| Digital Print Training Academy |
DPTA
Digital Print Training Academy
We have been asked to poll the whole CSN readership to identify the skills
training we require to move our industry forward. Proskills already have a list of
qualifications for the print industry and are eager to work on the specific needs
of the UK's 5000 frontline print shops. Your help is required in compiling a
training needs analysis for our part of the print services industry.
Completing a prepared form will only give
an order of options already pre conceived
and our requirement is in part to identify
real skill shortages. This is where we want
to start with a blank shopping list rather
than make our industry fit in with existing
modules of learning. Yes we are special
and need to measure ourselves at levels
we have achieved and targets that we
want to aspire too.
Starting with an appraisal of our existing
skills and forecasting a training
requirement will give us all an idea of the
prospectus. The delivery of each stage of
the course and the entry levels are all
down to you as we will not all fit into a
tailor made solution. Your input is
essential to produce a print programme
we can all buy into.
Last month Ray Snowden, the project
director for the National Skills academy,
accompanied Richard Moore, manager of
Proskills and Print and Paper industry
Champion, to a meeting in Brighton to
discuss supporting our DPTA training
initiative. A start was made on how to
drive skills standards within our part of
the print industry through courses and
qualifications and an agreement that
identifying our needs was paramount.
Following last month's initial publishing
of our objectives, offers of help have
arrived from all sectors of the print ind ustry.
Certain suppliers have offered
resources and sponsorship which we will
be allocating over the coming months.
A real requirement for an e-learning
course has been made apparent from the
response of our readers. Residential
learning is just so expensive and often
leads to a detrimental decision on
training. We need to deliver our courses
free of charge as a triple cost option is not
viable. As we have had explained to us,
every shop already pays once for the
student, twice for the cover of that
employee when training, and the third
cost of the course is often the deciding
negative factor.
All good feedback as it will be pointless
designing courses that will not be
delivered.
An entry level and evaluation session will
be best served remotely with options for
more focused on-site training if required.
A DPTA remote learning course will deliver
a programme to learn at everyone's own
pace. The course can be followed from
work or home and logged into any day of
the week at any time of day. Participation
is the key; all will be welcome and can
proceed at any pace with the content, that
we all practice each day.
Support will be available maybe by email
mentor or a chat room? You decide it is
your industry's future.
We will be working on some demo courses
for your appraisal and of course we need
your course requirements ASAP.
To restate our objectives from last
month's launch; our aim is to attract all
instant print personnel of all ages and
digital technology awareness as there is a
real need for retraining some of our longer
standing readers. Also new start trainees
with a later option to look at
apprenticeships in print will be catered
for. As NVQs are designed to be
transportable through different, but
associated industries, we will have places
for trainees going on into careers in PR,
advertising and print industry sales.
We look forward to receiving instructions
from the CSN readership as to the required
content for our new training prospectus.
Together we can strive to deliver our new
industry training standard, DPTA. As an
industry we need to make printing an
attractive proposal for a modern career
and compete with other IT and design
apprenticeships.
All ideas welcome.
dpta@copyshopnews.co.uk
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