Minerva Blog
Minerva SCQF Video
Minerva feature in an SCQF (Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework) video about the employer toolkit from SCQF. In this clip Tricia Hunter explains how Minerva has used the SCQF toolkit to conduct a job evaluation exercise and skills audit with their employees. Tricia also highlights similar work that Minerva has undertaken with a range of small businesses.
Posted by Andrew on Monday, May 7th, 2012. Comment
Women 1st Fundraising Evening
The Ladies who participated in the Women 1st Management Programme in Dumfries had a clothes swapping fundraising evening recently. The evening was hosted by Dani Pearce, a partner in Brodies of Moffat who was one of the Women who completed the programme. The ladies raised £91 for Dumfries & Stewartry Women’s Aid.
Posted by Andrew on Monday, April 23rd, 2012. Comment
Dumfries and Galloway Business Awards 2012
Last night Minerva People attended the Dumfries and Galloway Business Awards 2012 and were treated to a tremendous event that was organsied by Dumfries & Galloway Chamber of Commerce.
The host for the evening was Catriona Shearer, the face of Scotland’s Breakfast TV bulletins, who impressively was presenting on television early this morning.
There were a wide range of categories with entrants from across the whole of Dumfries & Galloway including sole traders, partnerships and limited companies of all sizes. Minerva People had sponsored the Business Woman of the Year Award and wish to congratulate all finalists and winners for such amazing successes over the past year. You can view the winnners here.
Looking forward to next year!
Posted by Andrew on Friday, March 23rd, 2012. Comment
Kezia Dugdale MSP visits Minerva People
Kezia Dugdale MSP visited Minerva People today. We are delighted that the Shadow Minister for Youth Employment visited the Minerva People offices this afternoon to see first hand how Minerva supports Modern Apprenticeships in Dumfries and Galloway.
Staff and learners had the opportunity to ask Kezia some questions over lunch and I am sure that Kezia was interested in hearing how Minerva thinks youth employment issues concerning Scotland could be tackled.
To read more about Kezia Dugdale MSP, visit her website here – http://www.keziadugdale.com/ or you can follow her on twitter @kdugdalemsp
Posted by Andrew on Monday, March 12th, 2012. Comment
You never know what you will be doing next
“I have donned a surgical glove and have apparently been “firkling” cheese today. It is the process by which Cheesemakers check when the mixture is starting to set and separate. You never know what you will be doing next as a Minerva Assessor!” by Gwyneth.
Posted by Andrew on Wednesday, March 7th, 2012. Comment
Modern Apprentices value their training
Nine out of 10 Modern Apprentices (MAs) in Scotland rate the quality of their training as good or very good, according to a recent study carried out by the SDS research team.
The same study into Scotland’s Modern Apprentices also found that the MA programme is highly regarded by almost all of its participants with 98% describing their experiences positively and four out of five praising the support they get.
This large scale survey was carried out in November 2011 by SDS’s Evaluation and Research team. The survey was designed to collect feedback from Modern Apprentices on their experiences of the MA programme and was completed by over 700 MAs who are currently in training.
Dr. Lynne Robson, from the Evaluation and Research team, explains: “This survey illustrates how our new research team can help colleagues within SDS. Working closely together, we can provide robust evidence on customer perceptions which can feed into SDS’s desire for continuous improvement.”
Katie Hutton, Head of National and Local Government Relationships comments: “This report is a key component of our continuous improvement process for National Training Programmes. It has given us valuable insight into the views and experiences of participants, and it is particularly encouraging, to all those involved in delivering this programme, that the vast majority of apprentices’ views are so positive.”
You can read the full report and analysis of results on the SDS corporate website – www.sds.co.uk/MAsurvey<http://www.sds.co.uk/MAsurvey along with more information about Modern Apprenticeships at http://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/our-services/services-for-individuals/national-training-programmes/modern-apprenticeships.aspx.
Posted by Andrew on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012. Comment
Congratulations Children’s House
Congratulations to Children’s House who have been approved by SSSC and SQA to deliver the level 9 PDA in Childhood Practice. We look forward to working in partnership with Children’s house to help and support candidates to gain qualifications needed for the childcare sector.
Posted by Andrew on Friday, January 27th, 2012. Comment
New Year Resolutions
Happy New Year everyone. I hope that you feel rested and ready for 2012. I did a quick survey around the office today to find out if anyone had made any new year resolutions and here are the results, in no particular order:
1. Run a 10Km race
2. Lose a little weight
3. Spend less money
4. Spend more time with my family
5. Make a small difference to the environment
6. Walk more often
7. Eat less chocolate
8. Watch less TV
9. Get fit
10. Not made any resolutions
If you have made any exciting resolutions, please let us know.
Posted by Andrew on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012. Comment
Minerva Awards Ceremony 2011
On Friday 2nd December Minerva People held their annual Awards Ceremony at the Duncan Rooms at Easterbrook Hall in Dumfries. Congratulations to everyone who achieved qualificaitons during the year. There was a fabulous turnout on the day with around 110 learners receiving certificates and around another 30 guests and staff present.
We received a lot of comments on the day saying how inspirational the learners were and how postive the whole event was. We do really enjoy celebrating the achievements of people and are so pleased to play our part supporting you with your learning.
Once we get our photos ready, we will put them on our website in the gallery section, so please keep checking back.
Posted by Andrew on Monday, December 5th, 2011. Comment
Can a £1,000,000,000 get young people into work?
Can a Billion get young people into work? There was an announcement today from the UK government of a new £1bn plan to provide subsidised work and training placements to thousands of young people.
The youth contract scheme will give employers subsidies to take on 160,000 18 to 24 year olds for 6 months and the scheme will last for 3 years.
We welcome this additional funding being made available to help develop the young people in our country but the success of the scheme will ultimately depend on whether the employers are able to provide permanent jobs once the 6 month period has ended. This is the really challenging part to give hope to our young people and only when there are sustained jobs can we really be helping them.
I believe that the exisiting apprenticeship scheme already delivers excellent results and helps young people who choose not to pursue a career through an academic route with an alternative option that can also lead to extremely successful, well paid and rewarding jobs.
What are your thoughts on the new scheme?
More information on the story can be found on the BBC website here
Posted by Andrew on Friday, November 25th, 2011. Comment
