Successful Teacher Encounter leads to creation of teaching resources
Cumbria Careers Hub worked with National Highways and delivery partners such as Balfour Beatty, Kier, and Keltbray, to deliver a Teacher Encounter Project which was part of a project funded by the Careers and Enterprise Company and National Highways.
The new initiative comes as studies show teachers are a key source of career inspiration for students.
We know that teachers are a key source of career inspiration for students; however, they want more information about the range of future options – in particular vocational and apprenticeship pathways – which are not a feature of their current training:
- Research by The Sutton Trust shows nearly nine in ten teachers (88%) feel their training doesn’t currently prepare them to deliver careers support to students.
- A report by PLMR shows while 70 per cent of teachers agree apprenticeships provide excellent future opportunities, only 26 per cent feel confident advising students about how to find an apprenticeship. In contrast, when it comes to university applications, 90 per cent feel confident giving advice.
The aim of this collaboration was to work with teachers by exploring ways of enriching the curriculum; connecting learning in lessons to how it is applied in the workplace demonstrating how subjects such as English, Maths, Geography, History and Science are used in shaping and constructing major projects.
Teachers who took part in the project then created engaging resources and content for their students, helping raise awareness of the various educational avenues that could lead to a career in designing, developing and building roads. Those teachers also experienced a day in industry to help create their teaching resources which will impact on a minimum of 5,000 year 9 pupils in Cumbria and can be found here.
By using the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project as an example, it brings learning to life, makes it more relatable to both teachers and students, and embeds careers into the school curriculum.
“I think everything on the Teacher Encounter was absolutely brilliant. It is such a great idea to bring teachers up to date with the ever-changing construction industry and the opportunities that it presents. The day in industry was superb, we got to see a range of roles in action and speak to a variety of professionals. It provided some much needed insight into the many stages of the A66 project. Thank you to all the people that were involved in setting up this day and particularly to Rachael Hume who was such a great co-ordinator.”
Michaela, Newbridge House, National Highways Teacher Encounter 2023