The D2N2 Employability Framework provides the methodology by which we can significantly improve the employability and life skills of our young people regardless of academic ability or which career pathway they chose to take. Collectively schools, colleges, training providers, wealth creating companies, social enterprises and the public sector have a duty to ensure that we give our young people the best chances in gaining employment and at the same time addressing the skills needs of employers within our area.

This paper is concerned with the integration of career development policies across the world. It was prepared in advance of the International Centre for Career Development and Public Policy symposium in Des Moines 2015.

This report explores employers’ experience and understanding of Higher Apprenticeships. It is based on a survey of almost 200 companies and follow-up interviews with eleven employers. The findings suggest that there is strong support for Higher Apprenticeships amongst employers although there are many employers who have yet to engage with this programme. Employers that have implemented Higher Apprenticeships report a range of business benefits, but they were also clear that appropriate funding has to be in place to support these programmes. Employers generally thought that the introduction of Higher Apprenticeships would improve employee retention, help them to train people in the way they thought necessary and would enhance their company’s skills base. Barriers that had mitigated against the introduction of Higher Apprenticeships included the cost of introducing a Higher Apprenticeship programme, the work needed in making the business ‘higher apprentice friendly’ and findings appropriate apprenticeship frameworks and training providers. Companies that had successfully embedded Higher Apprenticeships had typically developed an approach to recruitment which enabled them to identify and select the best apprentices. Companies also set up management processes to ensure that higher apprentices were well supported and able to progress and developed effective partnerships with training providers.

This paper focuses on how public policy shapes career guidance and establishes a system within which individuals can access career support. Governments are critical to career guidance primarily as funders of the activity, but also importantly as regulators, coordinators and agents of system change. The paper looks at the evidence base on career guidance and public policy, explore the rationales for public policy involvement in the field, examine different models and systems and explore some key issues that underpin successful system design.

The training needs analysis was conducted beteeen February and April 2015 for the EU funded project: ICT in Education in Kosovo. The processes required to perform the traning needs analysis have been.  The design of a framework of competences;  The identification of target groups;  The creation and implementation of an online survey to assess the competence of education sector personnel against the competences contained in the framework;  The collation, preparation and analysis of the survey data; and  Reporting the research findings.

This report Work-based assessment of teamwork: an interprofessional approach describes the Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) funded project of the same name. It focuses on the rationale for, the development of and the piloting of a tool for observing and giving feedback on an individual student’s behavior in an interprofessional team based activity. The study was conducted during 2012–2014 with a project team initially led by the University of Queensland, and included team members from five Australian universities in three states (University of Queensland, University of Technology Sydney, The University of Sydney, Central Queensland University and Curtin University), as well as from the UK (University of Derby) and Canada (University of British Columbia).

This research examined the approach to graduate recruitment adopted by employers and how this has evolved in recent years. In particular the study aimed to explore patterns in graduate recruitment, behaviours of graduate employers and interactions between graduate employers and universities. It therefore provides a picture of long-term trends in practice from pre-recruitment activities through to entry, induction and beyond, and before, during and after the recession; and indicates the ways in which employers’ thinking about recruitment and selection have, and are, changing and developing. The research was driven by a need to update the evidence and understanding of recruitment practice as the population of graduates has increased dramatically and become more heterogeneous; the labour market has changed, emerging from difficult economic conditions; and there is increasing policy interest in diversity and particularly in social mobility.

Non communicable disease (NCD), including cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, accounted for over 65.5% of deaths in 2010, with more than 80% of these occurring in low and middle income countries (LMIC). Approximately 30% of the deaths in LMIC occur prematurely and are largely preventable. NCD is also associated with increased morbidity and reduced quality of life, and it has been estimated that the global economic impact of NCD could total US$47 trillion over the next twenty years, equivalent to 5% of GDP. The causes of NCD have their roots in three major modifiable risk factors; tobacco use, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet and prevention of NCD by addressing these factors at the community level is fast becoming an area of interest. Most authorities, including the United Nations (UN), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend evidence based strategies for lifestyle interventions, but there is limited high grade evidence for population or community based approaches and most of the available evidence is derived from studies conducted in high risk individuals in high income countries. The population approach is inclusive and addresses many factors including health education, structural environmental change, engagement of health providers, transport and education ministries, policy and legislative initiatives and partnerships and coalitions with community organisations. In 2008, the Oxford Health Alliance, a UK registered health charity (No 1117580), began its Community Interventions for Health (CIH) program which was designed to utilise this population approach and which adopted multi factorial, comprehensive strategies for prevention of NCD by addressing modifiable lifestyle risk factor reduction. CIH is an international collaborative study that took place between 2008 2011 in communities in China, India and Mexico and was designed to reduce the risk of NCD by targeting the three main risk factors of tobacco use, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet. The aim of CIH was to evaluate culturally specific strategies to (i) decrease the prevalence of smoking and smokeless tobacco use, (ii) improve diet by increasing intake of fruit and vegetables and reducing use of salt and (iii) increase levels of physical activity in local communities in India, China and Mexico. CIH was conducted over 5 years, and showed that population based strategies to improve health were effective in adults, and had a positive impact on risk factors for NCD by improving dietary intake and ameliorating secular trends for reduced physical activity and increases in overweight and obesity.