Independent Schools Portal
  • Home
  • Events
  • Partners
    • Partnerzone
    • Exclusive Offers
    • Full Partner List
    • Becoming a partner
  • About
Picture

Blog Page

Ideas Power Our Lives

5/11/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture

by ​Sonita Alleyne, OBE

Founder, Yes Programme
“Ideas” power our lives. Here’s one that galvanizes me…

“Let us regularly embed careers education in lessons from primary years onwards.”

I was 16 when I had my only formal conversation about careers. The advisor at my comprehensive in East London noted I was clever and suggested I might like to work in banking. Not high-octane investment banking, but the cash desk in my local branch. Most adults I talk to recount a similar tale. We may have embraced technological advances in schools but we have consistently failed to overhaul our approach to giving youngsters a picture of where their learning could take them.
The International Labour Organisaton (ILO) predicts unemployment for over 212 million people worldwide, with young people affected disproportionately. It is vital that we power up our approach to careers education.

​Every parent wants their child to learn how to read and write and get a good set of qualifications. Giving children an understanding of what’s out there has go to be part of the mix. Parents are often not best placed to help their own children when it comes to discussing the full breadth of life’s possibilities. We know our own industries, but the detail of even our close friends’ professions can be a mystery. In many deprived areas, there are some households where no one works at all and the school-to-work transition is even harder.
​The seemingly immovable problem was why I founded the Yes Programme. My “lift pitch” would only last two floors: Short films that show children the connection between KS2 topics they’re studying and their use in the real world by real people. Aspiration and knowledge of careers regularly threaded into lessons. Work discovery in an appropriate manner at an earlier age.
When piloting to a year 6 class in a Colchester Primary, one film featured a product designer talking about materials and their properties. Some children did not know products were designed; they hadn’t made the connection between seeing objects around them and realising there were jobs in design. Imagine how triggering that understanding at an early age can open up a new world of possibilities and purposeful engagement.

Over 500 schools have used this practical approach. It’s a defined bank of short films and lesson sheets, curated by curriculum experts that cover the core subjects in KS2. Imagine a maths lesson in “algebra”. A class can get a glimpse into the world of a computer games developer and he’ll illustrate exactly how he uses algebra. Or an advertising executive can add bite to an English lesson on the subject of “using short sentences for effect”.

My goal is that no child in the UK ever asks, “Why am I learning this?” I’m proud to say that in schools using the Yes Programme the classroom question at the start of a new topic is “Tell us who uses this?” We are having an effect. We’ve had a few “yes moments”; girls wanting to be vets and engineers as a result of the films in the bank.

Schools are best placed to regularly thread career information through the curriculum from early years through to the last day of school; giving children a balanced view of what’s out there and how it connects to their work in the classroom is critical.

So let’s be galvanized together. Great qualifications, excellent reading and writing skills and knowledge of the doors they might one day walk through are part of the mix that our modern education system has to deliver. After all, it’s hard to get somewhere in life if you’ve zero idea of what “life” looks like.
Sonita Alleyne OBE, FRSA is the co-founder and former CEO of Somethin’ Else, one of Britain's leading cross-platform media production companies. She is also member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

