national career leaders conference 2021

9.00 - 9.30 Join the platform, networking and exhibition

9.30 - 10.30    Keynote 1 - Policy, Vision and Practice

• Sir John Holman, Senior Adviser in Education, the Gatsby Foundation, and Independent Adviser on Careers to DfE - Careers guidance: more important than ever
• Nicola Hall, Education Director, The Careers & Enterprise Company

10.40 - 11.10  Insight Talks

• Unifrog
• Morrisby
• Naturally Talented Me

11.25 - 11.55 Insight Talks

• NHS, Health Education England
• Rate My Apprenticeship
• T Levels

11.55 - 12.15   Break

12.15 - 1.15   Panel 1 - Inclusivity

• Kelly Dillon, The Careers & Enterprise Company - SEND
• Dr Anne Chant, Canterbury Christ Church University - Refugees
• Eppie Silverman, Careers Lead, Shoreham Academy, United Learning - ICONS project: The role of schools to prepare an inclusive workforce for tomorrow

1.15 - 1.45   Lunch and Exhibition

1.45 - 2.30   Seminar 1

2.45 - 3.30   Seminar 2

3.30 - 3.45   Break

3.45 - 4.30   Open space meet-ups/reflection sessions

9.00 - 9.30 Join the platform, networking and exhibition

9.30 - 10.30    Keynote 2 - Inclusivity

• Gideon Arulmani, Director, The Promise Foundation and International Development Consultant - Multicultural models of career guidance - https://youtu.be/qhER2J0RF0E
• Uuganaa Ramsay, Author and Career Coach - Unconscious bias - https://youtu.be/-UwMjfB03pk

10.40 - 11.10    Creative Practice and Resource Talks

• Huyen Le, MA student in Career Education and Coaching, University of Derby - How to tailor careers support while maintaining an inclusive approach
• Ms. Puren Savas Gedikoglu, BAEd, MBA Director & Mentor - Empowering Young People To Become Their Own Career Leaders
• Charley Fowler, Area Manager and UK Education Lead, Unifrog - Careers Interview Templates, how to maximise the impact of your careers interviews.

11.25 - 11.55    Creative Practice and Resource Talks

• Rachel Green, Education Engagement and Development Manager - What is the role of the governing body in supporting careers education?
• Gerard Liston, Director, Forum Talent Potential CIC - Career Development: Every subject. Every Year Group.

11.55 - 12.15   Break

12.15 - 1.00    Seminar 3

1.00 - 1.30   Lunch and Exhibition

1.30 - 2.15   Seminar 4

2.30 - 3.30   Panel 2 - Continuity and Transitions

• James Corbett, DfE - Higher Technical Qualifications - https://youtu.be/zThCv6ex0UE
• Kirsti Lord, Deputy Chief Executive, member services, Association of Colleges - Smoothing the Transition to FE
• Andrew Webster, Careers & Enterprise Company - Support for FE Colleges

3.30 - 3.45   Summary and conference close

Thursday 8 July - Day 1

1.45 - 2.30   Seminar 1

Key Stage Transitions - Jo Saward, Careers Lead. 
This seminar explores the theme of continuity by recognising that early transitions shape later transitions. Beginning with considering the role of careers theory in deepening our understanding of transition, the session will show how theory can be applied in practice. The way students in secondary school experience the move from Key Stage 3 to 4, from abroad to a more formalised curriculum, shapes their approach to later transitions at 16, 18 and eventually into adulthood. The seminar shows how this underpins a school career programme focussed on empowering students to experience positive transitions.

Preparing students for personal guidance - Liane Hambly, Director of Creative Career Coaching
Throughout lockdown, many of us learned how to create short videos which explain the purpose and process of personal guidance in visual and engaging ways. These have been uploaded to the school’s YouTube sites or sent to students via WhatsApp/email. As a result, students are better prepared for the career conversation, arriving with more realistic and positive adviser expectations. In this workshop, we’ll consider the key messages of such videos and the visuals and metaphors which can aid understanding. Delegates will receive a guide to making their own introductory video.

Using the Future Skills Questionnaire to support inclusive career programmes - Dr Emily Tanner, Head of Research, The Careers & Enterprise Company, Isobel Finlay, Evaluation Officer, The Careers & Enterprise Company, and Philippa Hartley, Careers Leader and Education Secondee to the CEC.
This workshop will introduce Careers Leaders to a new tool for data-driven practice ahead of its launch in Compass+ in September. The Future Skills Questionnaire measures progress in career knowledge and skills and essential skills at key transition points across secondary education, with a tailored version for students with SEND. The data visualisations enable Careers Leaders to compare the progress of student groups, view trends over time, evaluate career programmes and identify students in need of additional support. In combination with Compass+ data on activity participation and intended destinations, the FSQ will support effective inclusive programmes. 

