Feeding The Future - A World of Opportunities
Article posted: 7 June 2010
Food and drink sustains life and all people need to eat and drink to maintain their health and wellbeing, therefore there will always be a food and drink industry to support this basic requirement.
The food and drink industry is a Priority Industry for Scotland that contributes to the economy and the overall wealth of our Nation. It provides employment for around 50,000 people and generates annual turnover of around £7.6 billion.
Career opportunities abound in the food and drink industry in Scotland in a great variety of areas including; Marketing, IT, Engineering, Analysis, Food Science, Food Technology, and New Product Development. Food also travels and this industry also offers great opportunities to travel and work abroad.
However, the industry continues to experience skills gaps and labour shortages in key areas including; engineering, science and food technology and it needs to attract appropriately qualified people to ensure its future growth and success.
What we are aiming to do through Feeding the Future is to inspire and help school children, their teachers, careers advisors and parents make the connections between what they learn in school to courses and qualifications and employment and career opportunities in the food and drink manufacturing industry.
Our plan is to support schools and industry to develop effective and lasting partnerships that provide pupils with real life experience in the food and drink industry that also deliver experiences and outcomes that support Curriculum for Excellence.
We also hope that by engaging industry support we can help the industry to understand the new school curriculum and engage more effectively with potential future recruits.
We will be working closely with colleagues in industry and further and higher education to ensure that we deliver the best possible programme that:
- Establishing the food and drink industry a "Career Destination of Choice".
- Demonstrates the industry relevance over a broad range of subjects, including maths, science and IT as well as home economics.
- Makes connections between schools and skills to courses and qualifications and employment opportunities and career pathways.
- Inspires school children to make connections between the food on their plates and what they are learning in schools to employment in the food and drink industry.
If you would like any further information or would like to be involved please do not hesitate to get in touch with me: moira.stalker@sfdf.org.uk or 0141 636 5498.
To view our careers video A World of Opportunities please visit our website and follow this link, SFDF website
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