ETI Coming to a School Near You!

HOT OF THE PRESS!



In a letter title 'Planning for the Successful Implementation of the Entitlement Framework by 2013' addressed to your principal, dated the 27th October 2009. The Education Minister makes a reference to Post Primary Inspections:

'Post Primary inspections will, from January 2010, routinely include a focus on the school's progress towards full implementation of the EF and the quality of its careers education'

Our contacts details are available at the end of the Blog, if you wish to discuss the above.

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NISCA Conference

If you haven't already done so, DO IT NOW and put your name down for a place at the Annual NISCA Conference being held on the 28th November in the La Mon Hotel Belfast.

The talks,the workshops and the networking will enhance your understanding and delivery of CEIAG within your school. This year SELB will be hosting 3 different workshops focusing on:

A CEIAG Pack for Teachers
ICT in the Careers Classroom
CEIAG/STEM Teacher Placement

NISCA Flyer
Registration for Event
Programme

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Make Your Mark Challenge

If you want to promote Entrepreneurial and Enterprising Skills in your school, then you need to registrar before the 9th November!

Go For It in conjunction with the Department of Education have just launched the UK's largest one-day enterprise competition for schools and colleges.

Schools are invited to enter a team of enterprising students to generate new and innovative business ideas in response to a secret brief, meeting the curriculum requirements for enterprise education.

Sub cover is avail!

More details at www.makeyourmarkchallenge.org.uk

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Teacher TV - STEM Subject Choice and Careers Series

Teacher TV is just that TV that the Teacher can use in their classroom. If you are having problems in trying to promote STEM in the classroom, take a look.

This series looks at the kind of skills needed to work in STEM professions, examines the careers available and includes advice from research scientists, engineers and project managers. The eight programmes are:

Science
Science teacher Nichola Offer uses a range of techniques to help her students think about careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) professions.

Nichola focuses on IVF and invites the school nurse, Rachael Bines, into the lesson to talk to her Year 8 class at the Thomas Deacon Academy, Peterborough, about her work and to provide professional support.

The students perform a role play which gets them thinking about the number of professions involved in IVF and raises some interesting questions.

The second part of the lesson challenges students to focus on one particular profession by searching various STEM careers websites, with the students creating a poster display of their findings http://www.teachers.tv/video/31980

Maths
Teacher Daniel Gadd links maths lessons to the use of maths in the world of work, helping students understand how their learning relates to the real world.

The class at the Graham School, Scarborough, focuses on how logistic managers use network diagrams to aid efficiency in deliveries and when laying cables.

Daniel relates the topic firstly to paper rounds, and the students develop the idea further, working on a cabling exercise to calculate the minimum amount of cable needed to link a series of towns. Daniel challenges his students to model one of the ideas they are working on.

The students also research how different people use maths in their careers, culminating in a presentation to their peers at the end of the lesson. http://www.teachers.tv/video/31981

Engineering
Maths teacher Eva Cowlishaw and science teacher Amy Lucas introduce Year 9 students at CTC Kingshurst Academy, Birmingham, to engineering careers using the context of structural engineering in theme park rides.

In the maths lesson the students look at rigid structures and learn how they are important in engineering, and have the chance to investigate their own choice of rigid structures.

In science, the students model an ejector seat ride using a variety of apparatus. Their investigation looks at the different forces involved in the ride and how to monitor its speed.

For the final part of the day the students take on the roles of interviewers and candidates in mock interviews for a structural engineering job. http://www.teachers.tv/video/31982

Choosing Careers
Lorette Parker, head of careers at Collingwood College, Surrey, invites eight professionals to the school to talk about their careers in STEM-related professions.

Amongst the group are research scientists, engineers and project managers. Lorette hopes they will help motivate the students to consider STEM professions as a possible career path.

In small groups, the students interview the visitors, getting as much information as they can. They are expected to meet and greet the visitors in the same way they would act in a real job interview.

