The Place2Be, pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group), People 1st and Thames Reach - Moving In Moving On have been shortlisted for the education and training category of the Charity Awards 2010.

  

pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group)

Children and young people encounter money earlier and earlier, from spending and saving their pocket money to acquiring their first mobile phone. pfeg (Personal Finance
Education Group) was set up in 2000 in response to the lack of consistent financial education in schools with an aim to help young people address the financial complexities they will face as they grow up.

An independent charity, pfeg endeavours to help schools to plan and teach personal finance relevant to students’ lives and needs. Its mission is to ensure that all young people have the confidence, skills and knowledge in financial matters to participate fully in society.

To support and embed a planned and coherent programme of personal finance education in primary and secondary schools, pfeg provides free support, resources and expert consultancy to teachers, school leadership teams and local
authorities. pfeg also works with government, opinion-formers and key bodies with the aim of influencing education policy.

pfeg receives cross-sector support from education, business
and government. It has partnerships with a variety of commercial a multitude of programmes supporting its mission. Its partners include the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which committed £17m over five years to fund Learning Money Matters, HSBC which invested £3.4m as well as the involvement of thousands of volunteers from
across the organisation to support the What Money Means programme.

pfeg also leads the My Money programme funded by the Department for Children Schools and Families which delivered the first ever England-wide My Money week in 2009 and this year will take place from 28 June to 4 July.

The Place2Be

Helping children adapt to secondary school through counselling

The Place2Be’s school-based counselling service works in 155 schools in some of the most deprived communities across the country.

Acknowledging academic research and government concerns for the mental health of children moving from primary to secondary school, Place2Be implemented a new ‘Transition Service’ in 2007 to address the emotional, behavioural and social problems experienced by young people through this time.

Working to intervene early before a downward spiral occurs, the Transition Service offers an open door to anyone experiencing difficulties and tracks ‘at-risk’ children, providing support when they start secondary school and are at their most vulnerable.

A key factor to the success of the service is gaining consent from both the parents and the children before starting work, enabling them to forge relationships across the longer-term. The inclusion of parents within the service also enables The Place2Be to engage with the ‘hard to reach’ in a comprehensive and non-stigmatising way. The Place2Be aims to support 7,500 vulnerable youngsters annually by 2011/12 through the Transition Service.

People 1st

Devised a new qualification for aspiring chefs

An absence of satisfactory training in the hospitality sector saw 64 per cent of applicants for chef vacancies proving significantly under-skilled for the job.

People 1st sought to redress the educational void filled only by an NVQ in chefs’ training, designed for those already working in the industry, by developing the Professional Cookery Diploma to revolutionise catering education and enhance the basic skills and competence of young chefs leaving college.

Having spent a year researching the problem, People 1st identified the needs of employers and colleges regarding a new qualification, engaged with several awarding organisations to develop the qualifications and persuaded the government to change its national funding policy to ensure the diploma was as supported as the NVQ it
sought to replace.

A three-level, three-year structure was developed, adding an optional year on the previous qualification to
specialise. Since its pilot within 19 colleges, the diploma now runs in 54 colleges and completion rates are around 90 per
cent. Some colleges incorporating the diploma have noted that 100 per cent of those students undertaking work placements consequently received permanent jobs in the industry.

People 1st plans to embed the qualification in every college in the UK by 2012, contributing around 10,000 highly-skilled
graduates a year.

Thames Reach – Moving In Moving On

Training formerly homeless people to decorate their new homes

Moving In Moving On was conceived by a Thames Reach service-user self-help group of recently homeless residents keen to decorate their new accommodation but without the skills to do so.

The lack of painting and decorating skills was identified as a factor for isolation but also provided an opportunity to build confidence and independence in the tenants’ new surroundings by providing skills training. A significant number of homeless people have worked in manual trades in the past and the opportunity to develop these skills was also seen as a chance to enhance participants’ sense
of purpose.

Based on the experience of the original pilot, Thames Reach applied to the Association of London Government and achieved funding of over £182,000 for two years until 2004. This allowed MIMO to expand to increase training and prolong the interaction with participants. MIMO later received over £177,000 from the Job Centre Plus European Social Fund to deliver the project as part of a wider partnership programme delivering a range of skills training to homeless people across London.

In 2008 a further £175,000 was granted by the Department
of Communities and Local Government. And last year MIMO helped 24 vulnerable men and women to complete the training programme.