The pandemic has supercharged changes to the world of work, prompting businesses to re-evaluate their priorities and embrace new practices. With this sudden revolution, the work of education business partnerships (EBPs) has become ever more indispensable. At the best of times, EBPs help schools to understand and integrate the skills that modern businesses need, while giving organisations a hand in shaping future talent. And while we can assist schools in achieving their Gatsby benchmarks, the real value of our work lies in raising young people’s aspirations.
Post-pandemic, however, it has become even more important to uplift young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as many in South Yorkshire, where my EBP B&E Together operates.
In South Yorkshire, one initiative we use to support young people is the TEKK Challenge. This targets primary pupils’ enterprise and STEM skills by encouraging them to form their own company. Our latest challenge – the first since the pandemic – involved designing and building playgrounds. Our partner HSBC sent ambassadors to eight South Yorkshire primary schools to educate young people on the skills they needed to complete the project. These schools are a part of Wickersley Partnership Trust, a medium-sized Academy Trust based in Rotherham. It culminated in an event at HSBC’s office in Sheffield, where finalists presented their work to an audience and judges.
Following the isolation of Covid, this was just what young people needed. As one pupil put it:
“We've been virtualled to death; we need real people!”
This project has given them that – fresh faces and new teaching methods. It has driven them to want to learn again.
Unfortunately, nationwide, work experience demands are rising while dramatic increases in home working have made business recruitment extremely difficult. Nevertheless, what makes EBPs unique is that everyone gets something out of the deal. In the case of the TEKK Challenge, HSBC has introduced young people to their ways of working. And for younger employees at the bank, acting as ambassadors has provided valuable professional development. HSBC’s project lead, Carl Alford, assigned ambassadors to different areas, such as a BAME ambassador.
Meanwhile, primary pupils are getting invaluable business experience. Due to the pandemic, many had never set foot in Sheffield before, let alone an office environment. It would’ve been easy for them to stand outside and think: “I’d never get a job there.” But entering the building – let alone participating in the wider project – has changed that. It’s injected them with confidence, shown them the accessibility of a corporate environment and enlightened them to different roles in banking.
During the challenge, the ambassadors came to teach young people about wide-ranging topics from costing and financing to the green agenda, all framed within the context of the playground project. Pupils learned new forms of communication and were gently introduced to aspects of corporate business, sometimes upending their expectations of what it is really like to work in a bank.
The main thing pupils learned, though – and a key aim of the project – was the importance of STEM. By working with the ambassadors to create and present their work at HSBC’s offices, the project contextualised the importance of these skills, as well as things like creativity and problem solving. Applying these to a real-world project has showed pupils their innate value to their future careers. They are no longer abstract concepts, but have tangible applications in the real world.
At the final presentation, stepping into a corporate environment could easily have been intimidating for the pupils. But the camaraderie of the group work and generous time investment from ambassadors helped learners to thrive. When it came to the final event, excitement overruled fear. It didn't matter how many grown-ups were there, dauntingly watching them – all the participants were eager to present their work.
While it’s impossible to say what kinds of careers the young people on the TEKK Challenge will go on to do, many will undoubtedly take this experience forward, helping focus their aspirations in secondary school. And by investing in young people early on, HSBC is also nurturing future talent.
Corporates only make up about 4% of organisations in South Yorkshire, and B&E Together often partners with organisations like the Crown Prosecution Service and small and medium enterprises. But with funding redirected to post-Covid recovery, securing work experience has become much harder. That’s where support from HSBC and generous funding Edge has offered a real lifeline to the region.
Funding or not, the reality is that young people need to be better prepared for future careers. It’s why the work of EBPs is so critical and I hope that careers education will see greater investment in future. In the meantime, EBPs across the country are working hard to do more with less, and to address changes in working practice so that businesses can provide meaningful work experience and find serious talent. It’s not always an easy task. But knowing we are making a positive difference to young people’s lives makes it all worthwhile.
Carl Alford, HSBC
“As part of HSBC’s Diversity and Inclusion initiatives it was great to partner with B and E Together and the Wickersley Trust to deliver this programme.
To see the students confidence grow and the quality of the finalist was amazing.
As a team of Ambassador’s, we all enjoyed playing a small part in supporting the future talent pipeline within our local community.”
Beryl Henshaw is Managing Director of the South Yorkshire EBP, B&E Together Ltd. She also Chairs The Association of Education Business Professionals (AEBP), a national cooperative of EBPs working to shape the next generation for employment.