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Published in association with
WORKING mothers and primary care givers are the focus of a great OU campaign to bolster career ambitions. Building on our long-standing commitment to accessible education, the OU is working to dismantle the systemic barriers which continue to hold mothers back at work.
It is not just about recognising the value and place of mothers to our companies and industry. It is also ensuring they have the support they need to juggle career ambitions alongside their role as a working parent.
The campaign aims to empower mums to keep moving forward, using study to further their careers. We know that is easier said than done so the initiative specifically focuses on tackling workplace barriers facing mothers and primary care givers.
We partnered with several organisations, including the Department for Work and Pensions, to address the issues and to launch a Return-to-Work Toolkit aimed at mothers and employers.
Developed through the OU’s Open Societal Challenges programme and launched at Westminster, the toolkits have already reached parents and employers nationwide. With training delivered to work coaches in more than 650 Jobcentres and a strong evidence base underpinning the content, the campaign showed how academic research can create real-world change.
The campaign is especially important to me, as it sees the brilliant work of two Business School researchers centre stage. Policing lecturers Dr Keely Duddin and Kendal Wright co-authored the toolkit which provides practical guidance for employers on how to better support mothers and offers a blueprint for businesses to help new parents in their transition back into the workplace.
Dr Duddin said: “I think it is really important for businesses to look at that longer-term picture in terms of actually supporting mothers, primary caregivers back into the organisation because what they will get from them in the long term is hugely positive.
“We have seen through research that if you reintegrate people successfully, they retain within the business for longer.”
Find out more at https://www.open.ac.uk/courses/choose/mumentum
I WAS delighted to join dozens of colleagues past and present who celebrated the OU’s Charter Day at the Milton Keynes Rose in Campbell Park on April 23.
The then-Mayor of Milton Keynes, Cllr Marie Bradburn, and HM Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire The Countess Howe also attended the OU’s pillar which marks the gaining of our Royal Charter on April 23, 1969.
Cllr Bradburn and Lady Howe each talked about the OU’s significant place in Milton Keynes’ history and its continued national importance.
Alongside my counterpart in the Law School, Professor Hugh McFaul, I spoke about the present and the future of our respective schools. It was an excellent way to celebrate and my thanks go to the event organisers Dr Fidele Mutwarasibo (one of the Milton Keynes Rose trustees) and especially Natasha Proctor.
Get the full story at The Open University Business School
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