Start Small, Dream Big

Careers Related Learning

The Careers & Enterprise Company has been awarded a £2.6million contract from the DfE to deliver a career-related learning programme at Primary level. The programme will target primary schools in the 55 Education Investment Areas (EIAs) that were announced in the levelling up white paper and will be delivered through CEC’s Careers Hub Network between November 2022 and Spring 2025.

Key Aim

The key aim of the ‘Careers & Enterprise Company’ Primary School Programme is to increase awareness amongst young people of jobs and career pathways available, underpinned by an emerging understanding of the link between education and the world of work. 

The programme will reference three out of the eight Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance which are most suited for the primary age range. The programme will seek to inspire pupils about the world of work, drawing on positive role models from a range of industries and sectors to help raise aspirations, challenge stereotypes and help children link their learning to future jobs and careers.   

These early interventions and exposing children to the world of work will:

• impact children’s motivation and confidence

• increase awareness and aspirations of the range of jobs and career pathways available to our children

• broaden horizons, challenge stereotypes and perceptions of different occupations

• raise aspirations influencing academic effort

• help pupils to decide which subjects they will go on to choose

• connect their learning with their future

• help children to decide the jobs they want to pursue

Key Benefits

The Start Small; Dream Big pilot will benefit everyone involved; here are some key benefits:

For our pupils

• Increase opportunities to engage impactfully with, and learn from, new and diverse employer role models, broadening pupils’ horizons.

• Opportunity to see a life beyond their lived experience, providing exposure to ideas they may not get elsewhere.

• Valuable opportunities to understand how the skills and knowledge they gain in school will be relevant throughout their life.

• Increase engagement and progress through the creation of innovative and relevant learning opportunities.

For our school

• Career-related learning and skills development will become embedded into curriculum teaching, leading to an enhanced curriculum, impacting on the learning outcomes for all.

• Address school priorities using career-related learning as a vehicle for school improvement.

• Increase aspiration and motivation levels for pupils.

• Increase engagement of parents in their child’s learning.

• Simple and effective ways to build or improve the quality of crucial connections with local and national employers.

• Create better informed teaching staff e.g. increased confidence and understanding of the development of employability skills, the range of pathways open to young people and how to embed employer encounter impactfully into their teaching.

• Opportunity to be a part of an innovative national pilot of activity and research, influencing and shaping future policy decisions on primary career-related learning.

Our CRL Vision Statement

‘Creating aspirational, talented young people ready for what the future holds, ready to achieve!’

School Strategy

1. Reducing bias and challenging stereotypes
2. Linking careers in the curriculum
3. Increasing meaningful employer encounters
4. Engaging parents and carers

Strategic Objectives

Strategic objective 1 - Data collected at the end of Year 6 demonstrates all pupils are aware of and would consider a broad range of careers demonstrating a lack of bias or stereotype.

Strategic objective 2 - Every teacher is a teacher of careers; knowing how to create and deliver regular, purposeful and meaningful opportunities with confidence, across all areas of the curriculum.

Strategic objective 3 – To create regular opportunities to develop relationships with a range of diverse people and employers who represent both our local and wider community and whose engagement with pupils has a measurable impact.

Strategic objective 4 – Through regular communications; a wealth of resources; experiences shared and opportunities provided, every parent/carer will be part of the CRL journey, enabling them to be part of their child’s journey into their future and the world of work.

Priority Project

1. To create regular opportunities for CRL to be part of our regular assemblies for every child (every 3 weeks).
2. To create a bank of volunteers and external employers from the local community to work with the school in a variety of contexts, to reduce bias and stereotyping and broaden children’s career horizons.
3. To create a CRL environment to motivate and inspire our children and parents; highlighting the top jobs of the future and the essential skills needed to get into them.