UK: East London links up to learn
Business and schools learn from each other in London's East End
Sharing everyday business skills with schools
The City of London epitomises wealth, yet it is surrounded by some of the most economically deprived districts in the UK. Unilever's international headquarters are only a stone’s throw away from this "East End" area, and as part of our commitment to our local communities, we have been working with schools there for nearly a decade.
While money plays an important part in providing solutions to local problems such as lack of equipment or IT facilities, we believe that our efforts are most effective when we use the business skills and expertise at our disposal. Our work with schools in East London shows how an approach that plays to these skills can really pay off.
The East London Schools Partnership
In 1997 we established the East London Schools Partnership, which comprises seven primary, secondary and special needs schools in the East End.
Through the scheme, senior Unilever executives and headteachers get together to mentor each other. These sessions focus on developing headteachers’ leadership skills, but also provide the chance to share experience of tackling common problems found in both business and education, such as planning and budgeting.
Headteachers have found this so useful that they have expanded this approach into regular sessions where they collaborate with headteachers from other schools to address issues such as self-evaluation of school processes, continuous professional development, international partnerships, new ways of working and healthy eating.
Employees also have the opportunity to volunteer their skills and enthusiasm to help increase pupil motivation and attainment through reading and number partner schemes. To date, the Partnership has supported nearly 300 headteachers and reached over 2 000 children through a wide variety of enterprise initiatives, community arts projects, work experience placements and career workshops. In material terms, our funding has enabled the schools to equip their classrooms with IT suites, interactive whiteboards and other new technologies.
Over 100 of our employees have been regular volunteers, bringing mutual benefit to school and business. As one volunteer puts it: "I truly believe that employees engaged in this diverse community develop skills and bring insights back into our business which benefit both them as individuals and us as a business."
Fostering global citizenship
The Partnership's focus is expanding to cover global citizenship – building an appreciation in both children and teachers of world concerns and different cultures by developing links with schools overseas.
Following a recent trip by headteachers and Unilever representatives to South Africa, for example, we have established a partnership with school leaders and pupils in the Eastern Cape region.
"This promises to be a tremendously enriching experience for all parties, providing real opportunities for organisational and personal growth", says Christine Appleby, Unilever HR manager. "As part of the initiative, four teachers from the East London Schools Partnership spent five weeks of their school summer holidays helping to build school development plans with our new South African partners. The wealth of knowledge they brought back will be used across the curriculum, in particular to support one of the UK's national education curriculum aims of developing global citizenship."
