Careers:TRAINING

A new approach to helping Britain's young unemployed has been introduced by Inter‐Action Trust, Europe's leading community development agency. Called OPS — Occupation Preparation Systems — it is a programme of motivating basic training units ideal for 14–18 year olds. It encourages young people to explore a wide range of work and leisure opportunities using stimulating audio‐visual and computerized materials. Filmstrips give clear instructions so that young people gain confidence in using the systems on their own. They include an introduction to computers and the new technologies, trial real business projects developed by Inter‐Action since 1978 with a DES grant, and crash courses for trainers working with unemployed youth. The OPS materials have been developed and field‐tested to be of use to all the businesses, voluntary agencies, local authorities, and educational institutions training young people under the Manpower Services Commission's new managing agencies. OPS can be attached to any existing training programme to help meet MSC requirements.