Career guidance vital for secondary school kids
Children as young as 12 and their parents need career ideas and information, says a social enterprise, launching in Yorkshire and Humberside.
WCIB (What Could I Be?) is addressing a gap they perceive as existing nationwide in the education of secondary school children. After achieving success in Scotland, WCIB is branching out into Yorkshire and Humberside, which is a known “hotspot” for nurturing young entrepreneurs. Schools, universities and all manner of businesses are mentoring young people in the area, feeding them information about how to be innovative, creative and ambitious in expanding their business ideas.
WCIB has become involved in Yorkshire and Humberside targeting children as they start high school because, says a company spokesperson, “this age group are only four or five years away from becoming potential apprentices and employees, or longer term graduates.
Children are full of bright ideas and according to Jane Dennehy, director of WCIB, the age of 12 is a good time to start considering their future options. Jane says: "We simply want to disrupt the way we talk about jobs and careers. We want to show children they have choices about skills and sectors. We also want to help them understand how interconnected the world of work is and encourage them to be confident to ask lots of questions and access the wealth of information which is available."
As a social enterprise "We believe all children should start to think about what they could be with lots of ideas. And we want to encourage this conversation to happen at home with mums, dads and carers" comments Jane. She adds that the appetite from employers to get involved is positive in Yorkshire with sponsors including New Park Court Chambers (barristers), OneMedical, Fairman Recruitment, Beyond 2030 and Unionlearn.
Read more about WCIB at www.whatcouldibe.org.
Sponsors are available contact jane@whatcouldibe.org or 07531227851