Andy Street is Mayor of the West Midlands, and is a former Managing Director of John Lewis.
Since I became Mayor of the West Midlands, I have worked hard to improve the opportunities available to people across the region.
Whether that’s generating 100,000 new jobs since the pandemic, driving up qualification levels, or providing digital training courses so people can re-skill, I have been determined to create more quality jobs and give people access to them, no matter what their background.
One key part of this ambition has been harder to get right: careers advice. However, things are changing. The devolution deal I signed with the Government is giving us more control over this area so we can ensure advice is specific to the needs of the West Midlands, and not imposed on us from London.
By giving youngsters expert advice at a critical point, we can improve their life chances and build their aspirations, particularly in challenged communities. It can be transformative for them, their families, their communities and (by creating a better skilled workforce) the wider economy too. It makes a big difference. It’s foundational stuff.
That’s why I chose to make Careers the starting point of my re-election campaign last week, with a pledge to fund 40 dedicated careers advisors for schools in our most challenged communities. I want to tell you about the thinking behind that pledge and my other plans for careers in our region, as well as some of the things we have already achieved, and why it means so much to me personally.
I have always thought that Careers is an issue on which we Conservatives should lead. We have always considered ourselves to be the party of aspiration, helping people make more of themselves and creating prosperity through social mobility.
It’s about believing in oneself, taking pride in your achievements, and finding direction in life – and having the ability to compete. Good careers provision has the capacity to nurture all of these important values in young people.
Despite improving in the last few years, careers advice in the West Midlands is still patchy in some areas. There are still too many young people who are not getting the right opportunities and guidance during those critical years when they are deciding what to do for work.
According to a 2023 Compass audit of 280 West Midlands schools, 30 per cent of our students do not have experiences of the workplace at all before leaving education at the age of 18, and 30 per cent do not learn about the local labour market and pathways into employment, further education or training. Shockingly, 14.5 per cent of all of our students do not receive any form of personal careers guidance.
However, there are examples where great work is being done. I launched my pledge at Stockland Green School in Birmingham (pictured above), where staff are succeeding in providing engaging, structured careers guidance while serving one of the UK’s most deprived areas.
By funding these 40 full-time advisors, I want to see this kind of success repeated across the region. It’s a fully-costed proposal which, for the relatively modest amount of £2.4million, could transform the lives of so many young people.
The foundations are already in place to supercharge Careers provision here. Our West Midlands Careers Hub co-ordinates careers activity, with an agreed plan for 2023-25. We already support and champion a patchwork of local careers fairs across the region, and the rigorous Gatsby benchmarks – a framework for world-class Careers provision – are promoted by the West Midlands Combined Authority to support schools.
Crucially, I also secured additional responsibility for shaping careers advice from Government as part of the deeper devolution deal.
However, if we are truly to help local students take control of their future, the region needs to be in control of its own. If re-elected, I will lobby forcefully for all existing Careers funding to be devolved.
We will develop an enhanced version of the Gatsby benchmarks, with Careers guidance tailored to the needs of the most challenged schools in the West Midlands.
I will expand free public transport for those who need it to get to work experience, job interviews and training placements, and protect half price travel for those aged 16-18 in education.
We will engage with every secondary school, sixth form and college head teacher or principal, to ensure they have the opportunity to benefit from the West Midlands Careers Hub support.
And I want to improve tracking of what every young person in the region does for education, training or employment from age 16 onwards. We must not let anyone fall through the gaps.
Why is all this so important to me? I believe that it’s dedicated individuals who really shape young people’s lives. But they need the space to get to know youngsters and build relationships with them over time.
I know this because it worked for me. At school, I was not particularly studious or interested in most subjects. My homework was often ‘left on the bus’; I got away with the minimum I could. But one teacher – Jack Cook – helped to jolt me awake aged about 16. Suddenly I could see the link between academic study and the world around me. I got interested and ambitious. Without him, I think I would have drifted.
Every youngster in the West Midlands deserves to have a Jack Cook. By taking control of Careers in our region, I aim to ensure that our students, including those on our most challenged and deprived communities, get the advice they need to make the most of their lives.
The post Andy Street: Why I made careers advice the starting point of my re-election campaign in the West Midlands appeared first on Conservative Home.
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Author: Andy Street
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