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NSC Home Page > EUAS Contents > Educators and learners: why bother?
EDUCATION
Educators and learners: why bother?
There are so many types of opportunities, whether measured in terms of range of subjects, types of activity or scale of relationship, that it is quite impossible to list all. The range of potential learners is so broad that it embraces the whole community. The following is intended as an initial summary, which is elaborated in later sections and the appendices.
- No other industry can offer such a wide range of learning opportunities in science, maths, geography, ICT, citizenship, PSHE, history, art, technology, English.
- Work placements and career opportunities - again few industries could offer such a variety of work experiences from explosives engineers to ecologists, from ships captains to systems analysts.
- Donating materials, equipment, land and services - companies may be able to help schools and colleges with materials free or at reduced rates (to cover costs and taxes) e.g. for 'geo-gardens' showing different rock types, or the services of a machine and driver to make a nature pond, provide saplings for planting, items for school fund raising events. Sometimes companies have land which they would be willing to donate or lease at a peppercorn rent to a community school or say a wildlife trust for a particular purpose.
- Provide real life examples for projects - maps, data, loan measuring equipment, test materials.
- Company staff could support - e.g. as school or college governors or involvement through business partnership schemes.
- Out of school visits - e.g. if insurance and rules allow (see separate cautionary notes) help with transport or contributing to the costs e.g. of hiring transport, and where relevant, entry charges) of visiting their site or other places offering related themes e.g. industrial museums, natural history centres, special courses.
- Participation in local or national events - at school, in the community, in the countryside at the quarry plant, wharf or depot, in museums, parks, etc. Companies may wish to take part in local church or community fairs/fetes/ carnivals, vintage vehicle rallies, arts festivals, agricultural shows.
Apart from support in the report already noted, companies may be prepared to allow such events to be staged on their property.
Some of these forms of help, whether financial or in-kind, may be able to be counted as matched funding for other community, school or interest group projects when bidding for grants. In return, depending on the scale of the assistance given, the company will normally wish to receive some public acknowledgement of their contribution and would hope that thereby the community would become more aware of the essential nature of its activities and its role in the environment.
For reasons why industry become involved, see 'Industry - Why Bother?'.
Practical Tips
Whereas most companies and their staff are willing to help where they can, there have been some significant changes in the last decade, which may genuinely restrict their ability to assist, e.g.:- Almost all road transport and increasingly mobile quarry machinery is operated not by the company but either by owner-drivers or under contract to others. The company may therefore be willing to donate materials, but unable to transport it (costs delivered materials can double over about 25 miles).
- Most of the company staff remaining at quarries have tightly controlled work schedules; some carry responsibility for a number of sites, so may not necessarily be readily available during a 'normal' working day.
- On all aggregates materials leaving a quarry, in addition to VAT, an extra 'tax' - the Aggregates Levy is charged, which has to be paid by the company even if they are giving away the material.
- There may be health, safety, planning, legal, insurance and logistical reasons why a company judges that it is unable to help in a particular way. These are very real constraints. (some of these are covered the Logistics section of this report).
- However, even if the company cannot assist directly, it may be able to ask a sub-contractor or supplier to do so, or to support an application e.g. to one of the Aggregate Levy Sustainable Funds for finance.