The experience proves to be an eye-opener for the students and many are surprised about the opportunities available in STEM professions. http://www.teachers.tv/video/31983
Equality and Diversity

Two secondary schools in Blackburn explore STEM careers, by encouraging their students to take a hands-on approach to learning.

Witton Park High School takes a workshop for year eight girls which aims to show the students alternatives to gender stereotyped jobs. The girls are asked to consider traditional jobs along with high paid STEM related jobs. They also take part in a team building activity.

Meanwhile at Pleckgate High School, where teachers are trying to engage all students with STEM, an interactive mobile laboratory, staffed by practising scientists and engineers visits the school.

Small groups of students take part in the onboard experiments, which are designed to be accessible to all learners and introduce them to new aspects of STEM. http://www.teachers.tv/video/36358

STEM Subject Choice and Careers - Role Models and Work Placements

A group of STEM ambassadors visit Bradfield School in Sheffield to share their stories with a group of Year 9 girls.

As a lesson starter the pupils take part in an exercise aimed at combating some of the stereotypical images of STEM related careers. The ambassadors then take questions from the pupils about the sort of careers that are available to pupils who take up STEM subjects.

Meanwhile another group of learners are followed as they take part in a work placement run by the Connaught Partnership. Here the video examines the processes and procedures needed to ensure a successful work placement.Apprentices at an aerospace manufacturer in Bolton discuss the benefits of experience in the workplace and a learner in Sheffield talks about the value of her work placement at a firm of architects. http://www.teachers.tv/video/36674

Information, advice and guidance

At Collingwood College in Camberley, Science Teacher Angalika Newton is eager to introduce careers in science to her students.Angalika works with Head of Careers Lorette Parker to plan a lesson to introduce the kinds of jobs that science can lead to.

They are looking at introducing a range of techniques into the classroom which will equip the students with the information they need to make informed choices. These include bringing outside visitors into the school, peer-to-peer and one-to-one learning conversations and consolidating their ideas in the form of a careers map.

This programme is part of a series looking at the careers available in STEM professions. http://www.teachers.tv/video/36360

Economic Wellbeing

Riddlesdown High school in South London is taking steps to encourage pupils to study science, maths and technology.

We see students at the school participate in a role play as members of a residents' association. During the activity they discuss a proposal to build a pharmaceutical plant in their neighbourhood.

The pupils weigh up the pros and cons of the proposal, considering the economic benefits that the plans could bring to the community, against potentially negative issues such as environmental disruption.

Later, staff discuss the challenges of teaching the value of STEM subjects as they often feel ill-equipped to educate pupils about opportunities in science related careers. http://www.teachers.tv/video/36359

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BringItOn - the Next Phase

The Department for Employment and Learning, in association with e-skills UK, Momentum and Invest Northern Ireland has just launched the next phase of its ICT career attractiveness campaign - BringITon. The campaign aims to create greater awareness about the wide range of exciting career opportunities available within the ICT industry in Northern Ireland.

This phase of the campaign will include TV, radio, online, outdoor and for the first time cinema advertising. A series of events in universities and schools also kicks off this month to deliver the message directly to the young people who could be the IT professionals of tomorrow. Many of Northern Ireland's ICT employers are already involved in the campaign and have contributed much to the success enjoyed so far. If you would like to get involved or would just like to find out more about what is happening please pay a visit to our website - www.bringitonni.info

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The F Word!

45,000 Science Jobs required to Feed the World!
On the back of what were very successful STEM Conference in CAFRE Loughry and CAFRE Greenmount, I have included the quote below some 'food for thought'. If there is ever a time to promote CAFRE to our young people, it is NOW!

"Over the next decade, we will need tens of thousands of skilled food scientists to respond to the challenges we face in feeding the world safely and healthily. These men and women will have food science and food technology degrees and will be the foot soldiers in ensuring we produce enough of the right stuff to keep us alive!"

Job prospects for food scientists and food technologists in the UK are excellent, according to advisors from the leading Food and Nutritional Science department based at the University of Reading.

