FutureReady Careers 2016: What you can expect on the day
This year’s FutureReady Careers Conference has a fantastic line-up of speakers who will discuss crucial themes in careers education and school-business engagement.
SCHOOLS NorthEast caught up with some of them to bring you a sneak peek of what you can expect on the day.
Claudia Harris, CEO of The Careers & Enterprise Company:
“Equipping young people to succeed in the twenty-first century is vital. The Careers & Enterprise Company is applying an evidence based approach to support best practice and address the gaps in the support available. Our research has found that LEPs in the North East have a number of cold spot indicators in the bottom third, including those on employer engagement. We know that employer engagement is critical. Research by the Education and Employers Taskforce has found that young people who have had multiple encounters with businesses while at school are significantly less likely to be NEET and earn, on average, 18% more than their peers who have not.
“The Careers & Enterprise Company is committed to helping bridge the gap between education and employment, and we have already created the Enterprise Adviser network to bring together volunteers from businesses and schools and colleges across the country to develop employer engagement programmes. These Advisers are being trained and supported by full-time Enterprise Coordinators. Through this network we are enabling better connections between education and work, allowing for more encounters for young people with employers, and more information for them to best understand their career options. Together we can join the dots in careers and enterprise provision across England, making sure every young person is inspired to fulfil their potential.”
Edwin Milligan, Strategic Partnership Manager for the National Careers Service:
“It is important that professionals, whose mission it is to ensure young people have the knowledge and skills needed for a successful future, have the opportunity to come together to share best practice and experiences.
“As a supporter of 2016 FutureReady conference, the National Careers Service is helping to build on the success of last year’s inaugural event. Professionals will have the opportunity to learn about the support available to them including the National Careers Service’s Supporting Inspiration programme which brokers links between employers and education.
“In partnership with schools and employers, our goal is to assist young people to appreciate of the world of work, understand the local labour market, and become aware of opportunities and progression pathways.”
James Ramsbotham, Chief Executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce
“We are becoming more aware of increasing skills gaps in key business sectors. This is especially prevalent in employment requiring technical skills such as ICT and engineering. The challenge is to encourage more young people to grasp opportunities to study subjects that the business world requires. We need to find better ways to inspire future generations in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) rather than discourage them for fear of failure with the perception that these are harder areas in which to succeed. Employers will welcome those who have such skills and will provide tremendous career choices.”
Dr Tom Harrison, Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues
“There is growing evidence that Character Education is being taking increasingly seriously by policy makers, parents, employers, teachers and young people – and this is important if we want our children and young people as well as societies to flourish.”