Business in Schools is a campaign by education foundation Edge, encouraging business to work with schools and colleges to enrich young people’s education. The centrepiece of the campaign is this website. Completely free of charge to users, it helps businesses identify local opportunities to work with schools and colleges. Businessinschools.co.uk provides employers with information on a wide variety of work-related learning activities, depending on the time and resources they have available. For intermediaries who specialise in matching local employers to local schools and colleges and vice versa, the campaign is designed to increase interest in work-related learning, raising supply and demand for the opportunities you offer. The aim is to help develop young people’s employability, skills and attitudes before they leave school. Ultimately, this will help ensure the workforce of tomorrow is better prepared for working life and has the potential to make a positive impact on local businesses and the wider economy – financially and culturally. www.businessinschools.co.uk

Edge is dedicated to raising the stature of practical and vocational learning, so that: all young people have the opportunity to achieve their potential, and the UK’s workforce is equipped with the skills to be successful in the modern global economy. Edge is keen to see more young people engaged in a wide variety of work-related learning. Edge spent the last year working with the National Business Partnership Network and Business in the Community to commission a report called ‘Raising the bar and removing the barriers’ exploring both employer appetite for engagement and the ways to make it easier and more effective. The report pointed to a real need among employers for a mechanism that would easily and effectively connect employers with schools and colleges. For further information about Edge visit www.edge.co.uk or email centre@edge.co.uk

Edge wants to see fundamental changes that ensure that practical and vocational learning is part of every young person’s education. We want to see: improvements in educational facilities, particularly in specialised areas better information and careers guidance for young people more opportunity for learners’ voices to be heard increased employer engagement at all levels an overhaul of teacher training, particularly in practical and vocational areas. For further information about Edge visit www.edge.co.uk or email centre@edge.co.uk

We believe that this project is so important that it should be tried and tested before launching at a national level. For this reason, we are piloting the website and campaign in these two regions to ensure the national launch can benefit from feedback and learning from key stakeholders including employers, schools and colleges, and intermediaries. We chose these pilot regions in order to have a broad cross section of urban and rural areas, industry sectors, company sizes and geographical variations.

Businessinschools.co.uk is a not-for-profit initiative funded by Edge. Edge is an independent, education foundation dedicated to raising the stature of practical and vocational learning.

At present the Business in Schools website only allows employers to contact schools and not vice versa. This might change in the future.

Schools and colleges can benefit greatly from the ease of businessinschools.co.uk by identifying the work-related learning activities for which they require assistance from local employers. The Business in Schools campaign and website is supported by the DCSF who believe "work-related learning plays a vital role in young people’s journey to a successful adulthood".

If a school or college already has an arrangement with an intermediary for certain work-related learning activities, they will be able to nominate that organisation as their point of contact for employers. The intermediary should create a Business in Schools profile to make it easier for employers to get in touch via the site.

Schools and colleges will need to provide the details of their main point of contact. They should also select the type of work-related learning assistance they would like from local employers.

Yes, should a school or college require assistance with any aspect of Business in Schools they are welcome to email us at info@businessinschools.co.uk. The site administrator will reply within two working days.

You can log in as infrequently or as often as you like, but frequent users will appear higher in search results and are more likely to be able to take part in any promotional activity in local or national media.

If a school or college finds that they are already registered (possibly by another colleague in their establishment) and would like to check the details, they must simply send an email to info@businessinschools.co.uk. The site administrator will contact the school/college to establish the correct details.

Getting involved in education can help you ensure that future employees have the right skills and that the UK economy stays fundamentally healthy, supported by a great education system. Employers can give school leavers a better understanding of business, and improve their employability. What’s more, by engaging with education, employers will provide professional development opportunities for their own staff. Our research tells us that employer engagement with schools and colleges means developing the leadership and management skills of their employees. Working with young people will also demonstrate a company’s contribution to the local community – creating greater social cohesion and improving local people’s life-chances. And for employers for whom young people are also consumers, businessinschools.co.uk is a great way of getting young people to make a practical contribution to their business. At the very least, engaging in education makes for happier, more motivated staff; at most, it can help businesses grow and generate profits.

There are many different ways that employers can engage with schools and colleges – these are listed in the multicoloured activity finder on the homepage, which can also give advice on the best type of engagement for you. Our list includes presentations, mock interviews, workshops, mentoring, workplace visits, work experience, enterprise projects, qualification support and apprenticeships.

No, all information available on businessinschools.co.uk is free. All we ask is that employers register so that we can provide extra features such as a contacts list and page book-marking. Registration also makes it easier for us to keep track of how the site is being used and make improvements to users’ experience of it.

Personal details will not be passed on to any third parties and will not be used for any purpose without prior permission. Your details will be used in accordance with our terms and conditions and the Data Protection Act. To read our terms and conditions click here.

If an employer is keen to work with a local school or college but is unsure which activity is right for them, there are a wide range of organisations that can help them prepare. Intermediaries usually specialise in a particular geographical area or activity. They develop partnerships between education and business and assist with arrangements for work-related learning.

Should you require assistance with any aspect of Business in Schools, please email info@businessinschools.co.uk. The site administrator will reply within two working days.

Further information about health and safety requirements is available from the Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) in the Work-related Learning Guide at www.dcsf.gov.uk/14-19/documents/work-relatedlearningguide.pdf

Business in Schools provides a promotional tool for intermediaries, making it easier for them to publicise themselves and get in touch with employers. Business in Schools also aims to publicise employer engagement in education, meaning more opportunities for intermediaries to work with schools, colleges and employers.

Yes, intermediaries will be able to go on to the site and add their own details.  They should indicate the area in which they operate by county in the registration form.

Schools and colleges can nominate an intermediary as the main contact for a particular activity. Any emails from interested employers will be sent to the school or college as well as the relevant intermediary.

If you would like to be taken off the site, email info@businessinschools.co.uk with your login details and a request for your profile to be deleted. We’d also love to know why you’ve decided to take this step so if you could give us feedback that would be great.

Check your password and email address are correct. If you have tried to login in five times unsuccessfully, you will be blocked from the system (this is for security reasons). Email info@businessinschools.co.uk with your login details to lift the block. Problems with logging in can also be related to the browser you are using – for example, if you’re using Safari, try again using Firefox or another browser.

If you are having trouble signing up, you might not have filled in the registration form correctly. Check that everything is typed correctly and try again. Problems with registration can also be related to the browser you are using – for example, if you’re using Safari, try again using Firefox or another browser.

For safety reasons, we have to check every school, college and intermediary profile uploaded to the site. We aim to do this within two working days but there may sometimes be delays. If you uploaded your profile more than two working days ago and you still can’t see it, please email info@businessinschools.co.uk to let us know.

For safety reasons, we have to check all the content uploaded to the site. We aim to do this within two working days but there may sometimes be delays. If you uploaded content more than two working days ago and you still can’t see it, please email info@businessinschools.co.uk to let us know.

Check your spam folder in case the email ended up there. If you still can’t find it, email info@businessinschools.co.uk with your details and we will look into the problem.