Employer engagement will be the key to the success of the Diploma in Travel and Tourism. That was the consensus at a recent round table on training and tourism, hosted by Travel Weekly.
Speaking in his capacity as project leader for the Diploma Development Partnership, John Humphreys said: “The Diploma will stand or fall on employer support – employer engagement in the delivery of the 50% applied-learning element of the Diploma.”
The Diploma is one of 17 that will be available to 14 to 19 year olds by 2011. What is distinctive about this qualification is that it will be taught by consortia made up of schools and colleges, employers and other key partners such as higher and further education institutions, private training providers and education business partnerships.
So far, building that all-important employer support has been challenging – even where businesses are already involved in workplace training for students, said Institute of Travel and Tourism education and training chairwoman and director Claire Steiner, who is employer engagement manager for the new Diploma.
“Some employers are really engaged locally – small employers working with their local colleges,” she said.
“When we as an institution go to industry to explain what we’re doing, the response can be: ‘I’m not particularly bothered because I’m doing it already’. So we need to meet them as well as the employers that are doing nothing at all.”
Breaking barriers
AA People Development managing director Debbee Dale had encountered similar problems in her dealings with colleges.
“Once they’ve built a relationship themselves, they don’t want anyone else involved, and that resistance is really hard to break down.
“I spoke to one college that has great links with a local high-street agency that takes its students for work experience. The college said it was afraid if I went to the agency, it might not take their students anymore, when, if anything, it would get more people involved.”
In fact, such agencies – those building links with educators – should be held up as beacons for the trade to show what could be achieved.
“We need their staff to become ambassadors for the industry, to go out there and sell it – go to parents’ evenings, go to the college open days as a guest lecturer and sell the company and the trade,” added Steiner.
A lack of a ‘joined-up approach’ to training and education had resulted in some scepticism among businesses, so there was a need to demonstrate that industry bodies were speaking with one voice, said Humphreys.
“We need to get the message out that ABTA, The Tourism Society, People 1st, AA Graduates, the ITT and others with a deep interest in training and education, are getting together – we’re not going our separate ways anymore.”
Creating credibility
Another problem had been that, until recently, there had been little control over who develops qualifications for the sector and how they do it, with the result that there are now more than 300 relating to travel and tourism.
But since People 1st was tasked with controlling the proliferation and accreditation of travel and tourism qualifications, there was every chance to bring consistency and credibility to the business of educating workers for the industry.
That is why the Diploma is so important. “Employers and our stakeholders are very confused by the range of qualifications out there. Some qualifications are very good, some are successful – but a lot are outdated, well past by their sell-by-date and just inappropriate for the present-day needs of the industry.
“The Diploma gave us the opportunity to develop a qualification that is fit for purpose and that meets the needs of stakeholders – particularly employers and those in higher and further education – the two groups we work with closely.”
Joining together
The nature of the new Diplomas meant collaboration between all stakeholders was essential, in order for students to gain workplace experience and for teachers themselves to receive industry-based training.
This was something all businesses should be encouraged to do, regardless of their size. “It’s not just the big boys, we also need small local employers to train the teaching workforce – not just the 14 to 19 year olds, but further and higher education students as well,” said Humphreys.
Engagement in training and education would help ensure employers got the workforce they needed – the people who would drive the industry forward. Said Dale: “Every single one of us working in the industry should be committed to what’s going on.
“What businesses should be thinking is, if they don’t get involved, if they don’t understand what’s going on, that will ultimately affect their pockets. At the moment, I don’t think they get that at all,” she added.
Conclusions
Claire Steiner, John Humphreys and Debbee Dale talk about the next steps for the industry and the diploma
The training experts
Claire Steiner: The HR consultant
Consultant, director and chair, education and training, ITT; employer engagement manager, the Diploma in Travel and Tourism
“I’ve been in the industry for 11 years, seven of which were as head of human resources for the Travelbag group of companies, so I have seen both sides of the fence in that I have been an employee and a recruiter.
After ebookers took over Travelbag, I left to set up as an HR consultant and have worked with a number of companies including ABTA, lastminute.com and AA Appointments.
For the last three years one of my main focuses has been as chair of the training and education committee with the ITT.”
“Another major area for me is the Accredited Travel Professional Scheme, which I’ve been working on with ABTA. That’s been developed over the past four years – it’s only been around for just over a year now and is starting to pick up momentum.”
John Humphreys: The project leader
Travel and Tourism Diploma Development Partnership project leader
“The Diploma Development Partnership is based around two sector skills councils, People 1st and GoSkills – I am based at People 1st.
My background is in teaching – I worked with Springboard for six-and-a-half years where I was responsible for workforce development, teaching, training, careers materials and teaching resources.”
Read John Humphreys’ views on the new Diploma in Travel and Tourism
Debbee Dale: The recruitment expert
Managing director, AA People Development
“This is my 19th year in the industry – I started as an overseas rep. I’ve now been providing training – specifically for the travel industry – for 13 years.
“I worked for TV Travel Shop at its initial set-up, then became a training consultant before partnering with AA Appointments to form AA People Development. That’s when I started going out to the colleges that were doing travel and tourism and I realised the industry was not getting enough graduates.
“Visiting the colleges – and some universities – in those days, the lecturers were quite happy to tell me they were losing about 60% of their students overseas, and then I found out we were losing the travel and tourism graduates to other industries too.
“We got together with the Institute of Travel and Tourism in December to launch AA Graduates – an important move for us both. The more we talk about it the more employers become engaged and students now understand they have a conduit, a professional organisation that understands the industry and can put them in touch with employers.
“The education side is vital because we’re not seen as the best educated of nations. Also, it’s great when a company grows organically but we need researchers, forward thinkers, people who can think five to 10 years ahead.”
- More at travelweekly.co.uk/training