Print must appeal to young to survive

With print this week earning its place in the National Skills Academy (NSA) framework, access to skills training is set to improve. However, with students making career decisions at a younger age, the future for the academy and printing itself could still rest on how the industry is reinvented for school-aged children.

The main challenge is to break the misconceptions about the industry, says Richard Bloxam, print industry champion at Proskills. To achieve this goal, a range of events and initiatives has been set up including last week’s careers day at Stationers’ Hall. Exhibitors at the event included London College of Communication, Canon, The Paper Trail and Proskills’ PrintIT!, with talks on the graphics, print and publishing industries taking place.

Bums on seats
Events like this and SkillCity, the annual careers day at Excel, east London, give the industry a chance to highlight the varied careers it has to offer. Students are often unaware that there are jobs in sales, marketing, graphic design as well as manufacturing itself. Paul Evans, project director of PrintIT!, says these events make the industry less alien to students. One of the best ways to get young people involved in print is by, what they call in the car industry, ‘getting bums on seats’. The more people we get taking part in PrintIT! and going on work experience schemes, the better, he says.

PrintIT!, developed in conjunction with the Fairtrade Foundation, involves more than 570 schools across the country. It was founded by kit suppliers association Picon – which passed the reins over to Proskills two years ago – to make young people enthusiastic about the many careers available in print. In the initiative, students are encouraged to design and produce printed products, with printers encouraged to take part in a twinning scheme.

PrintIT! has been the jewel in the crown for promoting the industry to school age students, attracting more than 24,000 students last year, with more expected this year. The scheme has even received praise from Gordon Brown.

Evans says: So far the feedback has been very positive with school responses saying that kids are more likely to pursue a career in print as a result of the scheme. We should know exact statistics by the end of the year.

PrintIT is about educating children to the possibilities in the industry. Whereas print and graphics may not have been on the tick-list for many students, certainly now it is something they know about and are considering. It’s not so much that kids have a negative impression of the industry, more that they often have no impressions at all.

From his day-to-day work with printers, Evans has noticed a mood of change within the industry, with many companies keen to get involved. He says: There seems to be changing attitudes in manufacturing. The companies I’ve talked to are interested in bringing in new ideas and creating fast moving career pathways to entice budding staff.

People power
Evans believes there is real movement now towards valuing the power of young people’s opinions. Businesses are increasingly looking at sites like Facebook to tap into what kids are saying and how the next generation will think, he says.

Proskills has also released I Choose, a series of booklets that show some of the career paths possible in print. Proskills’ Bloxam is keen to show students that there are not only jobs, but career progression in the industry.

He says: There is a big emphasis on A-Levels and degrees, but vocational qualifications have a proven track record and can be a great choice. We are working to get the word out there to secondary school-aged students who are now becoming more savvy as to the career choices out there.

Instilling passion
There are also projects aimed at younger students. The Eduprint initiative, which is a joint venture between HP and equipment supplier The Landscape Group, is aimed at learners aged between eight and 18 and has been run in more than 36 schools across the UK. Its aim, according to managing director Nat Hart, is to instill a sense of passion and purpose in young people through print-based enterprise and learning.

Eduprint students can create personalised content including posters, photo montages, personalised calendars, booklets and certificates up to 42in wide. It makes a refreshing change from the tedious tradition of building bird boxes, jokes Hart.

So between organisations like Proskills, the Stationers’ Company and initiatives like PrintIT! and Eduprint, the print industry is at least starting to win over the hearts and minds of the potential workforce of tomorrow. The next challenge is to ensure that once they’ve joined the industry, we turn them into the industry leaders of tomorrow, and that’s where the NSA can help.