FE

Bridging the skills gap

by Sheena Howden, Business Development Centre, Perth College

Despite being situated in one of the most ideal locations to work in Scotland, the "Gateway to the Highlands", the tourism and hospitality industry in Perth & Kinross seems to have a problem persuading young people about the benefits of working in this £500 million industry.

If we can discover the secret of attracting more local youngsters to the industry then we can provide our visitors with a more authentic Scottish experience and improve our profile as a tourist destination.

Perth College has pioneered a new and unique solution to this challenge, the Good Food Circle. It is different to other schemes in that we are bridging the gap between school and work and starting the youngsters at an early age.

Working together with schools and employers, the College has been able to recruit pupils into real working environments with recognised training in the workplace. The young people learn valuable skills to increase their employability without having to travel elsewhere, in a growing multi-million pound industry. Schools taking part are Breadalbane Academy and our local School of Ambition, Blairgowrie High School, along with the award-winning Kinnaird House Hotel, Ballathie House Hotel, Red House Hotel, Enverdale Hotel, Angus Hotel, Atholl Arms Hotel and Ailean Chraggan Hotel. Further details can be found on www.goodfoodcircle.co.uk.

The new Tayside Tourism Development Centre at Perth College will become the hub for tourism, hospitality, education, training and development within Perth and Perthshire. Contained within the Centre are: An interpretation environment; a staffed Solutions Centre for supporting employers and employee needs; two flexible spaces for providing tourism related training, master classes, meetings, seminars and visitor sessions and a mobile kitchen.

An employer forum has also been established whose role will be to promote the opportunities within the Tourism and Hospitality sector within Perth & Kinross to potential students, including school pupils, school leavers and College students. The forum will also advise and inform Tourism and Hospitality businesses of initiatives available for staff training and business development within Perth & Kinross and will seek feedback from businesses.