Inspiring the Future is a free initiative, which allows employees from all sectors and professions volunteering to go into state secondary schools and colleges to talk about their jobs, careers, and the education routes they took. Nearly a third of all state secondary schools have already registered ahead of the launch.
To mark the launch of Inspiring the Future across England, scores of employers and prominent leaders in their fields will take part in a special event at a school in Tower Hamlets - one of England's most disadvantaged areas.
Inspiring the Future is the sister programme of Speakers for Schools, which in January 2012 arranged a talk by Bill Gates in a state school in Deptford, south London. Both are administered by charity the Education and Employers Taskforce.
Everyone from CEOs to apprentices can volunteer for Inspiring the Future, administered by small charity the Education and Employers Taskforce.
The ask of volunteers is very simple - would they agree to visit a school near to where they live of work once a year and spend an hour talking with young people about their job.
A survey published by the TES shows 98% of classroom teachers in state schools think it important (80% saying very important) for young people to meet employers to talk about jobs and careers, but many do not currently have the opportunity to do this. Inspiring the Future will help meet this need by connecting schools with volunteers from all walks of life, for free. The ambition is to recruit army of volunteers - 100,000, which equates to 30-40 people (covering a range of jobs/backgrounds) for each of our around 3,000 state secondary schools.
Inspiring the Future uses an online platform, the first of its type, (developed specially by Deloitte with financial support from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation) to connect volunteers to schools. It is a free service endorsed by Government (with cross-party support), the UK's main teacher and employer organisations and many leading employers.
Nearly 100 employers will also be taking part in a unique careers fair attended by 1,000 pupils.
Employers include the Aberdeen Asset Management, Army, Aston Martin, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barts Hospital, BBC, Brompton Bicycles, BT, Caprice Group (inc the Ivy restaurant & Bam-Bou), Caterpillar, Civil Service (inc Cabinet Office, BiS, Home Office, No 10 and DPM's office) Deloitte, Freshfields, FSB, Hewlett Packard, HMRC, Institute of Careers Guidance, J P Morgan, KPMG, L'Oreal, Metropolitan Police, MITIE, NHS Employers, Premier League, Prince's Trust, O2, PWC, RAF, Royal Navy, Teaching Agency, Thames Water, TUC, Virgin Trains, Wates and WPP. A number of smaller business are also attending, as are a landscape designer, a furniture maker, stonemason, musician and 20 apprentices - hairdressing (free haircuts available), engineering, hospitality and design. Many employees are arriving in their typical working clothes and bringing displays/equipment - notable being Aston Martin, Brompton Bikes, Fairhaven (stone carving demonstration), Morph Suits, O2, Ordnance Survey (3D maps of Olympic village, RAF, The Ivy and WPP.
Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister, said: "Too many young people get the message that the best jobs are not for them. Inspiring the Future will give state school students the chance to see, hear and make a connection with someone in a career or job they might not have thought about. Today we're calling on doctors, nurses, lawyers, builders, civil servants, farmers, mechanics, engineers and other working people to give up just an hour of their time to talk to students in their local state school about how they got where they are today. The power of making connections that inspire young people is immeasurable and can be life-changing - the difference between going on to fulfil your potential, and languishing on the scrapheap. Many successful people can point to a moment in their lives when they were inspired to become the people they are today. Now it's their turn to help young people fulfil their potential."
Roger Carr, CBI president and chairman of Centrica, added: "There is nothing more compelling for young people thinking about their future careers than meeting and speaking to inspirational people who do the jobs they are considering. That is why the CBI is pleased to support Inspiring the Future.
We desperately need to tackle the corrosive effects of high youth unemployment in the UK, so I would urge employers to sign up to this initiative and encourage their staff to get involved and provide valuable insights into their careers."
To coincide with the launch of Inspiring the Future, a report looks for the first time at independent schools and how they routinely bring employers to support the career aspirations of pupils. Independent school students are far more likely to get the opportunity to talk to employers than those at state schools, Education and Employers Taskforce research shows 100% of the highest performing independent schools have programmes that bring employers and eminent speakers to talk to their pupils.
Young adults (aged 19-24) who previously attended independent schools are 30% more likely to have had careers talks from employers whilst at school than peers who attended non-selective state schools.
Dean Royles, director of the NHS Employers organisation, is giving a workshop at the launch of Inspiring the Future and said: "Inspiring the Future will highlight some of the fantastic opportunities for young people - and employers will benefit too. Helping students find the right job for them can transform their lives and the places where they work. The NHS is Europe's largest employer but its lifeblood is the personal, individual and collective commitment its staff have for great patient care. Many people on joining the NHS fall in love with it and the career they choose, so we know how important it is to give young people this good start in life."
