AEIAG0111

Written evidence submitted by Ms Kate Elizabeth Sutton

I am a teacher of 8 years (after retraining in my forties) and work on the East Coast of Yorkshire in a junior school with approximately 320 pupils. We have a higher than average intake of children with SEND and many are disadvantaged, being in a low socio-economic area. Covid has struck all educational organisations hard and in our school, having missed large chunks of the last two academic years, many of our pupils are working below national expectation currently.  As discussed in the Sutton Trust report, ‘Elitist Britain’ (2019), social and cultural capital are low- and it is vital that all children receive equal chances. Schools in such areas as ours provide stability for many of our pupils who look to us for support, guidance, and opportunities. Over many years, our pupils have undertaken ‘World of Work’ education in Year 6 after taking their SATs tests.

In 2019/20 I undertook a Masters in Education and, being the Science Lead and a Year 6 teacher at the time, as well as being aware of the STEM skills gap, I decided to research the effects of Careers Education on STEM engagement in Year 6. I had read the Welcome Trust report ‘Young People’s Views on Science Education- https://wellcome.org/sites/default/files/science-education-tracker-2019.pdf which really highlighted their thoughts on short falls in careers education in this country, lack of advice as well as a lack of hands-on, engaging learning. This was a three month study and the results were very interesting. After a relatively short time the interest and engagement of our 10-11 year old pupils was really stirred. Varied activities supported their learning including researching careers of interest, visiting our local college, meeting a local small business owner and learning more about how to manage finances. Resources such as those on the National Careers website were very helpful. Other companies such as CIEC- Children Challenging Industry- help children to understand the value of what they are learning in school in a wider way. Making learning relevant and local is key. I wrote an article about my Masters Research which was published in the Association of Science Education ‘Journal of Emergent Science’ in June 2021-

https://www.ase.org.uk/system/files/Sutton.pdf

This research led to our school taking on the Primary Careers Mark (through Complete Careers)- being one of 25 schools in the country to currently hold the accreditation. We completed this 18 months ago and have since received much interest from the Primary Education community in this regard. It was an excellent way to initiate and develop Careers Education at our school and links well to the PSHE curriculum. It was quite easy to weave through the curriculum in a cross curricular way and all pupils really enjoy it. We have been able to challenge gender stereotyping, broaden the knowledge and interests of pupils and introduce them to various careers- holding careers events where visitors share their knowledge and expertise first hand with our pupils. Dr Anjana Khatwa linked with our school online- please find the link attached relating to an article I wrote about this in the ‘Primary Science Journal’ (September 2021). She is a very inspirational woman of colour who now works as an Earth Scientist/broadcaster and our pupils were completely enthralled during our whole school zoom meeting with her- they later researched about her and created fact files of information relating to various living, british scientists.

We have been supporting expansion of the accreditation recently in the East Riding of Yorkshire. I have taken part in various Zoom webinars including a recent BBC Teach broadcast about environmental education at KS2 which heavily links, due to the need to appropriately train professionals to tackle the problems of the future.

Children do not all have the skills which were once assumed to have been achieved in the past- times have changed. Knowledge about money, how to make a good impression, what jobs are available in their locality and also traditional skills like- how to make things and key transferable skills- are not highly visible. This will massively affect the workforce of the future. Gatsby Benchmarks- such as those at KS3- are needed at KS2. These would ensure such knowledge is introduced at an earlier age and also support transition to KS3. There has been a trial of such benchmarks at KS2, running in the North East of England. These are ongoing and are showing promising results (See NUSTEM website for excellent resources).

Children can gain a wide range of information about careers, challenging existing misconceptions/stereotyping so they are well informed and can develop their own opinions.

The National Careers Service, BBC Bitesize and Twinkl are developing many appropriate resources for KS2 careers education. Organisations such as ‘Farmer Time’ use Zoom/Skype/Teams to virtually visit the classroom- an ingenious, modern and very engaging way for children to learn. We have worked hard in school to develop these links and to share them in a wider, national way. Farmer Time has become a very popular way for children to learn about farming and the wide array of linked careers involved. Planting seeds in young minds is so important in helping them to think about their future and also to understand basic information about where food comes from/how nature provides/the importance of the environment/sustainability.

The OECD report, Dream Jobs (2020) is a must read paper which highlights the aspirational trend amongst young people for jobs in the arts and media. It also highlights the need for professionals working in many other lines of work- including engineering. It states that children have very fixed ideas about careers from a young age. It also states that children base careers ideas on TV characters and other influences, such as You Tube influencers. It is so important to ensure our pupils are correctly informed.

Further issues include the climate crisis and rapidly developing IT. We are going to need many highly trained experts to help overcome massive environmental issues and also to develop/work in tech, going forward. We need to ensure we are reaching all areas of society, whatever gender, ethnic background or protected characteristic. They need to have understanding and aspiration. They need to have an idea about career/educational paths to achieve these careers. Information regarding careers and educational paths is vital. They also need to have a Plan B- career realism means children will not just cling to a profession blindly- which statistically is difficult to attain- but have a back up plan!

Having a Department of Education body for this area of work/learning would seem like an acceptable way to organise and oversee Careers Education, which in my view, is absolutely vital in ensuring future adults of our country are appropriately educated to lead, support and work successfully in the diverse careers which will be required globally.

March 2022