Last month the London Ambitions Careers Offer saw its first borough launch in Wandsworth, which brought together London Ambitions borough ambassadors and careers and education professionals from across the capital. The event cements Wandsworth’s commitment to a successful careers offer for all their young people. Now there is a London Ambitions ambassador in every borough, the next step is to see every school and college in London committed to becoming a ‘London Ambitions’ school or college.
I was at the event last summer where Mayor Boris Johnson launched London Ambitions and it’s great to see how far our call to action has reached. Careers guidance across the UK needs to keep up with the pace of an ever-changing careers landscape, and through London Ambitions London is leading the way, by setting out how we will make sure every young Londoner receives a quality careers offer alongside their education.
Schools and colleges are responsible for ‘independent careers guidance’ for young people, yet Ofsted reported in 2013 that “only one in five schools were effective in ensuring that all students were receiving the level of information they needed” to make informed choices. Young people are three times more likely to spend significant periods of time not in education, employment or training if they are uncertain or unrealistic about their career ambitions. Towards the end of last year, over 100,000 16-24 year old Londoner’s found themselves in that position – and this could so easily be prevented by improving our careers offer so young people engage with and start to understand learning choices and career opportunities from a young age.
London’s schools and colleges are at the very heart of delivering the best careers offer to young people and we’re keen for all of them to embrace London Ambitions. Research shows us that the more activities young people take part in with employers, the more likely they are to remain in learning and ultimately progress to work. That‘s why we want to ensure that every young person has at least one hundred hours of experiences of the world of work by the time they are 16. We know schools and colleges cannot do this on their own, which is why London Ambitions works with London’s employers make sure they are engaged with developing and supporting careers curriculums and get involved in school and college leadership by becoming governors.
In December the Department for Education announced its intention to publish a comprehensive careers strategy that will lead to all schools providing consistently high-quality careers support. London Councils urges the government to look closely at the work we have undertaken to not only develop London Ambitions - in close partnership with the London Enterprise Panel, the Mayor and school and college leaders - but to start to deliver on a truly comprehensive and personalised careers offer for all young people in the capital.
With continued high levels of young people dropping out of school by the time they are 17, and far too many young Londoners struggling to get onto the work and career ladder in a highly competitive, global economy, London’s local government is acting now to ensure future generations are equipped to navigate a rich and changing world of work that needs them as much as they need it.
Cllr Peter John OBE, London Councils Executive Member for Children, Skills and Employment