When done right, employer engagement in schools can have a profound impact on young people’s aspirations and future career plans. Research has shown that participation in employer activities can influence young people’s future plans and subject choices, motivate them to study harder, and support an improvement in academic attainment.
There are also documented benefits to their earning potential. This research found that when young people have multiple meaningful experiences with an employer, their earning potential can increase by up to 22% during their career.
Employer engagement can take on many forms, for example talks, visits and competitions. In this post we take a brief look at 2 different ways that you can use employers to support curriculum learning.
1) Using employers to show how classroom learning is applied in the workplace.
Inspirational talks and presentations are a great way for employers to provide input to lessons. They can be done online or face to face, through live presentation or a pre-recorded video.
Here are some video examples from STEM Ambassadors:
If you are looking to set up a live event (online or face to face), provide an overview to the employer about what you would like them to cover. For example, are there any key word to mention (or avoid!), is there prior learning that they can build on? Are there any props that they can bring that will help explain the content? The great thing about these events are they can be planned in advance, with content designed to suit the lesson or topic being covered. Whether you have an employer in mind or are planning to find one through the STEM Ambassador programme, take time before the event to make sure that the employer is briefed and ideally has the opportunity to check their content with you beforehand.
2) Using employers to provide real-life challenges which have relevance to the workplace.
Working with an employer to take part in a challenge or competition is a great way of engaging young people in an industry relevant task or activity, whilst at the same time developing employability skills (ie teamwork, listening, presenting, problem solving).
There are lots of STEM competitions that happen throughout the year. You’ll find a list to get you started in the Teachers Guide to STEM Careers.
Why not invite an employer to mentor a team or you could even set up your own competition and ask an employer to be the judge? – Dragons Den style!
You could even theme the event around one of the STEM themed awareness events, ie British Science Week, National Careers Week, Ada Lovelace Day
Hopefully the 2 ideas above will spark further ideas from the community. Please add your ideas in the comments below or continue the conversation in the Careers, Clubs and Cross-curricular Community Group.
Lastly, remember, if you are looking for employers to work with, contact STEM Ambassadors to request support from a free STEM Ambassador volunteer!