Around 981,000 young people are currently not in employment, education or training (Neet), recent Office for National Statistics data suggests.
It’s a situation that those of us in Gosport, on the south coast in Hampshire, know about all too well as it is one of the most deprived areas in the region.
That’s why I, as director of civic leadership at King’s Group Academies, a trust of 15 schools across the region, have been leading work to do something proactive to address this issue, through the creation of the KGA Business and Education Network.
This is a forum that has brought together businesses in sectors ranging from maritime and defence to health and care, construction, hospitality and tourism, alongside colleges and universities, coordinated by the trust.
Coordination on career and education opportunities
The aim is to provide a coordinated approach to how children develop understanding of the future education or employment options that they have, and to ensure that this is repeated throughout their education with purpose.
Schools and colleges have done variations of this in the past, of course, but usually through ad hoc assemblies or one-off careers events that still left students too reliant on family networks for their understanding of employment options.
What’s more, by taking a coordinated approach, it should help us to avoid the usual issue of schools across the region approaching the same limited pool of employers for a week or two of work experience in the same weeks in the summer.
Not only does this overly burden those employers, but it also usually leaves smaller businesses overlooked as they lack the capacity to coordinate with multiple institutions and young people seeking employment experience at the same time.
Local support
Clearly many people feel things can be done in a better way.
At our first event earlier this month, we had 60 representatives in attendance from local businesses, universities and colleges, as well as local MP Caroline Dinenage and former skills minister Anne Milton.
The focus was not just the launch of the KGA Business and Education Network itself either, but the strategy that will underpin our work, dubbed “Infant to Industryâ€.
The idea is that, starting from the early years, we can ensure learning in school links to careers and employment opportunities, and that any gaps in provision that are identified can be filled by engaging with new prospective organisations.
The network aims to agree six to eight fundamental skills that are essential for all young people to prepare them for the world of work, and will work in partnership with education across the region to continue building these across a shared curriculum map for Gosport.
This will include systemic, employer-led curriculum delivery year on year, as part of the Infant to Industry strategy, alongside opportunities for students across the region to routinely access the world of work within curriculum time.
Building a framework
Creating this framework will also allow employers to see where they could fit into the strategy and connect via a single point of contact, rather than talking to multiple institutions, as was previously the case.
This is the core focus for the KGA Business and Education Network over the next 12 months, and we look forward to sharing more information as we progress. We would also welcome engagement with other trusts seeking to understand more about the proposal or that have learnings from similar initiatives.
Ultimately, the Neet crisis is an issue bigger than any one school or trust can solve, and change won’t happen overnight.
Yet it is clear that, as major civic institutions in their local area, multi-academy trusts can play a profound role in bringing together public and private organisations that have a shared interest in supporting one another for the greater good.
And when it comes to tackling the Neet crisis, the data makes it clear that we need to try something different.
Chris Willis is headteacher of King’s Academy Bay House and director of civic leadership for King’s Group Academies
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