Two thirds of parents across the West Midlands believe that the competitive job market is the key barrier to their children not securing the job that they want them to, a poll from Action for Children has revealed. The charity also found that almost ten per cent of parents feel their children are not likely to gain the skills and qualifications they need to find a suitable job, with almost a third (28 per cent) citing their background as a barrier to finding a profession.

Chinese New Year celebrations started early at Birmingham City University following the appointment of a leader to its first overseas transnational educational institute – Birmingham Institute of Fashion and Creative Art – in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Dr Cheryl Yu has taken up her role as Assistant Dean at the new Institute, which is a partnership between Birmingham City University and Wuhan Textile University.

The thoughts and time of unemployed young people in Birmingham, and professionals who can spare a few hours to help them develop skills, are being sought after by national volunterring charity Timebank. The charity has launched a new volunteer mentoring project in the city to support 18-25 year olds who are seeking employment as part of Birmingham City Council’s Destination Work programme.

More than 900 people attended a special careers fair at West Bromwich held at Sandwell College’s Central Sixth campus in West Bromwich. Sandwell Connexions held the Seventh Annual New Year, New Start 2016 Apprenticeship, Education, Training and Jobs Fair.  More than 40 exhibitors showcased a diverse range of opportunities at varying levels of entry.

Pioneering work by two Wolverhampton nursery schools using the latest technology to help their children learn has been praised by a Euro MP. Ashmore Park Nursery School and Phoenix Nursery School, Blakenhall, are taking part in a three-year, Europe-wide research programme to test different ways of using digital media to help children interact with the latest technology, and Ashmore Park Nursery was visited by West Midlands MEP Sion Simon recently to find out how the project was going.

Councillor SImon Hackett, cabinet member for children's services was at the launch of a new resource at the Oldbury Library, in a bid to keep children safe as part of the Children’s safety in the Home scheme, with subjects ranging from dangerous dogs, sun and water safety to eating harmful poisons (liquid-tabs) and choking.