‘WELCOME TO MY WORLD’EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT IN HIGH PERFORMING ENGLISH

INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

Professor Prue Huddleston

Centre for Education and industry, University of Warwick

Dr Anthony Mann

Director of Policy and Research, Education and Employers Taskforce

Welcome to my world….

• ‘Perhaps you are a barrister and can help a current Wykehamist discover something about chamber life?’

• ‘Social networks are very important, very interesting, the way external involvement creates a culture of expectation, a culture of achievement, a learning environment.’

Research questions• To what extent do high performing

independent schools engage with employers to support pupil learning and progression?

• Why do they do it?

• How do they go about it?

Methods• Focus on twenty high performing independent schools: Times

2009 league table

• Desk research

• Six in-depth structured interviews:

3 boys’ schools, 3 girls’ schools

3 in London, 3 outside London

3 boarding, 3 day schools

(Fieldwork, November 2010 to June 2011)

Methods

• Literature review

• YouGov survey of 1,002 young adults (19-24), for comparative purposes (February 2011)

Runners and riders

2009 Rank Name Town

1 Withington Girls’ School Manchester

2 Westminster School London

3 North London Collegiate School Edgware

4 St Paul’s School London

5 Magdalen College School Oxford

6 St Paul’s Girls’ School London

7 Perse Girls’/Stephen Perse Sixth Form College Cambridge

8 Wycombe Abbey School High Wycombe

9 Royal Grammar School Guildford

10 City of London Girls’ School London

Runners and riders2009 Rank Name Town

11 The Lady Eleanor Holles School Hampton

12 Eton College Windsor

13 King’s College School Wimbledon

14 Sevenoaks School Sevenoaks

15 Guildford High School for Girls Guildford

16 Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls Elstree

17 Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Boys Borehamwood

18 Oxford High School for Girls GDST Oxford

19 Winchester College Winchester

20 South Hampstead High School GDST London

To what extent do they engage employers?

Institutions

Types of Employer Engagement

1Careers IAG

2Work

Experience

3Business

Mentoring

4EnterpriseActivities

5Work-place

Visits

6Visiting

SpeakersWithington Girls ‘ School

Westminster School North London Collegiate School

St Paul’s School Magdalen College School Oxford

St Paul’s Girls’ School Stephen Perse Foundation/ Perse Girls

Wycombe Abbey School Royal Grammar School, Guilford City of London School for Girls

Lady Eleanor Holles School Eton College

King’s College School, Wimbledon Sevenoaks School

Guildford High School For Girls Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls

Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School Oxford High School GDST

Winchester College South Hampstead High School GDST

To what extent do they engage employers?

• 100% undertake enterprise activities

• 90 % engage in work experience

• 85% provide careers advice

• 80% invite visiting speakers

• 45% arrange workplace visits

• 25% support business mentoring

How typical is this behaviour of all independent schools?

WorkExperience

14 – 19 Non-selective Grammar Independent with sixth Form with sixth Form with sixth Form NYes 90.0% 86.1% 84.8% 649No 10.0%, 13.9% 15.2% 82N 530 122 79 731

School type attended between 14-19 * Work experience participation rates

School type attended between 14-19 * Percentage receiving careers advice

Careers Advice

14 – 19 Non-selective Grammar Independent with sixth Form with sixth Form with sixth Form NYes 43.8% 48.4% 57.0% 336No 56.2% 51.6% 43.0% 395N 530 122 79 731

EnterpriseCompetition

14-19 Non-Selective Grammar Independent N with sixth form with sixth form with sixth formYes 27.2% 38.5% 37.5% 221No 72.8% 61.5% 62.5% 510N 529 122 80 731

School type attended between 14-19 * Enterprise competition participation rate

Careers Advice

14-19 Non-Selective Grammar Independent N with sixth Form with sixth Form with sixth Form Never 51% 47% 39% 338Just once or twice 39% 39% 39% 268More than this 10% 14% 22% 83N 496 116 77 689

School type attended between 14-19 * Frequency of careers advice

School type attended 14–19 * Mentoring participation rate

Mentoring14-19 Non-Selective Grammar Independent NYes 16.3% 15.7% 15.0% 117No 83.7% 84.3% 85.0% 613N 529 121 80 730

Why they engage with employers?• To help pupils get into university courses of choice

“My view is that they ought to have had time with a GP and time at a hospital before they put in an application.” (Teacher, girls’ school, D).

• To help pupils decide on career goals and how to achieve them

“The vast majority certainly have an individual interview with myself and other members of the staff and they will bring it up again what they learnt from that work experience and what it might have encouraged them to go on to.” (Teacher, girls’ school, D)

• To help pupils develop employability schools “You have a compelling mix of personal skills and academic qualifications and extra-curricular achievements that when you’re an employer you say: “this guy looks good.” (Teacher, boys’ school, A).

Why they engage with employers?

• To help pupils develop networks of value after leaving school

“It’s all part of a good education, isn’t it? It’s all part of equipping them to leave school in the best possible position..” (Teacher, girls’ school, E)

• To help stimulate a culture of expectation & aspiration

“What I hope is that they see the range of possibilities…I want them to realise that there’s all sorts of options that they can consider. I talked to them about careers that none of us have ever heard of.’ (Teacher, girls’ school, E)”

How do they engage with employers?

