Inquiry into Youth Entrepreneurship - Written Evidence from Careers Wales

1. Introduction

Careers Wales is the trading name of Career Choices Dewis Gyrfa (CCDG,) a company limited by guarantee, which on 1^st April 2013 became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Welsh Government.

Careers Wales now forms the Welsh Government’s delivery arm for impartial careers information, advice and guidance and education business partnership activity under the direction of the Youth Engagement and Employment Division within DfES.

2. Background

During the period 2001-2012, the Welsh Government contracted with six regionally based careers companies for the provision, primarily in secondary and further education, of:

· “a menu of opportunities and activities to schools and colleges in pursuit of the aims and actions set out in YES and in the ACCAC Framework for Work Related Education...”

· “opportunities for all young people in full-time compulsory and further education to participate in activities that give an understanding of entrepreneurial characteristics and attitudes and promote enterprise and business awareness . . . “

· “Small business projects that allow students to set up simulated businesses with employer support and involvement should also be provided to enable Key Stage 3 and 4 and post 16 pupils to further enhance their understanding with practical experience.”[1]

Table A below is typical of the annual output from the Careers Wales companies’ enterprise and business awareness activities, delivered in response to Welsh Government’s contract requirements, during the period 2001-2012.

Enterprise &Business Awareness	Total Careers Wales Output 2010-11
Number of education institutions with business awareness and enterprise support (Inc. KS1&2	430
Number of learners participating in business awareness and enterprise activities	47,891
Number of learners involved in setting up small business projects with employer support	18,286

Table A: Enterprise and Business Awareness end of year results 2010-11[2]

2.1 Other Enterprise services and activities

Between 2001-2012, Careers Wales Companies designed and delivered other enterprise services and activities apart from those required under the terms of Companies’ contracts with Welsh Government.

Some examples are listed in Table B below:

Activity & Running Period	Location	Description
Young Initiative Programme 2001-2012	Cardiff & Vale of Glamorgan	Five sessions raising awareness of opportunities to become self- employed and providing knowledge of the world of business and commerce. Run by business counsellors. Approximately 750 learners (Y 10-13) involved annually.
Make your Mark Challenge 2006-2009	All Wales/UK	A team competition that encouraged students to come up with business ideas and investigate the financial implications and competitors and prepare a business pitch – all in the space of 72 hours.
Dynamo Role Model Programme 2002-2012	All Wales	Organising role model entrepreneurs to deliver presentations that encourage students to think creatively, stimulating entrepreneurial thinking through creative challenges. Between 2007 and 2008, 262 business role models were involved in delivering presentations for a total of 1,965 presentations to 40,005 young people pre-16.
Celtic Enterprises 2003-2012	West Wales	An enterprise education programme developed by partners in West Wales and South East Ireland. It offered learners a taste of entrepreneurship through a real business experience. The programme is introduced through a series of awareness raising sessions, where learners gain an understanding of business matters such as finance, marketing and how to develop a business plan. These sessions mark the start of the process of developing ideas and setting up a business that results in student companies being set up and trading for a period of up to five months.
Dragon’s Apprentice (Post 16 ) and Events ‘R’ Us (Pre 16)	Mid-Glamorgan	Providing students with the opportunity to develop enterprising attitude and approach to tasks along with key skills. Both programmes actively involve employers. Careers Wales’ staff members engage employers to deliver the programme to the students.
Young Enterprise 2001-2012	All Wales	Funding support, c. £100k p.a. to the Young Enterprise for its Company and Team Enterprise Programmes. Target group: 15-17 year olds, giving experience of running a business in a safe environment, with volunteer business mentors to support them to learn.
Llwyddo’n Lleol 2011-2013	North Wales	This project targets 11-19 young people living in North Wales and aims to create a culture of enterprise amongst young people. In Gwynedd, Careers Wales took a lead in organising growth sector events, promoting five growth sectors. During the events, young people meet those who work and run their own business within the sectors, learn what qualifications and experiences are needed to work in the sector and the variety of opportunities each sector can offer.

Table B: Examples of Careers Wales’ non-Welsh Government contracted enterprise services and activities.

In 2013, the emphasis of the Welsh Government’s Remit for Careers Wales shifted away from the delivery of opportunities and activities in schools and colleges to “widespread active employer engagement and an effective facilitation of careers and world of work programme in schools/colleges”; with a requirement that Careers Wales would “support employer engagement with education and provide capacity building support to schools and others to help institutions develop the Careers and the World of Work framework.”[3]

3. Careers Wales Business Plan 2013-14

The outcomes required by Welsh Government for 2013-14 are described in terms of “more businesses to work with schools . . . so that every secondary school in Wales has an effective partnership with employers that provides young people with the inspiration, motivation, knowledge and experiences they need to help them achieve their potential and so contribute to our national prosperity.”[4]

In response to the Welsh Government’s Remit, Careers Wales’ business plan for 2013-14 confirms that it will be “stepping back from our direct involvement in the delivery of EBP activities (in schools and colleges)” and turning attention to “brokering employer support for schools and colleges; collating a range of careerswales.com resources for schools and colleges to enable a school/college to coordinate their own events; and introducing an ‘Employer Brokerage Agreement’ so that clear lines of communication are in place between schools/colleges and Careers Wales and a professional service is delivered to employers.”[5]

This approach would appear to sit well with the views expressed in the report of a Five Countries conference on Enterprise Education:

“A challenge recognised across the five countries is the importance of embedding enterprise education in the curriculum rather than it being delivered through bolt-on activities . . . For enterprise education truly to make a difference, it is suggested, it has to be an integral part of the school’s provision and to be linked into other educational priorities.”[6]

The business plan also highlights Careers Wales’ approaches to working with other agencies such as Sector Skills Councils and Business in the Community and to provide training to employers and employees who volunteer to work with schools and colleges.