2.45 - 3.30   Seminar 2

Creative Professional Practice: Using a Careers Chatbot - Graham Attwell and Chris Percy, Co-Directors, CareerChat UK  
In today’s world, change occurs at an unprecedented rate and advances in technology are impacting creative professional practice. This seminar overviews how an innovative careers chatbot is developing local labour market intelligence and information (LMI) in a city context. We will specifically share a further education (FE) partnership approach that examines ways to embed FE course information within a careers chatbot aligned to the needs of individuals. We will also briefly draw upon an ongoing study of observational interviews with careers practitioners and their clients, examining how best to use a chatbot in practice. 

Career Benchmarks: Primary Pilot  - Matt Joyce, Regional Lead: North East Ambition & Phil Graham, Primary Facilitator
The Career Benchmarks: Primary Pilot builds on the success of the North East LEP’s Good Career Guidance Benchmark Pilot, delivered in partnership with the Gatsby Foundation and forms part of our North East Ambition programme.

The pilot was designed to support primary schools to use an adapted set of Gatsby Benchmarks as a framework to develop an age-appropriate careers programme strategically.

This session will focus on the impact of the project, highlighting what’s been achieved so far, including transition work and how it’s helping primary-age children to learn about the full range of their future opportunities."

Personal Guidance: Lessons Learned - Dr Siobhan Neary, Head of The International Centre for Guidance Studies     
This will be a presentation that describes the iCeGS evaluation of the personal guidance fund, focusing on what worked well, why and for whom. We will also consider the impact of CPD on career advisers and how this supported effective practice.

Friday 9 July - Day 2

12.15 - 1.00    Seminar 3

An approach to universal Virtual Work Inspiration - Jacqui Phipps County Careers and Enterprise Lead, Josie Finch Enterprise Co-ordinator, New Anglia EAN, Tiffany Evripidou HEC, neaco    
Virtual Work Inspiration (VWIS) has the potential to expand students’ horizons and aspirations. However, it often means that the students who need it most do not access these opportunities. Discover Your Future 2021 is a pilot project created to ensure all students are included and that VWIS is embedded in the curriculum. Working collaboratively across 3 organisations, 3 schools (including a SEND school), 400 students, and over 100 employers, this workshop will give insights into the programme’s development and delivery and share over 10 lesson plans, student/employer booklets and specially created LMI video.

Fridays for Future: the career connection - Dr Lyn Barham, CDI Fellow and Project Associate (Research)
Schools, colleges, and universities address their carbon footprints and espousing the movement for ESD: Education for Sustainable Development. There is less evidence that sustainability thinking pervades careers work. While surveys show people increasingly looking for values coherence in their work-life, and many employers are moving in a sustainability direction, somehow careers work has not yet adequately linked.
The CDI’s Career Development Framework urges us to ‘See the big picture’, including the relationship between career and the environment. Peter Plant demands a paradigm shift. What does that mean, and what should we be doing to bring it about?"

Lost in Transition - Challenges, Solutions & Support for vision impaired children and young people- Gareth Brydon, Children & Young People Manager, and Alex Henderson, Student Support Co-ordinator, Thomas Pocklington Trust.
This session will focus on some of the key challenges facing vision impaired children and young people (VI CYP) in respect of careers' and transition support in mainstream schools and colleges in England. The session will detail support available to them from TPT and showcase resources available to Careers' Leaders to ensure more inclusive provision and positive outcomes for VI CRP as they move between education settings into adulthood and towards employment.

1.30 - 2.15   Seminar 4

Embedding Careers Across the Curriculum - Marie Jobson: Practice and Development Manager
With reference to approaches developed by the Careers and Enterprise Company to embed careers across the curriculum, this session will explore how Careers Leaders can inform, engage and mobilise whole staff engagement in careers to ensure consistency and entitlement of opportunity for each and every student.

Using Google Sites to make online careers portals for your school - Sally Emler - Raising Aspirations Co-ordinator.
There is so much careers information available to students, parents and teachers it can become overwhelming and therefore not look at anything! Over lockdown, I wanted to help all three groups to have access to careers information all in one place.

I used Google Sites to create 3 different careers portals - one for general careers information aimed at students and parents, one for students to link subjects with future careers and one for subject teachers.