Professor Bob Rastall of the University of Reading said: "At a time when there has never been so much public interest in the importance of food, the UK food industry is still crying out for qualified food scientists and technologists."

Employment projections suggest the UK food and drink industry will need around 137,000 new recruits over the next decade with 45,000 of those jobs requiring high skill levels¹. The number of applicants for roles as qualified food scientists and technologists or nutritionists is in decline while the number of students studying food science at universities and further education colleges has also fallen as fewer school children choose science and technology based subjects

Professor Rastall continued: "The work of food scientists and technologists touches so many aspects of our relationship with food. Careers in food science will have a positive impact on the health and well-being of the nation, through the ready availability of good quality food. Future food scientists will be the guardians of the safety of the food we eat. They will be working on food security, conduct research on how the food we eat impacts on our health as well as advising food companies on the development of new products linked to optimal nutrition.

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Why Hospitality & Tourism Sector?

As the economic downturn continues it seems that the Hospitality and Tourism sector is weathering the storm rather better than most.

Yet, this sector is experiencing major challenges in attracting appropriately skilled people. A recent report by People 1st, the organisation charged with identifying the skills needs of the sector, highlighted a lack of skills in three main areas that were holding the sector back from reaching its full potential, namely management and leadership skills, customer service skills and chef skills. (For this reason alone Careers teachers need to inform their pupils of the potential opportunities that currently exist now and in the future).


At the end of 2008 a Future Skills Action Group undertook research in how to address this shortcoming. The report highlighted the fact that more needs to be done to sell the benefits of working in the Hospitality and Tourism sector to the public. With this in mind, the following actions are being taken:


• Regional Career events will be organised, to encourage young people to consider a career in the sector;

• People 1st will be expanding the existing UKSP web based skills and recruitment site www.uksp.co.uk; and

• People 1st will be recruiting a number of employers to act as Ambassadors to participate in promotional activities. (More in our Post 16 Blog)

With all this activity going on and a thriving sector, there is no doubt that this is an exciting time for the Hospitality and Tourism industry in Northern Ireland and more importantly for our young people who are considering a career in this Sector.

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Careers Lessons for Language and History Teachers.

These resources are a series of online resources for teachers to introduce a careers dimension within KS3/4 subject delivery, across three subjects: English, history and languages. These resources were conceptualised as practical career-related activities linked with elements of the English, history and modern languages curricula.

The language resources are now publicly available on CILT’s Languages Work website

http://www.languageswork.org.uk/resources/classroom.htm

The history resources can be viewed at

http://www.history.org.uk/resources/secondary_resources_60.html.

The English resource will be available soon.

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Students Opt to Stay at Uni!

Two thirds of final year students admit to being concerned about the current economic climate, and over a third are planning to continue their studies next year, according to a new report by the National Union of Students (NUS) and HSBC.

The 'Students in Employment and Post Course Plans' survey, published yesterday, also reveals that middle class students are more likely than any other group to have to support themselves financially while at university.

Findings include:
- 66% of final year students are concerned about the current economic climate
- 30% of final year students said they had changed their plans for after they graduate as a result of the economic climate
- 38% of final year students planned to do further studying, up from 27% last year
- 42.5% of students from middle income families work during term time, compared to just 36% from poorer families and 27% of students from richer families

NUS President Wes Streeting said: "It is clearly an extremely worrying time for many students, with top up fees leaving them in record levels of debt and graduate job prospects drying up.

"Middle class students in particular are feeling the pinch. They do not qualify for grants or bursaries, but their families are not earning enough to support them through a degree.

"It is remarkable that some vice chancellors are still insensitive enough to call for even higher fees during a time of economic crisis. They have to acknowledge that students and their families are already bearing enough of a burden."

According to a recent report by Universities UK, graduates would owe an average of over £26,000 if the cap on fees were raised to £5,000 a year, and over £32,000 if the cap were raised to £7,000 a year. Despite this, more than half of university vice chancellors surveyed by the BBC in March called for charges of at least £5,000 per year, or for there to be no upper limit.

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