Princess Astronauts and Footballing Dinosaurs

What did you want to be when you were at school? Did you have it all planned out from an early age, or did you fall into it? For a year or so in senior school, I wanted to be a spy, inspired no doubt by a half-term spent watching James Bond films!

How did you end up in your career? Did the subjects you chose at school lead you naturally to where you are now? Did you have much help to make your decision? Did you believe you could have the career you wanted?

It’s fair to say that careers information, advice and guidance haven’t always been delivered as well as they could be (or at all,  depending on when you were in education). Believe it or not, the picture is quite different these days. The importance of thorough careers guidance is well recognised. And schools and further education providers now have a legal duty to deliver it.

But that's not the only thing that's changed in education

Education and guidance is key to the informed choices that young people need to make in their career journey. The education sector has always been a sector of regulations, legislation and detailed structure, but now it has the added challenge of virtual learning, remote pastoral care and significant external factors. Just some of the questions the education sector is mulling include:

• What impact will Brexit have on the education system and the recruitment of teachers?
• How is the government responding to increasing pupil numbers? How does this response impact teacher recruitment and overcapacity of secondary schools?
• What do budget cuts mean for pupils and teachers?
• Should classroom connectivity be a right for every child? 
• How has the new GCSE grading system impacted learning?

Girls continue to outperform boys at the end of primary schooling and at GCSE across the UK. Over the last couple of years, the government has made changes to the school curriculum in an effort to make it more rigorous, and the new 9-1 grading scheme was brought in alongside a new GCSE curriculum in England. The highest grade is 9, while 1 is the lowest, not including a U (ungraded). GCSE courses now include much less coursework than before, with grades in almost all subjects depending on exams. Grade inflation as a result of the algorithm for Year 10s and 12s.

The youth of today and the world that awaits them

900,000 young people aged between 16 and 24 will leave education in the 20/21 academic year into one of the toughest job markets in decades. Unsurprisingly, this strange new world is impacting on their beliefs and confidence in the direction that their life should take.

Despite losing months of face-to-face curriculum-based learning earlier this year during Lockdown Part 1, GCSE and A-level exams have only been pushed back by three weeks next summer. Many teachers are concerned about the pressure of making up that missed education and all the associated experiential learning during the extra three weeks. And questions continue to circulate about ways that those students could or should be supported to ensure fairness and consistency with the grade patterns of previous years. For example, should all the summer 2021 exams be open-book?

There have been many articles and opinion pieces over the last six months regarding young people's attitudes to the uncertain future that awaits them, and one of the most heavily quoted statistics suggest that over 80% of students are worried about their future job prospects. Over a third of students have stopped believing that their ideal career path is even an option for them anymore. 

However education adapts to the challenges of remote learning and grade algorithms, the number of pupils is forecast to surge in the next few years. There was a high birth rate from 2002 until 2008, and these children are now moving through the education system. Government figures predict 654,000 (8.7%) more pupils by 2026, with an additional 534,000 pupils in secondary schools and an increase of approximately 100,000 in primary education. This rise in pupil numbers will put intense pressure on secondary schools and those working in education will need to plan for extensions or the construction of new buildings to house students, separate to the additional space required for social distancing.

In direct conflict with the rise of pupils is the reported fall in the number of teachers. Headteachers are finding it hard to fill vacancies with quality candidates, in particular in core subjects including maths, science and languages. A report from National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) indicates that 30% of new teachers leave the profession after five years and that in 2016 school leaders struggled or failed to recruit for eight out of 10 job roles.

Wherefore art thou, Construction?

Construction has struggled for over 25 years with recruitment and attraction of the younger generations, and many studies by CITB, housebuilders and others have proven that construction has not yet presented a consistent and coherent argument to young people as to why they should join the sector. All schools are now required to have a named careers lead as part of their Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) structure and these leads are actively seeking information and understanding about all of the possible career pathways that young people could follow. 

A new wave of gender acceptance is sweeping through schools and the issue is firmly on the agenda. While construction is still struggling to argue the defence for having so few women in the industry, students are increasingly embracing more gender-neutral language. Although this might seem like a get-out-of-jail free card for the sector, it’s more likely to mean a new generation of recruits demanding tangible evidence of equality and representation.

