Scaleup programmes
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Careers & Enterprise Company [2022]
Talent and Skills
Impact for scaleups
4,407
Schools and colleges participating
4,200+
Enterprise advisors
24%
Increase in scholls
300+
‘Cornerstone’ employers are working directly with Careers Hubs
Over 2/3
of schools and Colleges are in a Careers Hub
Key sectors
The Careers & Enterprise Company’s (CEC) mission is to help every young person to find their best next step from education and into the wider world. It does this by linking schools and colleges to employers via its network of more than 4,000 volunteer Enterprise Advisers who come from the business world and supporting Careers Leaders in schools with training and resources. 4,407 schools and colleges have joined CEC’s network and adopted the Gatsby Benchmarks of good careers guidance.
Their expanded Career Hubs offer now covers more than two thirds of schools and colleges. Each Hub is built on a dynamic partnership between schools, colleges, LEPs and local authorities working with local employers. They give young people the opportunity to connect closely to local skills and economic needs.
The near universal adoption of the Gatsby Benchmarks of careers education has created a national measure of performance. Through CEC’s digital tools, schools and colleges are reporting progress across the Benchmarks in all parts of the country. Over the past three years the most disadvantaged schools have reported the most improvement
The Careers & Enterprise Company has also focused on enhancing support to schools and colleges including help with transition and those students facing the biggest barriers. Its programmes of support include:
- An award-winning programme with Burberry Foundation and Teach First focused on raising awareness of the huge range and diversity of careers in the creative industries and preparing young people to take their next step into the workplace. It reached over 90,000 students across 120 schools, trained 178 new teachers and placed Enterprise Coordinators and Advisers in more than 40 schools. It has now been rolled out across the country, reaching more than 300,000 young people and teachers.
- The CEC designed the ‘Effective Transitions Fund’ in partnership with JP Morgan Chase. Interventions are delivered through Hubs and are targeted at young people eligible for free school meals (FSM) at points of transition. Examples include support for excluded black boys in London, working-class boys in Liverpool, pupils with special educational needs and disabilities in the North East, and girls on FSM across the Leeds City Region.
- Amplifying Technical and Vocational Pathways, a key source of talent for Scale Ups, through the development of resources with sector partners such as ASK Education and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers. This includes supporting employers and providers to engage meaningfully with learners and providing guidance to schools on different pathways (such as T-Levels) available to students.
