What we have achieved so far
The 15
October 2011 marked the second anniversary of the formal launch of
the Taskforce.
Speakers for
Schools was launched 10 October 2011 with a
series of talks in state secondary schools and colleges around
England. It is the idea of BBC Business Editor, Robert
Peston, who wants young people in state schools and colleges to
have the same opportunities to hear from inspirational speakers as
those who attend top independent schools. The idea is to level the
playing field and for it to become the norm for leaders in their
fields to give talks such as these. Speakers
during launch week included: George Alagiah (BBC News), William
Boyd (author), Damon Buffini (business leader), Sir Suma
Chakrabarti (Ministry of Justice), Marcus Davey (Roundhouse
theatre), Martha Lane Fox (founder Lastminute .com), Andy Haldane
(Bank of England), Julia Hobsbawm (media entrepreneur),
Laurence Hollingworth (J.P. Morgan), Ruby McGregor-Smith
(MITIE), Sir John Parker (Royal Academy of Engineering), Robert
Peston (BBC), Trevor Phillips, (Equality & Human Rights
Commission), Dame Marjorie Scardino (Pearson), Philipp Schindler
(Google), Lord Rees (Astronomer Royal) and Baroness Vadera (former
cabinet minister). Also taking part from the world of politics and
government were David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed
Miliband.
Visit:http://www.speakers4schools.org/
Registrations open for Inspiring the
Future: a service which will see tens of
thousands of people from all sectors and professions going into
state schools and colleges to talk about their jobs and careers,
and the education routes they took. The initiative was highlighted
in the Government's Social Mobility Strategy as a way to 'make a
difference to raising aspirations and helping people to make
informed choices about jobs and careers'. The Government has
committed to encourage all civil servants to participate in the
scheme and it is included in the Business Compact which many
businesses are taking part in. A generous donation from the
J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation will help enable the scale-up of the
Inspiring the Future
programme to reach audiences
nationally.
Visit: www.inspiringthefuture.org
TES
Growing Ambitions: the Taskforce
has been working with the Times Educational Supplement (TES) to
develop an online careers portal for teachers. The website pulls
together existing careers resources provided by a diverse range of
organisations, and is structured in a way that is easy for teachers
to navigate. The website covers securing professional careers
advice, careers by subject, an A-Z of types of jobs, and
information on career routes including apprenticeships, further
education, getting a job, self-employment, and university. The site
contains over 3000 resources from some 130 organisations, including
employer and professional bodies, the Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills and the Department for
Education.
Visit: www.tes.co.uk/growingambitions
Research Conference on
Education and Social Mobility: On 12 October
2011 the Taskforce held its second annual international research
conference at Warwick University with Professor Robert Schwartz
from Harvard University and participants from the
United States, Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Gambia,
India, Lebanon, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sweden, Trinidad
& Tobago and Tanzania.
Visit: /research/research-conference-2011/
Over-arching objectives
Bringing together the worlds of education and employment
Over our first year of operation we have introduced real
partnership working to a world previously known for its disjointed
and uncoordinated approaches. We are unique in bringing
together as organisations as diverse as the National Union of
Teachers, NASUWT, the CBI, British Chambers of Commerce and
Federation of Small Business, all behind a shared agenda. We
have worked effectively with a wide range of partners,
communicating shared messages, working collaboratively on themes of
broad interest to maximise our collective impact.
Setting priority areas for partnership
We have made it easier for education and employers to work
together by agreeing a core set of priority areas for partnership
with all key national partners and working with them to develop the
first comprehensive free online resources: the Teachers' Guide to
working with employers www.teachers-guide.org/
and Employers' Guide to working with schools and colleges www.employers-guide.org/.
Visit our Schools and Colleges campaign
In October 2010 we ran the first ever national Visit our Schools and
Colleges month. With the help of 80 volunteer local
brokers, over 800 senior decision-makers from employers of all
types including CEOs and chairs from more one hundred from our
leading companies visited some 700 schools and colleges across
England. We have secured significant media interest with coverage
across the country that includes a dedicated 16-page Financial Times 'Working with
Schools' supplement, regional television and radio
exposure.
Looking at reducing bureaucracy
We have worked closely with the IEBE and other stakeholders to
take a hard look at the bureaucracy surrounding employer
engagement, identifying means to minimise it; and, with the
Ordnance Survey and Experian, developed a mapping tool that plots
location of employers and schools against a range of different
criteria.
Strengthened the case for employer engagement
We have strengthened the case for employer engagement
considerably. In October 2010, we organised the first ever research
conference into employer engagement in education with leading
research professors working in the field. Driven by our Research Group, and
with valuable support from partners such as Deloitte, KPMG and the
City of London, we have helped bring important new research on
employee benefits, careers education and headteacher perspectives
into the public domain and made it significantly easier to access
the best quality research on impact. Our literature survey
What is to be gained through partnership?
has been regularly cited. Our work has secured international
attention.
Built a picture of effective engagement
We have built understanding of what effective employer
engagement is, and how it can best be delivered. We have
secured partner endorsement for a vision of employer engagement
which is broad, impactful, mutually beneficial and relevant to
school circumstances. Through a wide range of direct contacts, we
have worked hard to understand the mechanisms through which schools
and colleges can most efficiently and effectively engage with
employers. Through expert working groups on work experience
and governors, we have identified real opportunities for
collaborative working to increase the impact of collective
working.
The 'Year in View'
To read more about the work of charity the Education and
Employers Taskforce in 2010 see the Year in View.