Welcome to Perth Autism Support Employability Services For Young People and Employers…..
Current research tell us that only 15% of autistic individuals are in full time employment and this rises to only 16% for those who have accessed further/higher education. Through our Employability services we aim to address this within Perth & Kinross; providing meaningful support, advice and training to our Young People and employers.
Through the desire to increase numbers of all young people to move into a positive destination following education, and with a high percentage of our young people following a pathway into further/higher education, we often miss the essential skills development of understanding the world of work through secondary school.
This means, while our young people are able to leave college or University with often high achievements in their chosen field, securing employment can become a more challenging task as they have not had the opportunity to develop work experience whilst at school, or have perhaps not been able to work part time to support their studies whilst navigating a full time study programme.
We need to recognise that our young people will, at some point, be likely to want to enter into employment and use their strengths and abilities in their chosen field, so we need to support them to be ready to do this at a time that is right for them.
We were delighted to be awarded a Small Grant from the RS MacDonald Charitable Trust to support the development of our Employability Services through consultation with employers across Perth & Kinross. The project also allowed us to deliver a full Ready To Work Programme with some of our young people, seeking their views and feedback through each step of the programme from Ready to Work sessions to placements.
You can read the outcome report here:
We would like to extend our thanks to the RS MacDonald Charitable Trust for funding the consultation, to the employers and young people involved in our Test of Change Plot!
Perth Autism Support are delighted to be one of only 4 projects nationally, to be awarded funding through the Scottish Government Cyber Security Skills Development programme delivered through Skills Development Scotland.
We are working in partnership with Perth College UHI to deliver a Pilot Cyber Security Skills Development programme for 10 autistic young people.
The programme is aimed at young people either still in education in S5 or S6 or those who may have ended their formal education but have not yet moved on to a positive destination within further/higher education or employment.
It focusses on autistic young people experiencing potential longer term academic or employment opportunities in the cyber security field and to support transition to the college setting for those who are looking to pursue further education in this area.
The programme supports the delivery of 1 or more SQA units at SCQF Level 5 in Data Security, Digital Forensics and Ethical Hacking, along with the opportunity to undertake an SQA unit in Employability, for those young people who have the flexibility and time to do so. All young people will also have the opportunity to undertake a work placement with relevant local employers. They will also be allocated a Personal Academic Tutor from the College.
Young people accessing the course will be supported by Perth Autism Support staff and the level of support will be individual to their needs. For example, a young person might:
For more information, please contact Elaine Finnie, Community Development Manager: elaine@perthautismsupport.org.uk or telephone 01738 451081.
Get in touch directly with Employability services at Perth Autism Support by filling out the contact form on the right.
01738 451 081
employability@