Inclusivity Award winner, 2024 - Walsall Training
23 Aug 2024
Walsall Training was thrilled to win our new Inclusivity Award at our Pre-Forum event in Leicester on 4th July. We caught up with Company Director, Steve Edis who was there with Kevin Lloyd, Senior Trainer and Assessor, to find out why the judges were so impressed with what Steve and his team offer their diverse range of candidates.
Walsall Training opened in 2005 and, being in a multi-cultural area has always prided itself in representing everyone. There’s no discrimination based on age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or disability, a fact that our panel of judges, Stewart Clements, Brett Forster, Hattie Hasan OBE and Charlotte Lee could see on reading the company’s entry for the Award. One of them said on reading the entry:
“This bid stood out from the others; supported by case studies that showed the centre’s impressive efforts to integrate with the community. There’s so much inclusivity – it’s amazing!”
West Midlands is a highly populated area with a great mix of non-English speaking residents. For candidates whose first language isn’t English, Walsall Training has produced study guides in different languages for some of its courses - Punjabi, Urdu, and Polish to name just three. The centre also uses a translation management software package called Pairaphrase, which is more sophisticated than Google Translate and can translate text and spoken word into 18 different languages. It also offers voice-over facilities.
To accommodate the requirements of learners from different religions, Walsall Training has set up a stand-alone room for prayer, meditation and reflection. It’s a comfortable quiet space, also good for candidates who are feeling anxious and need a bit of time out.
A level playing field
“In the last five year's 83% of our candidates have been male, but we’re doing all we can to encourage women into the centre – and into the trades. I think the rise in the popularity of women’s sport is doing a lot to change opinion and hopefully soon there won’t be a need to distinguish between men and women in the trades. At the moment it’s difficult to find female trainers as there aren’t that many around, but we have found an excellent female freelance trainer to deliver our F-gas courses and I’d be very open to recruiting more women onto our team.”
Walsall Training has designed a number of courses specifically for women, to build confidence as well as skills. One of these, the Women Only DIY course, was developed in response to a request from a local women’s refuge who were looking for training to empower women who have experienced domestic abuse. The course is delivered on a rolling basis and available at different times during the week, to fit around the work and family commitments. Participants cover everything from hanging pictures and curtain rails to tiling. Some go on to take further qualifications, in plumbing for example.
“The women we train do well. Many find that older customers and those who feel vulnerable for any number of reasons prefer to have a woman working in their homes.”
Learning support
“Kevin and I both have kids with autism, so we’re very aware of the challenges that youngsters can face at school and work. We have a specialist support officer who will identify the challenges any of our candidates face so we can adapt our training to best suit their needs. This might include out of hours training, one-to-one sessions or maybe video tuition.
“We give them whatever support they need, whilst they’re learning and during the assessment. Older people with learning difficulties tend to shy away from a college environment and because we’re small, we’re able to offer them something different. When it comes to the youngsters, a lot of them have had trouble at mainstream school, but the problem-solving talents they have are often suited to working in the trades, so in this environment they thrive.”
As part of its submission to The Awards, the company sent in a review from Rafi, a candidate with autism. It speaks for itself:
Feedback is very important to Steve and his team, and it’s acted upon wherever possible.
“For several years now we’ve been working with the Council to provide training for kids who’ve been excluded from school. Mainstream education isn’t suitable for them but here, in a non-classroom environment, they can see that there’s another way to learn and become productive. We run a twelve-month construction award for them, where they cover plastering, tiling, bricklaying, and carpentry as well as plumbing. You can see them really come on and then, when they’ve finished, they can go on to specialise in one of the trades. Don’t get me wrong, these kids can be really tricky sometimes, but it’s rewarding work and we love it.”
“Aside from this, we go out to schools in the community to encourage young people into the BSE sector, attending job fairs and careers events in the neighbourhood.”
“We’re very lucky to have a great team here. There are nine of us and we’ve been working together as a strong unit for the last twelve years. Because we know and trust each other we can rely on each other. We all love being here and don’t see work as a ‘job’, it’s a pleasure. As we work well as a team, we’re able to be flexible and adapt to our learners’ needs. So, if we need to run a course at the weekends it’s no problem!”
“We’re so proud to have won the Inclusivity Award. We’re not ones for blowing our own trumpets, but it’s nice to have our hard work acknowledged. The Awards is a fantastic idea and Kevin and I really enjoyed the event. It was great to have the chance to network with other centres and to share best practice.”
To find out more about Walsall Training and the work they do to support diversity. Please click here.
Walsall Training are worthy winners of our Inclusivity Award and we wish them all the best in the future – as well as our congratulations, of course!
