Engaging the Next Generation

I am incredibly passionate about young people and helping every single child understand their potential. I dedicate much of my free time to this as a secondary school Governor, Industry Adviser, and Skills Champion. I go into schools and give talks or workshops at least once a month. I’ve done Graduation Speeches and Awards Days too.

The original foundation for this passion goes back to when I was 17 years old and my A Level English teacher told me I had the potential to go to Oxford or Cambridge. I was a clever comprehensive school student set on Higher Education of some kind although none of my family had been to university. However, the thought of going to Oxbridge had never once crossed my mind. I bought The Times when it published the university rankings, saw Oxford was top for English Literature (my favourite subject!) and decided I might as well shoot for the stars. I had nothing to lose. My teacher coached me in his spare time to write the application, sell myself in the interview, as well as tutoring me for the S Level English Literature exam. The S Level actually ended up being the boost my grades needed to secure my place at Oxford when my Geography A Level grade fell to a B. Three years later I graduated with a First Class Honours and my life changed forever. I worked exceptionally hard but without my English teacher it would not have been possible. He saw more in me than I saw in myself. That is a debt I can never repay.

There is also a strong commercial reason for making a significant time investment in the next generation. I run a small growing business. Fresh new talent is our lifeblood. We like to promote from within and employ new people at the start of their technology career because we can teach them the ‘Emerald way’. This does result in a pressure on us to manage training with operational delivery and it’s often a tough balance to achieve. The better prepared our young people are for work and the more business awareness they have straight from school or college, the easier this balance is for me. If I can sow the seeds of commercial acumen into the minds of our local students and teachers through my skills roles – there’s a good chance I will reap the harvest!

As much as I think I’m superwoman, it isn’t always easy for a small business like ours to engage with education. As an organisation this year Emerald had no less than 47 requests for work experience. We currently employ 13 people! I am proud that we have been able to give three students a valuable week of experience but I always think of those we couldn’t help. In the past I have tried to match the other enthusiastic young people wanting to work in my industry with other potential companies; but with 47 requests this match-making was impossible. It would have become my full time job! When I talk to other small businesses or the self-employed, I frequently hear that offering work experience is very difficult or just not possible. Similarly, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) have informed Government that the compulsory 45 day industry placement for 16-18 year olds studying the new technical T Levels, which start next year, is unrealistic for small and micro businesses.

These difficulties for small businesses are challenges we must overcome together. If young people only have opportunities for work experience and industry placements in large companies then we all miss out. How will the next generation learn what working in a small business is like? How will they learn what working for yourself is like? How will we benefit from the new ideas Generation Z bring to the business world? How will we learn how to adapt our organisations for this new workforce? With the current models identified as unrealistic or impossible, it is time to find alternative ways to showcase working for a small company or working for yourself.

The recent Department of Education Careers Strategy for Schools set a new requirement for every secondary school student to have at least one ‘meaningful engagement’ with business in every year of their education. This is our chance as small businesses to define what that engagement looks like. It doesn’t have to be a week’s work experience. In fact poorly matched work experience offers less meaning than a well-matched and well-planned afternoon talk, visit, or workshop. I’m keen to explore what is realistic for us to offer our local school or college. An afternoon workshop every term? A lunchtime talk once a month? A student visit twice a year? Many of us are engaging in these alternative ways already. Recognising this the FSB are launching a pilot study of small business engagement with education and its impact in Yorkshire. With this data as a springboard, we can share best practice with other areas to ensure expectations on small businesses are realistic and achievable especially as we start the transition to the new T Levels.

I am proud to be part of the incredible small business community and I know we will strive together to continue to add real meaning to young people’s view of business. For the sake of their future and our own.

For information on the new T Levels click here

For information about the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) click here

This was first published on LinkedIn in October 2018