The East is to become one of 20 Careers Hubs around England, sharing a national fund of £5m to help transform careers education for young people.
The New Anglia Careers Hub will be made up of 32 local schools and colleges in Ipswich, Norwich and along the A140 corridor, working together with universities, training providers, employers and career professionals to improve careers education. The Hub will also work closely with the schools and boards of the Ipswich and Norwich Opportunity Areas and the New Anglia Enterprise Adviser Network.
The Hub will be delivered by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, working with an Operational Group that will include the Chantry Academy in Ipswich as a lead school and both Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils.
Careers Hubs are a central part of the Government’s Careers Strategy, published in December. The strategy aims to improve careers education and help prepare young people for the world of work. The Government asked The Careers & Enterprise Company to scale up a model successfully piloted in the North East by establishing 20 Careers Hubs across the country, allocating £5 million over a two-year period to support the Hubs.
The ambition of the New Anglia Careers Hub is for every secondary school, academy, SEND school, PRU and FE college in the Hub to have:
- Fully achieved all eight Gatsby Benchmarks of excellent careers education by July 2020.
- Have in place a trained and accredited careers leader of senior stature in the school or college, with time and authority to deliver effective careers education, guidance and employer engagement for all pupils.
- To be actively engaged with the New Anglia Enterprise Adviser Network and be matched with at least one Enterprise Adviser.
- To enable every young person to experience at least one ‘meaningful’ employer encounter each year from year 7-13.
- To actively work towards a national quality award in careers education and guidance.
Doug Field, chair of New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “Our ambition is for the New Anglia Careers Hub to transform the careers advice offer for our young people. Through extensive evidence gathering for the Norfolk and Suffolk Economic Strategy and a number of industry Sector Skills Plans we’ve listened to business about their needs for the next generation of workers. The next step is to listen to our schools – but more than that, for the schools to set the agenda, both staff and pupils, all guided by our two lead schools, through the framework put in place by the LEP.”
Claudia Harris, Chief Executive of The Careers & Enterprise Company, said: “We’re excited by the potential impact of the Hubs. If employers, schools and colleges can better prepare young people for the world of work, we’re not just benefiting the future economy, but improving prospects for thousands of young people.”