Walsall Training was thrilled to win our new Inclusivity Award at our Pre-Forum event in Leicester on 4th July. We caught up with Company Director, Steve Edis who was there with Kevin Lloyd, Senior Trainer and Assessor, to find out why the judges were so impressed with what Steve and his team offer their diverse range of candidates.
Walsall Training opened in 2005 and, being in a multi-cultural area has always prided itself in representing everyone. There’s no discrimination based on age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or disability, a fact that our panel of judges, Stewart Clements, Brett Forster, Hattie Hasan OBE and Charlotte Lee could see on reading the company’s entry for the Award. One of them said on reading the entry:
“This bid stood out from the others; supported by case studies that showed the centre’s impressive efforts to integrate with the community. There’s so much inclusivity – it’s amazing!”
West Midlands is a highly populated area with a great mix of non-English speaking residents. For candidates whose first language isn’t English, Walsall Training has produced study guides in different languages for some of its courses - Punjabi, Urdu, and Polish to name just three. The centre also uses a translation management software package called Pairaphrase, which is more sophisticated than Google Translate and can translate text and spoken word into 18 different languages. It also offers voice-over facilities.
To accommodate the requirements of learners from different religions, Walsall Training has set up a stand-alone room for prayer, meditation and reflection. It’s a comfortable quiet space, also good for candidates who are feeling anxious and need a bit of time out.
A level playing field
“In the last five year's 83% of our candidates have been male, but we’re doing all we can to encourage women into the centre – and into the trades. I think the rise in the popularity of women’s sport is doing a lot to change opinion and hopefully soon there won’t be a need to distinguish between men and women in the trades. At the moment it’s difficult to find female trainers as there aren’t that many around, but we have found an excellent female freelance trainer to deliver our F-gas courses and I’d be very open to recruiting more women onto our team.”
Walsall Training has designed a number of courses specifically for women, to build confidence as well as skills. One of these, the Women Only DIY course, was developed in response to a request from a local women’s refuge who were looking for training to empower women who have experienced domestic abuse. The course is delivered on a rolling basis and available at different times during the week, to fit around the work and family commitments. Participants cover everything from hanging pictures and curtain rails to tiling. Some go on to take further qualifications, in plumbing for example.
“The women we train do well. Many find that older customers and those who feel vulnerable for any number of reasons prefer to have a woman working in their homes.”
Learning support
“Kevin and I both have kids with autism, so we’re very aware of the challenges that youngsters can face at school and work. We have a specialist support officer who will identify the challenges any of our candidates face so we can adapt our training to best suit their needs. This might include out of hours training, one-to-one sessions or maybe video tuition.
“We give them whatever support they need, whilst they’re learning and during the assessment. Older people with learning difficulties tend to shy away from a college environment and because we’re small, we’re able to offer them something different. When it comes to the youngsters, a lot of them have had trouble at mainstream school, but the problem-solving talents they have are often suited to working in the trades, so in this environment they thrive.”
As part of its submission to The Awards, the company sent in a review from Rafi, a candidate with autism. It speaks for itself:
Feedback is very important to Steve and his team, and it’s acted upon wherever possible.
“For several years now we’ve been working with the Council to provide training for kids who’ve been excluded from school. Mainstream education isn’t suitable for them but here, in a non-classroom environment, they can see that there’s another way to learn and become productive. We run a twelve-month construction award for them, where they cover plastering, tiling, bricklaying, and carpentry as well as plumbing. You can see them really come on and then, when they’ve finished, they can go on to specialise in one of the trades. Don’t get me wrong, these kids can be really tricky sometimes, but it’s rewarding work and we love it.”
“Aside from this, we go out to schools in the community to encourage young people into the BSE sector, attending job fairs and careers events in the neighbourhood.”
“We’re very lucky to have a great team here. There are nine of us and we’ve been working together as a strong unit for the last twelve years. Because we know and trust each other we can rely on each other. We all love being here and don’t see work as a ‘job’, it’s a pleasure. As we work well as a team, we’re able to be flexible and adapt to our learners’ needs. So, if we need to run a course at the weekends it’s no problem!”
“We’re so proud to have won the Inclusivity Award. We’re not ones for blowing our own trumpets, but it’s nice to have our hard work acknowledged. The Awards is a fantastic idea and Kevin and I really enjoyed the event. It was great to have the chance to network with other centres and to share best practice.”
To find out more about Walsall Training and the work they do to support diversity. Please click here.
Walsall Training are worthy winners of our Inclusivity Award and we wish them all the best in the future – as well as our congratulations, of course!