Future Pathways - Case Study
A student’s belief in their own ability to achieve something can be enhanced when they are fully informed about their future pathways. Career curriculum links in lessons, guest speakers, and visits to industry can help engage students in subjects, but it is essential to remain vigilant as to how inclusive this information is to ensure no student is excluded.
School E is a school with a large minority ethnic population of students, celebrated Black History Month by inviting local Black entrepreneurs and business leaders to talk about their careers and jobs, as well as their journeys from school to work and the obstacles they have overcome. A teacher was quoted as saying that the conversations in her lesson the following day were inspirational:
“Students have started to believe that they can achieve their dreams.”
School A held a talk about artificial intelligence from women in the industry. Building on this, they invited female role models from engineering and construction into school to talk about careers. Their careers lead said:
“When I look at potential speakers, I want to see how they can challenge stereotypes”
Things to consider
- No matter what the diversity of your school community is made up of, it is important that students see a diverse range of role models to challenge stereotypes. This is not just about students seeing themselves represented, this is also about students seeing that anyone can progress in any career.
- If you are inviting speakers into your school, it is fantastic to have those that can represent diversity, but not essential. It is important to consider the impact it may have on the speaker and their career – are they always being asked to visit schools and be the visible face of inclusion for their organisation to the detriment of their own career progression?
- Has time been given to staff to develop their knowledge of different career pathways relating to their subject that they can regularly refer to them in lessons? Is embedding careers into the curriculum part of department planning?
- Are parents and carers aware of the whole-school approach to embedding careers into the curriculum and the benefit of challenging stereotypical views?
How to achieve something similar in your school:
- Develop local careers links, use organisations such as STEM Ambassadors and Founders for Schools and local links to help develop contacts in industry and university.
- Give training and planning time to teachers to help develop confidence so they can embed career and curriculum links in their lessons. Encourage sharing of best practice within and between departments: check out our webinar and resources.
- Monitor student destinations to inform future planning. Stay connected with alumni or set up student mentoring to show a subject can be for them.
- To raise awareness of stereotypes and personal biases, use staff CPD time to undertake unconscious bias training and consider how invited speakers or displayed role models are challenging or reinforcing stereotypes. Ask speakers to talk about how their organisation encourages and supports diversity and show pictures of their team so students can see the diversity.