    Categories

    All
    2005 Conservative Manifesto
    30 Hours
    3D Classsroom
    3D Printer
    3D Software
    3 For Free
    Adele Bannister
    Adobe Spark
    AEGIS
    Alan Thompson
    Andrew Goff
    Andrew Hammond
    Andy Falconer
    Andy Goff
    Animation
    Ann Marie Christian
    Anti-Bullying
    Anti-bullying Guide
    Antonia Clarke
    Apple
    App Of The Week
    Appraisal
    Assessment
    Assessment Systems
    Autism
    Back To School
    Barry Richardson
    Baseline Assessment
    Beatwave
    Bee Aware Initiative
    Bishops Univerity
    Bishops University
    Blue Apple Education
    Briefing Note
    Buncee
    Bursars
    Buying
    Buying Support Agency
    Cardiio
    Careers
    CAS
    Catherine Lees
    Charity
    Chatterpix
    Child Protection
    Child Support
    Choices
    Chris Forrest
    Christina Gabbitas
    Claas
    Claire Fuller
    Claire Stead
    Classroom Technology
    Clifton School And Nursery
    Clubs
    Code Combat
    Code Studio
    Collaboration
    Collaborative Learning
    Collaborative Purchasing
    Competition
    Competitions
    Compliance
    Computing
    Conference
    Conferences
    Conservatives
    Coopetition
    CoSpaces
    CPOMS
    Creative Writing
    Cundall Manor
    Cyber Cafe
    Cyber-security
    Dan Arnold
    Dan Seneker
    David Goulbourn
    David Horton
    David Paton
    David Winfield
    Department For Education
    Deputy Heads
    Devolve Me
    Dfe
    Difficult Conversations
    Difficult Parents
    Diversity
    Dotty
    Early Years
    Economics
    Ecoschools
    EdShow
    Edtech
    Education
    Educational Fads
    Education Policy
    Education Show
    Election 2017
    Eliziam
    Email
    Emil Willis
    Emma Warner-Reed
    Engagement
    E Safety
    E-safety
    ExamPAL
    Feel Real
    Festival Of Learning
    Finance
    Find Of The Fortnight
    Finnish Education
    Firefly
    Flash Fiction
    Flipped Learning
    Flowing Tales
    Formative Assessment
    Funding
    GBM Digital
    Gender
    Gender Stereotypes
    Globalisation
    Gooseberry Planet
    Governors
    Grammar School At Leeds
    Grammar Schools
    Grants
    Green Paper
    Grief Recovery
    Grieving
    Growth Mindset
    GSaL
    Hannah Wilson
    Heads4Heads
    Headship
    Health And Safety
    Helene Ruda
    Henry Smith
    Higher Education
    Hi Impact
    Hi-impact
    Holmewood House
    Homework
    Hyde Park School
    IAPS
    Icomm
    ICT For Leaders
    Incerts
    Incredibox
    Independent Schools
    Independent Thinking
    Innova
    Innovation
    Inspection
    Inspiring Teaching
    Inspiring The Inspirers
    International Higher Education
    International Study
    Internet
    Internet Safety
    Intrinsic Motivation
    Ishita Mandraka
    ISI
    IT
    Jack Adamson
    Jack Jackman
    James Tooley
    Jo Marsden
    Justine Greening
    Kahoot
    Karen Burns
    KCSIE
    Klick Technology
    Koma Koma
    Kylie Reid
    Lab Furniture
    Leaders
    Leadership
    Learning Environments
    Learning Ladders
    Learning Platforms
    Lego Life
    Leigh McGarvie
    Lily Foundation
    Lisa Ashes
    Literacy
    Little Food Company
    Loss
    Lucidpress
    Maria Brosnan
    Mark Davies
    Mark Doherty
    Mark Lomas
    Maths
    Maths Setting
    Matt Haynes
    Matt Koster-Marcon
    Matt Roper
    Meetings
    Mental Health
    Mike Abraham
    Mike Hargreaves
    Miles Berry
    NAHT
    Networks
    Nicola Clifford
    Nursery
    Nursery Education
    Outdoor Learning
    Outward Bound Trust
    Oxford Home Schooling
    P4C
    Parental Engagement
    Parent Apps
    Parenting
    Parents Tour
    Parent Teacher Relationships
    Partners
    Paul Brewer
    Pedagogy
    Peter Carpenter
    Phil Garner
    Philosophy
    Philosophy-for-children
    Pirjo Suhonen
    Playdemic
    Pobble
    Pokemon Go
    Pownall Hall School
    Premier Education
    Principal Resourcing
    Professional Development
    Programming
    Pupil Progress
    Purchasing
    Radnor House School
    Ransomware
    Recruitment
    Red House School
    Renewable Energy
    Resiliance
    Ross Morrison McGill
    Safeguarding
    Samantha Fisher
    Sam Antrobus
    Sarah Barthorpe
    Saving Money
    Savings
    School Communication
    School Outdoor Learning
    Schools
    Secret Parent
    Self Broadcasting
    Sensavis
    Shadow Puppet
    Sheilds
    Shropshire 3D Print
    Smart
    Smart Technologies
    Smoothwall
    Smootwall
    Snapseed
    Social Media
    Software
    Solar For Schools
    Sonia Gill
    Sonita Alleyne
    SOuL
    Splice
    St Bees
    Stella
    Stella James
    Stephanie Walker
    St Olaves
    Stress
    Stronger Together
    Stuart Bayne
    Student Debt
    Students
    Study In Canada
    Studying In The USA
    Study US
    Supply Teaching
    Sustainability
    TeacherIn
    Teacher Shortages
    Teaching
    Teaching And Learning
    Teaching Ideas
    Tech
    Technology
    Teresa May
    Termly Update
    Thomas Packer
    Three For Free
    Tigtagjunior
    Tigtagworld
    Tiny Tap
    Top Trumps It
    Tracy Gladman
    Twig
    Twig World
    University Funding
    USA University Study
    VEO
    Video
    Video Editor
    Video Enhanced Observation
    Videos
    Virtual Reality
    Viviana Doctorovich
    Wellbeing
    WomenEd
    Wonder Why Society
    Work - Life Balance
    Worrinots
    Yasemin Wigglesworth
    Yes Programme

    RSS Feed

Stay social

Picture
Picture
(c) Blue Cow Education Limited 2015-17.  All rights reserved.
  • Home
  • Events
  • Partners
    • Partnerzone
    • Exclusive Offers
    • Full Partner List
    • Becoming a partner
  • About
✕