EKC Group plays vital role in Kent’s first Job Centre Takeover

East Kent Colleges Group (EKC Group) has played a vital role in Kent’s first Job Centre Takeover.

EKC Group is a further education provider based in East Kent. Running six further education colleges and nine EKC Training adult training centres, it offers a range of learning pathways for people of any age as well as programmes aimed at supporting people directly into work.

Last week, the Group’s EKC Folkestone College and EKC Training played a key role in Kent’s first Job Centre Takeover following an initiative in Somerset.

The event took place at the Folkestone Job Centre and provided the opportunity for Job Centre customers to visit and find out more about the array of full-time, part-time, and short courses available to study at the college or EKC Training.

Roberta Fullarton from the Department for Work and Pensions explained how the event came into fruition.

“Following the move of Skills England to the Department for Work and Pensions the collaboration with our local Further Education College is ever-more important to ensure our local community is aware of the full range of opportunities linked to apprenticeships, adult further education,
skills and training,” she said.

“Born from a concept originating in Somerset, we are pleased we were able to offer EKC Group the space to showcase the range of courses available for the first event of its kind in Kent. I’m sure with the success of this event more events of this kind will follow.”

For Johanna Gill, Deputy Principal of EKC Training’s Adult Provision, the event was a vital opportunity to provide an overview of the courses available and how they can support people into work.

She said: “We’ve got a number of different provisions represented, including our Apprenticeships, our Plumbing and Electrical Training Centre in Ashford, our Rail Centre in Shepherdswell, as well as our Functional Skills courses in English and Maths and employability programmes which focus on supporting people directly into work.

“This event is really important to us because it’s all about partnership and bridging that gap for people so that adults in our communities have access to the programmes that we offer and getting them prepared for work.”

With the event being the first of its kind in Kent, Clare Brown, Principal at EKC Folkestone College, described it as a ‘trailblazer’, adding she hopes it paves the way for more in the future.

“This event is a real trailblazer today with it being the first in Kent and a first for EKC Group,” she said.

“It’s a great opportunity for people to come in and see if there’s something they’re interested in, or whether they’re looking to upskill and then look to move into employment in that particular field.

“I think this event is really important because a lot of people may not know what’s out there and what they can do and looking at what their previous experience allows them to do, but also it enables people to think about taking an interest or a hobby or just something different and actually
turning it into a career and learning a new skill.

“Anything is possible at any age, and that’s really what we’re trying to demonstrate here today at the Job Centre. We hope following its success, more events like this are planned across the county.”

The MP for Folkestone and Hythe, Tony Vaughan added: “It’s great to see that EKC Folkestone College are working alongside the Job Centre to inspire potential vocational career paths for those who are out of work.

“It’s so important for people to be able to get out there and have the opportunity to see for themselves the career paths available to them. This is the first of its kind in Kent and I hope it can be a model for other areas.”