Edge has spent the past year researching the issue of employer engagement in the UK. We worked with Business in the Community and the National Education Business Partnership Network with the specific aim of finding ways of getting more employers involved in education, more often and effectively. We talked directly to employers, young people, teachers, lecturers and other professionals. We carried out surveys and hosted focus groups. We commissioned essays from experts. We analysed public policy - past, present and future. We built up a large body of evidence and tested our ideas through extensive consultation.

We also developed a prototype web-based tool to be used by employers, schools, colleges, and brokers, to make it easier for employers to engage in education.

This work equipped Edge with some important key learning points and now places it in a position to pursue the development of a dedicated and sustained employer engagement campaign.

Edge's research on employer engagement produced a report summarising the results of the major consultation exercise. The report is called 'Raising the bar and removing the barriers'.

Edge has also begun work on a web-based tool for employers, schools and colleges, and brokers (such as Education Business Partnerships) to make it easier for employers to engage in education. This platform, is not yet 'live', but Edge is working with its project team to ensure that upon public release, the platform is suitable to both employer and educator needs. In the coming months, Edge will be testing the pilot version of the site in a number of regions of the UK with a view to rolling it out nationally in 2009.

The project is all about identifying and articulating the added value that employers can bring to the school/college curriculum - helping young people to see a connection between what they are doing and where they are heading.

Investigate the links on the right-hand side of this page, which include the final report, findings of the project team's research, and essays from leading thinkers. Also continue to visit www.edge.co.uk for updates on the Edge employer engagement campaign.

You can comment on the project group's findings in the Employer Engagement section of this website, or you are welcome to contact the project directly via Jonathan Bramsdon on centre@edge.co.uk.