Jo praises Bishopbriggs training scheme

2.16.44pm GMT Tue 14th Oct 2008

Jo praised FTP as "a vital bridge from education to work"

Jo Swinson has praised a Bishopbriggs company providing training for underqualified young people getting ready for the world of work.

Forward Training Partnerships, based at Springfield Works in Bishopbriggs, trains 16 and 17 year olds who have left school without many formal qualifications. The centre specialises in helping young people to progress onto a training programme called Get Ready for Work (GRfW) which is an individually tailored programme for young people to help enable access to other training, learning or employment opportunities.

Jo said:

"The service provided by Forward Training Partnerships is a vital bridge from education to work for young people who leave school without a strong set of academic qualifications.

"The programme run by FTP helps young people develop personal and life skills as well as those needed in the workplace. The 16 and 17-year olds I spoke to during the visit referred to the value they got out of FTP and the extra confidence the programme had given them.

"It is crucial that action is taken to reduce the number of disillusioned young people who are not in education, employment or training. We need an education system that gives young people a greater choice over the learning or skills path they want to follow. Academic and vocational education should have equal status, so each young person can have the type of education that serves them best."