The Careers Hub started the Spring Term with a bang by celebrating the news that a whopping 10% of schools and colleges had moved their Gatsby Benchmark 1 score to 100%! The eight Gatsby Benchmarks make up a framework to support schools and colleges in delivering outstanding careers education. The positive increase of Gatsby Benchmark 1 scores is testament to the hard work and commitment shown by Careers Leaders across Liverpool City Region; this is no easy feat! Well done, everyone!
Working with Students
Momentum continued throughout January with the launch of our new website: www.lcrcareershub.co.uk. The website features careers resources, our employer offer, details about our latest programmes, events and our news section, which has allowed us to showcase great work such as our Workplace Safari with The Walton Centre and hosting our first work experience student at Growth Platform.
Inclusion is a priority at The Careers Hub and we have been thrilled to continue to work on two programmes aimed at supporting students with additional needs: Let’s Explore and Supported Internships at Liverpool Women’s Hospital. Let’s Explore is our virtual reality work exposure programme, developing students’ confidence and employability skills in preparation for entering the workplace. We currently have three VR experiences, these are: housing, engineering and visitor economy. Let’s Explore is touring schools and colleges across Liverpool City Region so please get in touch if you would like to learn more.
We are also excited to continue our Supported Internship Programme with Liverpool Women’s Hospital. Seven students are currently working at the hospital for three to four days a week, across catering, maintenance, domestics and pharmacy. One enthusiastic student has used the opportunity to develop a project on accessibility for disabled patients which they will present to the hospital’s Board of Trustees – as you can imagine this is something we are extremely proud of! We are currently planning the next steps for students who will finish the programme in June with a view to progressing to employment, further education and volunteer work within the NHS! Stay tuned for updates on this programme including our summer celebration event!
Our Supported Internship Programme isn’t our only venture into health and care. In January we launched Creating Careers: A Step Ahead, an on demand programme designed to support students with making competitive health and care applications. Exposing students to our local growth sectors, such as Health and Life Sciences, is a priority for us and to reflect this we have produced our Student Careers Champions Programme which is open to students aged 11-19 years old across Liverpool City Region. A Careers Champion is a student ambassador who will represent one of Liverpool City Region’s growth sectors. Careers Champions commit to working with their school or college careers team and other champions, to present specific opportunities and information about their chosen sector to their peers. Students have been invited out to a variety of sector specific events including Digital Manufacturing Week, where students used the computer game Minecraft to learn about engineering roles and green skills.
Engaging Employers
Exposing young people to the world of work is vital to their development. Giving pupils multiple exposure to employers and workplaces allows them to meet role models and build aspiration around future pathways, jobs and opportunities. With this in mind, we work hard to engage employers and guide how they can support local schools and colleges with their careers education. We continue to celebrate the invaluable work of our Enterprise Advisers (EAs) who volunteer to use their skills, business experience and networks to enhance local careers provision. It was a pleasure to bring our Enterprise Adviser Network together in February at INNSIDE by Melia Hotels to support their development in the role. We are looking forward to hosting our EAs again in June, in line with Volunteers’ Week 2023, to celebrate their invaluable contributions to the work that we do.
This year we launched the Liverpool City Region Employers’ Network, in partnership with All About Futures. The network brings together employers from across Liverpool City Region to share best practice and guide employers on how they can support local schools and colleges with exposing students to the world of work. As part of this, we have formed a network of eight local gaming companies to develop a collective school and college outreach strategy to raise the profile of gaming across Liverpool City Region and promote the rewarding careers that are available. We launched this in March with a parent/carer session which had over 90 attendees eagerly engaging with our panel of experts to increase their knowledge of the gaming industry. The enthusiasm was great to see, with many more questions than time allowed – so we were pleased to follow this up with an FAQ guide. This is just the start for our gaming network, with plenty more interesting ideas in the pipeline, so please watch this space! Exciting times ahead!
Our gaming network isn’t the only update to look out for, we have recently set up a group of 14 local hoteliers who are keen to work closely with students to engage them in all the exciting careers pathways our Visitor Economy sector can offer. The sector is currently bursting with unmissable opportunities, particularly with the Eurovision Song Contest coming to Liverpool, so it is the ideal time to share with students the rewarding and varied careers our visitor economy can offer!
I think it is fair to say, as usual, this has been a busy term for everyone: the Careers Hub, schools, colleges and employers. However, it has been exciting and interesting, with schools’ and colleges’ Compass results showing that Gatsby Benchmark scores have risen back to pre-pandemic levels. Thanks to the hard work of our Careers Leaders, Enterprise Advisers and Employer Network, there is a bright future ahead for careers education across Liverpool City Region! We can’t wait to see what unfolds next!
Lesleyann Craig, Operational Careers Hub Lead
