The Gatsby Benchmarks and research conducted by various careers education organisations highlight the absolute importance of pupils encountering workplaces, employees and workplaces. Maya Angelou’s famous quote ‘You can’t be, what you can’t see’ was used by a speaker during the introduction of the day, linking the trainee teachers back to the concept of social capital which was introduced during the first session (see session 1, slides 13-16).
The employer engagement day would have been difficult to arrange without the contacts this project’s network provided. Worcestershire’s LEP and the CEC contributed to a day which put employers in the centre of careers education strategy. The trainee teachers were informed about the local economic and careers landscape before they heard about the CEC’s strategic priorities. These were laid out as strategic ‘shifts’ which resonated with the trainee teachers’ earlier observations of the difference in what should, could and does happen in careers provision.
The trainee teachers then heard first-hand, about the importance of engaging with employers, and also how keen employers are to work with schools. The talks from various employers (see slides 25-28) increased their awareness of both academic and vocational pathways. Knowing that the trainee teachers were from different subject disciplines, speakers attempted to refer to the value of different academic subjects, and also the transferable skills and qualities that teachers can develop in pupils, to then bring to the workforce. It was amazing to see the trainee teachers so passionate when linking their subjects to the work of an international engineering firm and this vision and purpose continued into the mini-employer fayre which also provided the trainee teachers with an opportunity to exercise their networking skills as future leaders.
‘This really developed my knowledge around local careers and the apprenticeships available’