Hinds gives £5m to 20 (or 21?) ‘careers hubs’ to boost advice and job ‘encounters’
Schools in 20 areas of England will have access to funding to train staff to give better careers advice and offer pupils more “encounters” with employers. Overall, 646 secondary schools, 15 sixth forms and 49 further education colleges will be linked to a hub, with each one involving up to 40 different institutions.
Claudia Harris, CEO at the Careers and Enterprise Company tweeted
“Thrilled to be working with 21 amazing areas across England on Careers Hubs – turbocharging careers support for our young people” Claudia Harris @claudia_harris 20 hours ago
Each hub will employ a lead to coordinate activity and build networks and funding for schools and colleges to improve employer encounters. There will also be a “central hub fund” equivalent to £1,000 per school or college, although it is not yet clear how that money will be spent.
The North East Local Enterprise Partnership piloted the careers hub model between 2015 and 2017, with the majority of its schools achieving all eight Gatsby benchmarks.
Damien Hinds stated the hubs “will support young people with the right advice to help them make decisions about their future by building better links with employers and providing practical guidance and support to improve the provision of careers advice in schools”.
The 20 LEPs selected to run hubs
Cornwall & Isles of Scilly
Lancashire
Leeds City Region
Black Country
York, North Yorkshire and East Riding
Cumbria
Swindon & Wiltshire
Stoke & Staffordshire
The Solent
West of England
Buckinghamshire Thames Valley
Greater Manchester
The South East (East Sussex)
Leicester & Leicestershire
Heart of South West (Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay)
Humber
Tees Valley
Worcestershire
Liverpool City Region
New Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk)
Perhaps the 21st Careers Hub is the North East LEP?