EMLOYER ENGAGEMENT IN EDUCATION MATTERS!

The literature suggests that effective delivery of employer engagement in education should be:

• Authentic. enabling first-hand encounters between children and young people and workplaces and individuals from the world of work. 
• Recurrent. the more the better...a number of studies highlight the importance of at least four memorable encounters across schooling. 
• Valued.young people themselves saying that episodes of employer engagement were of value to them, the evidence suggests that they were right and better outcomes followed. 
• Varied. employer engagement activities should be versatile in enabling young people to secure outcomes of value, different activities can be associated with different outcomes and with improving outcomes for different types of pupil. 
• Contextualised. provision should be part of effective careers provision, some studies highlight—and logic suggests—improved outcomes. 
• Personalised. universal and targeted approaches should be used and young people entering educational experiences with limited access to relevant work-related networks should be provided with more intense interventions. 
• Started at a young age. interventions should begin in primary schooling where identity formation can be supported through career learning activities within and outside of the classroom.