Future Dreaming 2024 | Engaging employers and people in work through technology "Inspiring the future"
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The OECD's report highlights a significant disconnect between young people's career aspirations and market demands, driven by unrealistic expectations shaped by various social influences. The 'Inspiring the Future' initiative aims to bridge this gap by connecting educators with a diverse range of professionals, enhancing students' exposure to various career paths and role models. Utilizing a bespoke CRM system, the initiative facilitates easy access for teachers to volunteers across various sectors, thereby promoting interaction that can improve career readiness and reduce unemployment risks for disadvantaged youth.
Future Dreaming 2024 | Engaging employers and people in work through technology "Inspiring the future"
- 1. The disconnect between young people’s career aspirations and skills and labour market demands The OECD’s Dream Jobs report based on analysis of PISA 2019 found that despite the significant changes in the labour market over the last 20 years young people’s career expectations have changed little. If anything, they have become more concentrated in fewer occupations, are frequently unrealistic and are distorted by gender and social norms. Their aspirations are often shaped by their families, people in the local community, social media, and a lack of knowledge and experience of the world of work. This results in a mismatch between the jobs and careers young people aspire to and the realities of the labour market, which risks contributing to skills and labour shortages in the economy. Tackling the disconnect One way of tackling this disconnect is to provide young people with opportunities to interact with a diverse range of people from different backgrounds, doing different jobs, in different sectors and in different places. Research by the Education and Employers charity has shown that such encounters help broaden young people’s horizons, raise aspirations, challenge gender and ethnic stereotypes, increase motivation, improve attainment, reduce the likelihood of them becoming unemployed, and increase their earning potential. The OECD’s Career Readiness report highlights the importance of such authentic encounters, that they should be frequent, varied, and start early in primary school. Connecting schools and employers at scale and low cost The challenge is to enable schools to connect with people from the world of work in an effective, efficient, and equitable way. Typically, schools in urban and affluent areas have much better access to professionals from the world of work than those in rural and remote areas. What is required is a system which is quick, easy, and trusted for teachers and employers/ employees, which enables them to connect with each other. Something which allows teachers, wherever they are in the country to, in a matter of seconds to find volunteers from the world of work that most suit the needs of their students and make direct contact.
- 2. Inspiring the Future is the result of extensive consultation between government, education, employers and charities. It uses highly bespoke Salesforce Customer Relation Management software with integrated mapping. It makes it very quick and easy for people from the world of work to signal their willingness to volunteer and for teachers to contact them. It has been developed and refined over 12 years by the Education and Employers charity and been replicated in a number of countries.
- 3. . . Its quick It enables teachers instant free access to a huge and diverse database of inspirational volunteers from the world of work Its easy Teachers can select the volunteers they want and send them a message through the automated system Its trusted Working with schools, professional bodies representing education, government, local authorities, trade unions, employers, sector groups, professional bodies and third sector organisations It is truly national – available to all schools in the country It enables local, regional, and national campaigns on specific sectors and issues The use of technology means that there are significant economies of scale and the running costs are low The biggest difference volunteers make is on children from disadvantaged backgrounds who often don’t have access to such diverse and positive role models And, as well as young people being able to meet people in person who live and work in their local community they can also interact with employers /employees virtually giving them the opportunity to meet an incredible diversity of role models from across the country in way that has never been possible before Key features of the approach
- 4. Teachers can browse tens of thousands of volunteers via an interactive map or as a list They can filter volunteers by job title, sector, subject, languages, diversity and inclusion, former students, in-person or virtually, different routes and pathways e.g. apprenticeships/HE Teachers can read detailed profiles and shortlist volunteers that are most suitable for their student need They can then send volunteers an invite at the click of a button. Once the invites have been sent, the automated event management system handles communication with volunteers, cutting out the admin and making it simple and quick for busy teachers
- 5. The technology • Enables real-time reporting on an extensive range of criteria • Provides, tracking, and monitoring and customised reports for government departments, employers, funders etc. • Regional / school level analysis • Phase of education • School inspection rating • Rural / urban classification • % of pupils eligible for free school meals School level analysis includes: • 18 data points per pupil • Number of young people benefiting • Number of teachers • Teacher roles • Invitations sent • Activities created
- 6. Every school now has direct access to diverse role models from all levels and sectors: • apprentices to CEOs • archeologists to zoologists • 4,000,000 + interactions between young people and employers and their employees • 90,000 volunteers registered from 5,000+ employers • 11,500 schools and colleges signed up 85% + of secondary schools and colleges 35% + of primary schools • 25,500 teachers registered www.inspiringthefuture.org