BY TONY MILLAR

WE should never underestimate the importance of providing children and young people with careers education from a very early age and now, as a key part of the Government’s Careers Strategy, a framework for best practice has been introduced.

The Gatsby Benchmarks provide eight guidelines listing best practice for careers provision in schools and colleges and will be used by Ofsted to ensure that they are providing effective support to young people throughout their educational journey.

My company, Great Grounds provides primary school children with careers experiences linked to landscaping projects that we are installing and for the past three years we have been showing children links between what they are learning in school and the knowledge needed by skilled trades people to enable them to do their jobs.

With professional support, this type of approach can potentially be adopted by many businesses working in schools and can seamlessly support many of the Benchmarks set.

It is rewarding to see children, who might not ordinarily engage well in a conventional classroom situation, be inspired to achieve by being able to see relevance in what they are learning, observing people doing their jobs and as employers, we have the opportunity to provide some of these experiences.

Business leaders must recognise the importance of working with schools to support both children and teachers to get a better understanding of the opportunities available to young people when they leave school.

As employers, it makes good sense to help support careers education in schools as we can all benefit from investing in young people, helping them to become more knowledgeable and aligned with the opportunities that will be available when they leave school.

Tweet me @Tony_Millar.