3.1 Other areas for development

Primary Education

During the period 2001-2012, Careers Wales Companies, whilst providing the majority of their EBP support to secondary school students, also delivered some activities, in particular on the theme of enterprise, to learners and teachers in primary schools across Wales.

In 2009, working with Welsh Government Officials and representatives from Sector Skills Councils, CBI, IOD and 14-19 Networks, Careers Wales managed the Workstar[7] project, an online, modular programme aimed at developing KS2 learners’ enterprise learning. This resource continues to be available to teachers from the Professionals section of careerswales.com and has potential as part of schools’ literacy and numeracy programmes.

Careers Wales is in discussion with DfES Curriculum Division regarding the recently announced Numeracy Employer Engagement Programme and would wish to see programme providers, once appointed, made aware of Workstar and other resources.

Teacher Development

The former Careers Wales, over the past decade, organised placements for teachers at business locations run by Dynamo role models in an attempt to give teachers some direct experience of a developing enterprise that can then be taken back and used in their teaching. Similar placements with businesses have been organised for teachers delivering the WBQ to promote improved understanding of entrepreneurship.

The second ‘Laboratory on Teacher Education in Entrepreneurship’ was hosted by the Slovenian Ministry of Economic Development and Technology in September 2012. It was aimed at professionals involved in the continuing professional development of teachers (CPD) who are interested in developing their curriculum on the subject or methods of entrepreneurship education.

One presentation at the Laboratory[8], proposed a broader-based approach to teacher training. There is a potentially ‘good fit’ here with our planned, ‘partnership’ approach – schools, employers, agencies – to delivering the Careers and World of Work Framework.

The approach recommends that the entrepreneurial characteristics and competences of students and the creation of an ‘entrepreneurial school’ must be underpinned by teachers who have:

· A mastery of entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and attitudes

· Access to and an active role in developing teaching materials based on recommended learning outcomes

· Well-developed teaching and assessment methods

· Access for their students to good careers advice

· Communication channels with the local business community.

A better coordinated and ‘team’ approach to work that each already has in-hand – Welsh Government departments, Awarding bodies, Careers Wales, local authorities, EBP agencies – might see us closer to achieving a training and support service for teachers in Wales of this calibre.

4. Future prospects

In order for these and other education-business services and activities to continue, the new relationship and the ‘new deal’ between Careers Wales, schools and colleges, employers and other agencies and partner organisations’ needs to take root. To this end, Careers Wales continues to negotiate annual Partnership Agreements with schools and colleges and will use these negotiations to promote the new arrangements. A key feature of the negotiations is the Careers Wales Mark. Estyn has reported that the Mark “helps schools to be clearer about the specific services and support they need from partners ……Nearly all schools holding or working towards the Careers Wales Mark have specified objectives in their school development plans to improve the quality and standards of advice and guidance available to learners.”[9]

Furthermore, Careers Wales and Business in the Community (BiTC) have agreed a shared approach to achieving greater and more long-term engagement of business with schools. Both organisations will adopt BiTC's Business Class programme, a systematic and proven framework for developing sustainable partnerships between education and business, rooted in strategic support and collaborative action.

Careers Wales and Sector Skills Councils are also in the final stages of discussing how best to work together on engaging employer support to work with schools and colleges, drawing on existing ‘ambassador’ schemes where these exist and introducing a set of “standard protocols” aimed at ensuring a well-planned and worthwhile experience for employers when visiting schools and for learners who receive presentations from those employers.

Careers Wales’ Education Business Partnership Policy and Strategy refers to the development, in the autumn of this year, of a Wales EBP Strategic Alliance – and the intention to build on recent work with Business in the Community and Sector Skills Councils to extend links to other key partners who have an interest in working with education and business work together to make managed demands of employers and to offer co-ordinated support to schools.

Trina Neilson

Chief Executive - Careers Wales

April 2013

[1] Careers Wales Planning Guidance, 2006-2007, Welsh Assembly Government, Autumn 2005.

[2] Source: 2010-11 Period 3 Contract Reports from six Careers Wales Companies to Welsh Government.

[3] Remit for Careers Services in Wales 2013-14, Welsh Government, November 2012.

[4] Careers Wales, Information to Support the Remit: Service Delivery, Corporate Issues and Reporting. Welsh Government, November 2012

[5] Business Plan for the Welsh Government, Career Choices Dewis Gyrfa, November 2012.

[6] Enterprise Education in Schools in the Five Countries, University of Strathclyde, 2007.

[9] Informed decisions: The implementation of the Careers and the World of Work framework, Estyn, October 2012