FORMER education secretary, Baroness Morgan of Cotes has visited a Leicester School to see how focus on careers is helping school leavers into education and employment.
The former Secretary of State for Education, Nikky Morgan, met with staff and students at The City of Leicester College earlier today, as part of National Careers Week.
Baroness Morgan, a board member of the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC), learned how her organisation’s Compass+ online system is helping schools and colleges across the country to design careers education programmes that improve the support offered to students.
The City of Leicester College is one of 91 schools in the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) Careers Hub.
The Evington school has recently been working with Year nine students to gather information in Compass+ relating to their career ambitions as they prepare to choose their options.
Baroness Morgan met with the students and discussed their plans, ambitions and aspirations while also talking about her own career and taking questions from students.
“It was fantastic to meet so many staff and students. The City of Leicester College is offering brilliant support to its students to help them prepare for the world of work,” said Baroness Morgan, who is the former MP for Loughborough.
“It is leading the way in the development of modern, high quality careers education, and it’s great to see how innovative new digital tools like Compass+ are being put into action.
“This sort of sophisticated approach to careers education is being rolled out right across the country, helping a generation of young people to be as prepared as possible for the jobs of the future, while also making it easier and easier for businesses of every shape and size to work with schools,” she added.
“When I first started to create a national system to improve careers education this is exactly the sort of impact I wanted to see happening. I couldn’t be more proud that places like Leicester and Leicestershire are helping to lead the way.”
Baroness Morgan also spoke with Headteacher Ken Vernon and Chris Dakin, Assistant Headteacher and Careers Leader, about careers provision, challenges and priorities for young people choosing careers.
Mr Vernon said: “As a school, we are ambitious for all of our students. That extends to their lives after they leave us so that our local community continues to flourish.
“Careers education is a vital component in trying to ensure all of our learners are on the right pathway towards their goals. It is reflected in the extremely high number of our ex-students who are in education or employment.
“We were very excited to show off all of the great work our team has been doing around careers education and show what is possible for students from all backgrounds.”
The CEC is the national body for careers education in England. It works with Government to support schools and colleges in delivery of modern careers education.
It also brings together employers, educators and providers through a network of Careers Hubs.
To find out more, visit: https://llep.org.uk/
