Careers And Enterprise Youth Advisory Group

Push blogger, Tiffany on her work with the CEC Youth Advisory Group.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in my room, laptop nestled on my legs, frantically typing away at the keyboard about the impact I’d like to have on young people’s lives. After a few hours of careful proofreading, fretting about whether what I’d written was good enough and pacing about my room, I finally hit submit. Within a week or so, I received news that my application was successful! I’m now the Chair of the Youth Advisory Group for the Careers and Enterprise Company.

I was initially very surprised, but also overjoyed that I got the position! I’ve been a member of the YAG for what is approaching two years. During my time there, I’ve been able to participate in incredible activities, such as public speaking, leading group sessions with other members, and hearing from MPs, industry leaders, CEOs, and journalists about their experiences as people, and their interactions with careers education. Some highlights for me were speaking at the House of Lords last March and interviewing the panel at the annual careers seminar last November. These experiences helped me to develop my confidence speaking in front of crowds, but also allowed me to network and learn more about what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to developing our curriculum.

The main thing that stuck out to me was just how important careers education is. It can make a huge impact on every area of your life. It isn’t just a question on Unifrog; if done right, careers education can help you streamline your decisions when it comes to making choices about big next steps in life.

A good careers education can allow young people to have confidence in themselves and their abilities. It helps us feel more assured about where our skills, passions, and interests can take us. It can even make classroom learning feel more relevant, as concepts are shifted from being abstract to applying to everyday life.

Something that struck me the most is that a good careers education can help reduce disparities that exist within society. In other words, it can help level the playing field. I saw two incredibly inspiring examples of how two SEND specialist schools were able to tailor their careers education programmes to truly empower the young people in their schools. The results were incredible! Their young people reported high levels of confidence when taking next steps, and many said they were preparing for careers they’d never thought would be possible for them to have.

Examples like this truly illustrate the power a good careers education can have. But not everyone has access to a well-thought-out, carefully planned, and ultimately effective careers curriculum. Statistically, areas that struggle with the local economy and businesses are unable to provide the same level of careers education as schools that are well-connected with firms and small businesses. The CEC is already working hard to address this problem, but it got me thinking about who else might not be benefiting from a careers education.

Anyone who is not in Education, Employment or Training - often referred to as experiencing NEET - is perhaps the most impacted. Due to not being in education, they miss out on the careers curriculum and key events such as careers fairs, talks, and CV-building sessions. This also applies to being out of training, such as apprenticeships, and of course, employment. This creates an enormous skills gap between those who have experienced NEET and those who have not, which can often feel overwhelming for the young person to overcome. Those experiencing NEET are more likely to become vulnerable to involvement in crime and often experience feelings of anxiety and depression related to their circumstances.

Any young person can experience NEET. Battling the stereotypes is incredibly important, and the reasons as to why someone is NEET are usually complex. For example, plenty of people with bachelor’s degrees become NEET and find they still lack the resources or skill set to apply their higher education to the world of careers and job applications. The group that is particularly vulnerable to missing out, however, are school-aged children and young people who are NEET, as this is where some of the most foundational careers education happens.

So, my manifesto is to increase exploration of NEET issues and how they can be combatted - particularly how we can reach these young people, and what they need or want from us, careers hubs, and careers education providers. A big part of the work I’m doing at the moment is looking at how we can target NEETs for the YAG recruitment process, as hearing from them directly would be powerful. It’s a voice we often talk about, but don’t hear from as much.

If you would like to get involved with the CEC YAG, or have anything you would like to tell them, please email: [email protected]

Author

Tiffany Payne-Igharoro is a university student.

For me, writing has become the perfect medium to  process my experiences and formulate them into well-considered expressions and stories. Through writing for PUSH, I hope to share insights I gain throughout my journey (whether academic or personal) with other young people across the UK! I am a strong believer in the power of personal development and its ability to shape our lives, help us forge career paths and nurture relationships with others and ourselves. My blogs, often peppered with personal anecdotes, always carry a touch of "this is a tool to add to your character building collection"...