A recent report from the charity Education and Employers makes the point that aspirations, quite simply, come from exposure to the job. It powerfully quotes the American activist for children’s rights, Marian Wright Edelman, who said

‘You can’t be what you can’t see.’

The report also highlights a ‘disconnect between aspiration and opportunity’. Many young people want to work in sectors that are widely different from the jobs available. A continuing inconsistency in representation by construction employers means that schools and students are overlooking construction because they cannot ‘see’ who we are. 

Sustainability ranks highly on political and corporate agendas. It’s become much more of a public talking point, and of increasing concern for students that want to protect the world that they’re growing into. In 2019, tens of thousands of school pupils skipped their lessons to attend climate-change strikes in cities across the UK. They’re looking to schools and the education system to help them understand how and why everyday choices can have a lasting impact on the environment, and what they can do to be more responsible and sustainable.

Construction's challenging relationship with sustainability and environmental impacts doesn't necessarily offer an instant draw to planet-savvy students, but by being honest about the multiple pressures we face we can certainly attract bright minds into the industry to help us achieve long-term, empirical change.

Careers guidance is no longer a barren no-man’s-land

All schools are required to deliver progress against the eight Gatsby Benchmarks. The benchmarks cover all areas of CEIAG from personalised advice and regular support to quality encounters with employees and workplaces. As part of the government's National Careers Strategy, published in 2017, all employers have a role in delivering the career strategy and helping schools to meet the Gatsby Benchmarks. However this isn't just simply the selfless thing to do - social value has financial value, and corporate social responsibility remains a significant KPI on many projects. In addition, building pipelines of advocates and future talent can reduce recruitment overheads. For smaller businesses, engaging with schools might seem like a challenging extra item to add to the to-do list, but it is simply an exercise in marketing and business development.

In response to the rising numbers of pupils in the UK, it’s expected that the Government will take a progressive approach to increase school and classroom numbers to ensure there are places available for all children. This will likely see an increase in schools becoming academies as well as encompass the opening of numerous free schools.

Academies, free schools, faith schools and UTCs all deliver different versions of the curriculum to standard state schools. In addition to government changes across the content of the curriculum, different types of schools can elect to teach different models of the curriculum. Understanding the difference in structure will mean employers are better placed to support that school with their careers interventions. Linking curriculum learning to careers is consistently the most challenging of the Gatsby Benchmarks, and practical examples from employers can turn abstract theory into valuable insight.

All this change structure, regulations and infrastructure investment means that, despite schools now recognising the vital importance of careers provision, they are unable to deliver this due to a lack of funding:

• Only 10% have adequate funding
• 75% have insufficient, limited or no funding
• Around a 5th of secondary schools receive less than ￡2K in funding per annum. Given the average size of secondary school is 1000 this equates to circa ￡2 per student - less than the cost of purchasing a cup of coffee!
• About a third of secondary schools receive less than ￡5k per annum - ￡5 per student.
• Yet 84% of schools “strongly agree” or “agree” that careers provision in their schools is now a high priority.

It remains a certainty that all industries must find consistent, effective ways to support schools with careers guidance during compulsory education

And if that wasn’t tricky enough...

A post-COVID world provides a challenging job market for students, without even factoring in the ongoing challenges of the current recession and the inevitable economic impact of a significant trade change like Brexit. This will impact on the businesses that operate within the UK and will also impact on the countries that young people can choose to work in. The education industry is busy predicting changes and getting ready for the potential consequences of Brexit as proactively as possible. But, as yet, the impact is unknown. Schools, colleges, academies and universities are identifying and assessing EU nationals on their workforce. These staff could need expensive or complicated visas in the future, or positions might need to be filled if staff decide to leave or are no longer permitted to stay.

There are thousands of EU nationals who work as teachers. In 2015 approximately 5,000 teachers from EU countries qualified to teach in the UK. With an existing shortage of qualified teachers, the potential exodus of thousands of teachers due to Brexit is a worrying thought. There is a field of thought that suggests many young people will be encouraged directly into teaching careers to address this gap, leaving an increasing shortage of skills for other sectors.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit

Engagement with schools and careers guidance must be robust, consistent and effective to create the future workforce that the industry needs. We must create an industry-wide revolution to change how consistently we support schools collectively as an industry, not simply leaving all of this responsibility to the main contractors who are obliged as part of their project contracts. 

