Up to 5,000 young unemployed people will be offered nine-week BBC Traineeships, with training provided from the BBC Academy. The traineeships will teach basic digital skills, such as creating simple websites and short videos for the web, with the aim of getting young people ready for work with employability skills and a work placement.
The BBC scheme involves a partnership between the BBC, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Skills Funding Agency, and will be the largest traineeship of its kind, the corporation claims.
Tony Hall, BBC director general, announced the BBC Make it Digital Traineeship today with a launch planned for summer 2015. It will form a key part of the BBC’s flagship Make it Digital initiative, which will be unveiled in full later this month. Make it Digital aims to inspire a new generation to get creative with coding, programming and digital technology.
“We’ve already hit our target of having apprentices make up one per cent of our workforce. I’m immensely proud of that, but we need to keep on showing leadership, and keep on bringing people together in a way which only the BBC can,” said Lord Hall.
“Our new Make it Digital Traineeship is a hugely ambitious partnership, one we hope will unlock Britain’s digital potential and create genuinely life-changing opportunities for young people,” he added.
The programme has been designed to be relevant to the small and medium business sector, where digital skills are in short supply across the UK.
The programme is funded through the Adult Skills Budget, run by the Skills Funding Agency, and will be delivered by external training providers around the country. The content has been created by the BBC Academy, working with the Tech Partnership, drawing on existing BBC training and involving major brands. The six weeks’ classroom-based training in two broad areas: basic digital skills, and employability skills.
The final stage of the Traineeship is a three-week structured work placement, with the focus on selecting companies who are likely to require basic-level digital skills. The DWP’s nationwide Jobcentre Plus network will play a crucial role talent-spotting and identifying suitable candidates, who will be invited to take part by their Jobcentre work coaches.
