Developing young workforce strategy - impact on employer engagement: evaluation

Appendix 4: Core topic guide for practitioners

• Why do employers engage with schools and young people and what helps and hinders them in doing this?
• What are employers' motivations for supporting all young people's education and employment? Do they / their peers think they do enough? To what extent do they have a focus on gender and young people at most disadvantage in the labour market?
• What are the limitations, challenges, barriers that employers encounter in supporting young people? What could be done to overcome them?
• Are there forms of support that employers find easier to organise and provide?
• To what extent is employers' support well matched to perceived needs of regional economies (current and future)?
• What difference has involvement in DYW activities made to employers – in terms of recruitment, quality of match, retention etc?
• To what extent is there evidence that engagement in DYW activities has made a difference to employers – in terms of recruitment, quality of match, retention etc?

Employer awareness, and capacity to support young people:

• How well do employers understand the range of qualifications on offer? Do they hold a parity of esteem for 'academic' and 'vocational' qualifications?
• How has the importance that they place on qualifications changed over time?
• To what extend are employers confident, and skilled at supporting young people facing the greatest barriers to employment?
• What support / encouragement might SMEs, in particular, need to provide such support? (This could include a focus on the propensity / ability of employers to help young people with mental and physical disabilities, poor mental health, and/or care experienced into work placements, vocational qualifications and employment).

Case studies and examples of good practice:

What examples are there of good practice in successful employer engagement, and what evidence-based learning points might this make?

• Engagement with schools and young people.
• Providing accessible, high quality work placements.
• Providing work inspiration activities.
• Providing apprenticeships.
• Providing jobs and widening the accessibility of these jobs.
• Ensuring that schools' curricula and guidance is responsive to learner preference and labour market opportunities.

How can employer engagement in this agenda be further expanded?

• To what extent are employers aware of Scotland's approaches to employer engagement?
• What are their perceptions of the benefits, shortcomings and impact of these approaches?
• What could be done to further enhance the impact of employer engagement in terms of a better alignment between the world of work and young people's understanding and awareness of the world of work?
• Are there any particular attitudes and constraints around the employers who've not engaged? If so, what does this mean in terms of engaging a greater proportion of Scotland's employers in the future.