Careers guidance provides a phenomenal opportunity for smaller businesses to talk about their specific expertise, their insightful innovations, and the niche projects that they have delivered to their clients. This tells a much more compelling story to students about the construction industry and their possible place in it, rather than simply suggesting it is an industry of 25 huge contractors.

Virtual learning has inevitably taken centre-stage this year, and Lockdown Part 2 beginning this week may yet mean the closure of schools and colleges into December or even into the new year. It is important that this virtual learning delivers more than simply reinforcing classroom learning, and there are opportunities for employers to help teachers and schools develop this experiential learning. Every LEP region has its own strategic economic plan which sets the significant projects and Investments that will happen in that region over the next 10 years. This labour market information (LMI) is the data that careers advisors use to support young people looking at career options. Construction, unsurprisingly, is one of the key sectors in almost every region and we must seize this opportunity to show young people how fundamental construction is to every future plan in England, in the context of the streets, buildings and neighbourhoods they already know.

Time for construction to get honest about technology, too

Within the education industry, there is a renewed focus on technical learning, in line with the government’s Industrial Strategy. This long-term plan to ‘boost the productivity and earning power of people throughout the UK’ includes an emphasis on education. In particular strengthening vocational education, as a viable and valuable alternative to the existing academic provision.

Concerns have been raised about the extent that schools are providing children with the right knowledge and skills for the labour market of the future. This has led to changes in curriculum in and the English National Curriculum is the first country in the world to have mandatory computer programming at primary and secondary level (in maintained schools). Currently, one in five children leaves school without basic maths and literacy. Basic literacy and numeracy are necessary to develop digital skills and increasing numbers of jobs now require a high level of digital competency

T Levels are new courses which follow GCSEs and are equivalent to 3 A levels. These 2-year courses, which launched in September, have been developed in collaboration with employers and businesses so that the content meets the needs of industry and prepares students for work, further training or study. These modern vocational qualifications will offer an alternative to A Levels and replace a large number of existing courses. These are the “biggest overhaul of post-school education in 70 years,” according to a government spokesperson. There are currently two approved construction T-levels - Design, Surveying and Planning and Building Services Engineering - with Onsite Construction due to begin in 2021. As part of the T-levels, tutors require industry insight days with construction - think of it as work experience placements for teachers.

Technology in construction is moving ever-faster with BIM, drones, augmented and virtual reality, robotics, smart cities, smart buildings, artificial intelligence and 3D printing becoming more common in project specifications and delivery.

They can’t be what they can’t see. That means seeing all of us

You’re busy. You’re stressed. 2020 hasn’t been any gentler to you than the rest of us. But, if we don’t act now to support young people, the results could be catastrophic for years to come. Here are some practical things you can do:

• There are an estimated 3.9 million computers in UK classrooms and educators are adopting e-assessments, data-driven comprehension analytics as well as game and video-based learning. Talk to us at BESS about creating lesson plans that build on curriculum learning, virtual conferencing, gamification, encounters with your employees and experience of workplaces (albeit virtually). 
• Bite-sized information for a Tik-Tok generation* (*videos up to 60 seconds in length, but usually about 15 seconds; short enough to engage even the most distracted of students) means that none of these students are coming to read your whole website or commit to giving their attention to your 45-minute presentation if you can’t master a snappy 30-second elevator pitch.
• 2020 has become the year of Virtual Work Experience, as schools and employers alike recognise the value it offers to students. The BESS on-demand Virtual Work Experience platform is available 24/7 to students in over 4,000 schools, and employers across the construction sector can add tasks to demonstrate the challenges and problems they solve.
• As part of Government’s focus on improvements across curriculum and careers guidance, the Careers and Enterprise Company has created a pathway for employers to deliver careers support directly into schools. Join the Enterprise Advisor network to provide strategic, voluntary support to a local school and help them deliver against their priorities.