• Alumni networks

“It’s such a good network through the old boys’ association, and the parents; we have sent out a blanket request and people will say yes I’m happy to help.” (Teacher, boys’ school, B)

• Parental networks

“The girls can get in to do the places but it tends to be that they follow through the contact so it might be a parent contact… they follow it through themselves… and I would probably say it’s on the strength of the school that they get it.” (Teacher, girls’ school, F)

How do they engage with employers?

Governors’ networks

Interviewee: “Well there you go you see, this is the classic... one of our governors professor X is the... what’s the grandest thing you can be... not chair... senior...?”

Interviewer: “Director?”

Interviewee: “ At an NHS foundation trust... we had a meeting and wanted them to go in and do some work, and they do quite a lot of work and they produce presentations to the board, to the CEO, in the foyer of [large London hospital] all their photographs all their recommendations and they have to do that and they have to stand up and give a speech about it. Now that is putting them on the spot, it may be a bit uncomfortable, they have to do the work…but it’s going to resonate far more if they do that than if they shadowed... I want to produce more things like that.” (Teacher, boys’ school, A)

How do they engage with employers?

• Through intermediaries“...we have a personal advisor from Connexions who comes in once a week, I’ve used Connexions, if you like, but I’ve used them as a consultancy service...” (Teacher, girls’ school, E)

• Pupil approaches“I think also our girls are pretty good at taking…very astute at taking, advantage of opportunities. When we took them down to the ‘Breaking the Mould’ competition… one of our girls negotiated her own sort of media work experience with the person who shot our video...” (Teacher, girls’ school, D)

How do they engage with employers?

Direct approaches from employers

“...they were always looking for very bright women most of these companies… In fact I’m always being approached by investment banks because they have various programmes... But I wish they would do something slightly more co-ordinated… They get in touch with you as if you had never heard of an investment bank... Well actually they’re the third investment bank this week!” (Teacher, girls’ school, E)

Work experience

- Strongly linked to HE admissions

- Often undertaken in the summer between lower and upper sixth, or after GCSEs (briefing and de-briefing?)

- Self-sourced after career counselling

- Not always inspected for Health and Safety

-Not curriculum linked

- Written references secured

“... The key thing... I think is what have I learnt?” (Head of Careers, girls’ school, D – reflecting on work experience)

Similarities & Differences

Similarities• Expectation within

state/independent schools that pupils will undertake activity within the broad curriculum

• Types of activities within schools were roughly similar: careers fairs, work experience, enterprise activities…

Differences• Independent schools use

employer engagement not so much to engage learners within a broad learning experience but to clarify, confirm and support pupils’ choices

• Independent schools provide more personalised careers advice to their pupils (small numbers)

School type attended between age groups * Usefulness of Work Experience

14-19* deciding on a career getting a job getting in to HE NNon-selective 54% (16%) 27% (9%) 25% (6%) 441-470Grammar 59% (19%) 31% (10%) 28% (11%) 94-105Independent 81% (36%) 47% (15%) 42% (13%) 53-67

School type attended between 14-19 * Usefulness of Enterprise Project

14-19* deciding on career getting job getting in to HE NNon-selective 37% (5%) 29% (5%) 33% (5%) 101-156Grammar 48% (6%) 36% (4%) 35% (5% ) 29-48Independent 46% (3%) 33% (7%) 57% (7%) 12-30

School type attended between 14-19 * Usefulness of Careers Advice

14-19* deciding on career getting job getting in to HE NNon-selective 59% (10%) 39% (7%) 37% (10%) 223-232Grammar 62% (12%) 38% (7%) 46% (7%) 55-58 Independent 81% (28%) 55% (13%) 37% (17%) 40-47

(Including a sixth form or college; percentages outside of brackets represent respondents who felt that their work experience helped them ‘a lot’ or ‘a little’; integers in brackets denote individuals who felt that their work experience helped them ‘a lot’)

Employer Engagement & Social Reproduction in Independent Schools

• Structural mechanisms in place at independent schools make it easier and less problematic for their pupils to progress networks, careers guidance, cultures of aspiration and achievement: ‘But I would also like to say that these kids are in the sweet shop, they’ve got it all, they can pick and chose.’

• Substantial pools of expertise and experience on which to draw the ‘McKellen effect’

• Emphasis on elite professions: ‘Professions are rather narrow- law, medicine, journalism, not many airline pilots (a few military).

Questions?

• Are the purposes of work-related learning, including employer engagement, the same, or different, within independent and state schools?

• What is replicable in terms of models to help facilitate pupil learning and progression, and to what extent can they be transferred to the state sector?

• What policy initiatives could help to encourage learning about employer engagement across the state and independent sectors?

Professor Prue HuddlestonCentre for Education and Industry, University of Warwick

P.J.Huddleston@warwick.ac.uk

Dr Anthony MannDirector of Policy and Research, Education and Employers

TaskforceAnthony.Mann@educationandemployers.org