Survey shows impact of PrintIT!

July 1, 2011 - PRLog -- A survey has found that students participating in PrintIT! were twice as likely to consider the print and paper industries ‘exciting’, ‘versatile and dynamic’ and ‘environmentally friendly’, and three times as likely to think about taking an apprenticeship after completing the programme. The survey also found that the proportion of students who knew ‘quite a lot’ about the print and paper industries increased nearly seven-fold after completing PrintIT!, an initiative led by Proskills, the sector skills council for the process and manufacturing sector, demonstrating its importance to the long-term future of the print and paper industries.      

One example is Kelly Tyack, a student at Magdalen College in Northamptonshire. Before participating in PrintIT! Kelly knew little about the print and paper industries and had no plans to consider a career in them. “My favourite part of PrintIT! was learning about paper making processes and the machinery involved. I also enjoyed creating my own design to fit the brief, I found it very exciting,” she said. Her perceptions of the print and paper industries have been transformed to the extent that she would now consider an apprenticeship.

This positive outlook bodes well for the future of the print and paper industries, which will need new entrants to cope with the challenge of an ageing workforce. The PrintIT! twinning programme holds real relevance in these terms; schools are matched with a local printing company, giving students the opportunity to experience the industry first hand and ask company executives about their own experience. Many started out as apprentices before rising through the ranks as they gained technical skills and knowledge, demonstrating the long-term value of apprenticeships.    

Proskills CEO Terry Watts believes that programmes like PrintIT! will help companies build for the future. “Students are the next generation of the workforce, so investing in their skills makes long-term economic sense,” he says. “Experience of the workplace will help students develop industry-relevant skills, so I would encourage schools to sign up to the PrintIT! twinning programme and build stronger links with companies in their area.”

For further information on PrintIT! visit www.printit.org.uk or contact the PrintIT! Team at printit@proskills.co.uk or on 01235 432018

About Proskills:
Proskills UK is the bridge between employers and Government on skills and training. Employer-led by nine key industries, Building Products, Coatings, Extractives, Furniture, Glass, Glazed Ceramics, Paper, Print and Wood industries which make a third of the UK manufacturing sector. Proskills UK helps to raise the profile and sets the skills standards and qualifications for the sector and ensures that the skills and funding delivers against the current and future needs of the industries.
One of a network of employer-led SSC’s across the UK, Proskills is a not-for-profit organisation, whose role is to raise the skills levels and competitiveness in the 80,000 workplaces and 800,000 employees that make up the sector. This is achieved through researching business skills needs, delivering occupational standards and qualifications, matching skills demand to supply, and securing funding to meet business skills priorities.

About PrintIT!
Launched in 2005, PrintIT! is an industry-wide educational initiative which aims to encourage young people to consider a career in print.  
As part of the curriculum-based PrintIT! course, students are challenged to create a print-based campaign.  Aiming to promote the many varied and stimulating career paths available within the print industry, the PrintIT! competition was extended in 2008 to include Year 9 students (aged 13-14) as well as Year 10 students (aged 14-15) studying for their GCSEs in Product Design and Graphic Products.
PrintIT! is also relevant to the Diplomas in Creative and Media and Manufacturing and Product Design. PrintIT! is led by Proskills UK, the sector skills council representing the print and paper industries.

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Proskills UK is an employer-led organisation that represents the interests of the industries that make up the process and manufacturing sector to government.