durable  

Place Jourdan • Samedi 12 septembre

( petit extra pour le plaisir des yeux

à la louche, les délices, au Wolubilis

..

 "SOLIDE"!  surtout pour les à beau nez (3evenements:25€)

Cultureel weer een deel hoogdagen beleefd. (but so what else is new?). Afgelopen zaterdag bezocht ik Mons (Bergen). Gezien mijn achterlijke Vlaamse ingesteldheid had ik totnogtoe nog maar één Waalse stad bezocht. Zeer zielig uiteraard. Ik ga vanaf nu dan ook men best doen om op korte termijn Namur, Charleroi, Wavre en eventueel Dinant en Arlon te verkennen. (Hieruit kan u ook meteen afleiden dat Liège de enige waalse stad was die ik wel al zag. Mag ookwel, gezien ik er zo belachelijk dicht bij woon. Nu losstaand hiervan was Mons verrassend mooi. Gezellig, authentiek, rustig. Ik snap dan ook niet goed waarom het toerisme hier niet echt aanslaat. De afkeur van Vlamingen voor onze Waalse broedersteden is toch wel zwaar achterlijk. We deden het woord toerist bovendien eer aan, door met een plannetje alle bekende bezienswaardigheden te verkennen. Het gotische stadhuis met metalen aapje, de kathedraal met de gouden koets, het barokke belfort. Hehe, soms ben ik zo cliché. Hoogtepunt was echter de Keith Haring tentoonstelling (Keith Haring All-over) in het BAM (Beaux-arts Mons). Damn man, tentoonstelling met wereldklasse. Stiekem ben ik ook steeds wel een beetje fan geweest van deze man. Het is en blijft dan ook een homo-icoon. Dankjewel schat.

De daaropvolgende dag verbleef ik opnieuw in Brussel, als de voorspelbare parasiet die ik geworden ben. De dag bracht ik met een ex-schoolmaatje door in het Natuurhistorisch museum. Stiekem werd het immers eens tijd dat ik de vernieuwingen daar eens ging bewonderen. De vernieuwde dinozalen en de evolutiezaal. Zeer blits en modern. En ongeloofelijk informatief/interactief voor kinderen. Zalig gewoon. Ik heb gewoonweg een dino kunnen tekenen op een computerschermpje daar. Hoe cool? De evolutiezaal was bovendien vooral informatief gericht en visueel niet zo spectaculair, wat het voor biologen (ja want nu ben ik een bioloog :’)) niet al te boeiend maakte. Voor het grote publiek vermoedelijk zeer verhelderend. Take that, damn creationists. De avond werd een stadswandeling met het liefje (jaja alweer). Verkenning van moderne kunst. Ik aanschouwde the sequence in de Leuveseweg. Ecologisch verantwoord blijkt bovendien. Ecoverf en hout dat bij kap gecompenseerd wordt door nieuwe aanplant. Mooi vind ik dat. Ik ben een bitch voor organische kunst, aldus was ik ook zwaar onder de indruk van dit werk. Surfde net het net af op zoek naar het doel. Aanschouw hier, de woorden van de kunstenaar (Arne Quinze) himself: …Daar tast de sculptuur de grenzen van België af. De zichtbare connectie tussen de twee buren, het Vlaams Parlement en het Huis van de Vlaamse Volksvertegenwoordigers, weerspiegelt de connectie tussen alle mogelijke buren in Brussel. Een ontmoeting tussen alle aanwezige culturen… Zeer mooi gezegd, nietwaar? Een ander kunstwerk voor die avond was the three legged boeddha van Zhang Huan. Imposant groots. En hier bracht wat surfen me tot volgende symboliek: “De verhakkelde boeddha, die met een derde been zijn eigen hoofd verplettert, staat voor het respectloos neerhalen van cultuurmonumenten en -tradities in ‘sommige’ beschavingen.” (uit Brusselnieuws.be). Naast deze hoogtepunten bracht de wandeling ons nog langs de congress kolom, met het uitgestorven stuk spookstad (men spookpark inclus) en zagen we de het beeld ter erre van onze brabançonne op het vrijheidsplein. Ah, Brussel…

Le samedi 5 - Se la jouer Heroic Fantasy au Chocolate Factory

Le dimanche 6 - Taquiner le Comic : chiner aux Halles Saint Gery

Et dans l'attente, suivre l'Actu …ou réviser ses Classiques

_ _

(04/09) Prémisse d'un week-end Athlétique  …à plus d'un titre

. . . . . .  . . . .

Le Mémorial Van Damme  . . . “La Bretelle” de Bxl . . . & le W-E de la bière (le + dur

Rock n Roll Forever …&4Free !

À partir de 14 heures – Proximité Atomium – Tout public

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Bulex quitte la batellerie

Ils étaient onze & ne sont plus que trois! Mini compte à rebours – Maxi fiesta

(avant d’investir en nostalgie)

Sittin’ here resting my bones & this loneliness won’t leave me alone It’s two thousand miles I roamed just to make this dock my home Now, I’m just gonna sit at the dock of the bay watching the tide roll away Oo’wee sittin’ on the dock of the bay wastin’ time    Otis Redding

( Cent Trente Troisième :ο)

JOERMETFESTIVAL

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& z’autres flymaouz ∑¦)

à bruxelles (comme partout) le samedi 29 août

…

Anspach gallery & compagnie