Michelle Rainbow, Skills Director at the North East LEP, shares her thoughts on the importance of quality careers education in schools and colleges – something the North East LEP has been championing in our region through North East Ambition.

Good careers guidance has the power to change lives. It transforms students’ futures, from better attainment in school to social mobility, with broader horizons and raised aspirations. It can help improve outcomes for all young people, regardless of their starting points or backgrounds.

As we mark the start of National Careers Week 2024, I am proud to reflect on, and celebrate, the amazing careers guidance work happening right across our region, and the important role it has in helping young people prepare for the world of work.

Often, it can be the case that the amount of hard work and effort our schools and colleges put in to prepare their young people through careers education, sadly goes unrecognised.

So, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the incredible skill and dedication of our careers leaders, as without them we would not have made such a vast amount of progress over recent years.

A Landscape of Impact

Today, North East Ambition (NEA) works with more than 190 secondary schools and colleges spanning the seven Local Authorities in the North East. These schools and colleges are achieving an average of 5.2 out of 8 Good Careers Guidance Benchmarks. Considering the Benchmarks only became part of statutory guidance in 2018, that is no mean feat!

In primary education, NEA works closely with 375 schools, pioneering a national pilot to embed careers-related learning, and build careers aspiration and inspiration from an early age.

Recognising the unique challenges faced by SEND students, we’re working with Careers Leads across our region’s SEND schools and together, have developed dedicated projects and resources, working to ensure more employers recognise the value SEND students can bring to their organisations.

When it comes to promoting technical education as a route into a rewarding career, we have led on regional activity to ensure students at school leaving age are informed about traineeships, apprenticeships, T-Levels, further/higher education, and other academic and vocational routes to employment.

For example, the North East is a national leader in the provision of T Levels, which offer a mix of classroom and on the job learning and are the equivalent to three A Levels.  We’ve seen a remarkable 577% growth in T Level learners since 2022 and a 467% increase in T Level industry placement providers across the LEP area. Our role in supporting schools to understand the local post-16 T Level offer is crucial, as is our collaboration with employers to highlight the benefits of offering T Level placements.

Pioneering Initiatives

Careers guidance doesn’t just happen in the classroom, and we are immensely proud of the work we have undertaken with regional partners to ensure that each and every young person can have access to information about the world of work and the opportunities that could be theirs.

Our Enterprise Advisor Network embeds business leaders into secondary schools and colleges to help shape the delivery of careers education and create invaluable connections between education and the business world. More than 200 business leaders are enrolled on the programme, representing a diverse range of industries key to the North East.

We were delighted to lead The Mentoring Project, which was launched last year to help young people involved with the Youth Justice Service (YJS) to raise their aspirations.

The pilot matched a group of YJS young people with employers to provide opportunities to learn about the type of skills and behaviours valued in the workplace and to introduce them to positive employer role models.

Our Teacher Encounters programme provides teachers, both current and trainees, with insights into the local labour market, which they can then use in the classroom to relate curriculum learning to careers.

We recently supported the Young Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network to train young apprentices to visit schools and colleges to share their stories and inspire the next generation with their firsthand experiences.

These initiatives and collaborations are transforming the career trajectories of young people throughout the North East.  Thanks to this work, our young people are now more aware of the career opportunities available across the region, the routes into them, and the skills and expertise employers need.

Going forward and with the continued hard work and dedication of partners and careers leaders, we envisage an even deeper focus on careers education in our region, continuing to build an environment where the understanding of career opportunity and development is seamlessly integrated into the educational fabric. We have already achieved so much and now is the time to continue our important work and ensure all learners can reach their potential.

National Careers Week is a fantastic opportunity to share some of the amazing work taking place across the North East LEP region to educate and inform young people about the career opportunities available to them.  Each day we’ll highlight some of the programmes and initiatives led by the North East LEP, and those by our partners in education and industry, that are helping young people make more informed choices about their future.

Join the conversation on social media using #NCW2021 and visit www.nationalcareersweek.com to discover more.

For more information about North East Ambition, visit www.northeastambition.co.uk