This seminar – from a current overstretched Careers Leader! - shows how to set up your own Google sites and meet Gatsby Benchmarks 1,2&4!

Careers Ed in Primary Schools: Building aspiration and inclusivity - Janet Colledge Careers Education Consultant     
Research tells us that children as young as 7 have stereotypical ideas of what jobs may be open to them in the future and which are likely not to be. The CDI is currently working on a careers education framework for EYFS up to KS2 to be released in the early autumn term.

The presenters will reference the new framework and why schools should start careers ed so early and share ideas of what good looks like and how it can be implemented by primaries and secondary schools working with feeder primaries.

Sir John Holman, Senior Adviser in Education, the Gatsby Foundation, and Independent Adviser on Careers to DfE - John Holman is Senior Adviser in Education at the Gatsby Foundation, author of Gatsby’s Good Career Guidance report and Independent Adviser on Careers to DfE. He is an Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of York, President of the Association for Science Education, past President of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Chair of the Bridge Group and Chair of the Talent Commission. He was the founding Director of the National Science Learning Centre and was National STEM Director for the English government from 2006 to 2010.  He was Headteacher of Watford Grammar School for Boys from 1994 to 2000 and was knighted by the Queen in 2010 for services to education.

Dr Anne Chant, Director of the Centre for Career and Personal Development, Canterbury Christ Church University - Anne is a qualified career development practitioner and active researcher with a particular interest in career and personal identities, creative methodologies and BAME engagement in Higher Education.

Kirsti Lord, Deputy Chief Executive, member services, Association of Colleges - Kirsti joined AoC as Deputy Chief Executive, Member Services in August 2017.  She has 17 years of experience working in Further Education, from Part-Time Lecturer to her most recent role as Acting Principal.  The focus of her work since 2008 has been around quality improvement and curriculum design, leading a large department from inadequate to outstanding between 2010 and 2012 and maintained outcomes and student experience at this level until she progressed in 2015.  In her most recent college role, Kirsti worked with colleagues to liaise with ESFA, the FE Commissioner’s team and Ofsted to secure removal of both financial and quality notices of concern and to successfully complete a merger in 2017.

Andrew Webster is the Education Sector Manager for Further Education & Skills within the Careers & Enterprise, where he also has a lead role for Personal Guidance. With a Diploma in Careers Guidance, Andrew practised as a Careers Adviser for several years before moving on to hold management positions within Careers and Connexions Services. With over 20 years of experience in careers and employability activities, Andrew is delighted to see the renaissance in careers education and guidance, which has taken place over recent years and is keen to see this continue to expand and grow.

Eppie Silverman, Careers Lead - Shoreham Academy, United Learning. Eppie has retained a constant thread of addressing barriers to learning throughout demanding roles in education over the last 12 years. As a level 6 qualified careers leader, she believes that outstanding provision should constantly be changing and adapting to our student's reality and relishes the opportunity to use creative approaches to respond to this challenge. Eppie's training and research in solution-focused techniques means that the work she does with young people is designed to impart resilience for life far beyond formal education; she believes strongly in Education's responsibility to develop the 'whole self'. Eppie hopes that her enthusiasm for young people's potential and improving their experience of education proves infectious to those around her.

Gideon Arulmani, PhD., Director, The Promise Foundation and International Development Consultant, is a clinical psychologist with a doctoral degree in Career Psychology from the University of Portsmouth (UK) with advanced qualifications in Counselling, Philosophy and Theology. He is the Managing Trustee of The Promise Foundation, India. His work has focused on the interface between culture and counselling. He has presented his research at over 60 international conferences through keynote talks and in numerous scientific publications. Gideon is an international development consultant to the UN and other multilateral agencies, and his ideas been adapted for application in more than 30 countries. He is a board member of the IAEVG, International Fellow, NICEC (UK), Affiliate Professor, University of Malta, Visiting Academic, University of South-Eastern Norway, Visiting Professor, Martin Luther University (India) and chairman, IACLP. Gideon is also interested in handcraft and runs a small online business called Mowyla. His strongest passion is making wine!  He has a small vineyard, where he grows an Indian version of Shiraz!

Uuganaa Ramsey is an award-winning author, campaigner, and career coach. Uuganaa won the Scottish Asian Women's Award For Achievement in 2014. Her memoir Mongol won the Janetta Bowie Chalice Non-Fiction Book Award from the Scottish Association of Writers and following Mongol's publication, BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service produced a documentary, The Meaning of Mongol. Uuganaa was invited to speak at a conference at the United Nations, New York in 2016.

Uuganaa works in Widening Access for higher education. She has over 20 years of experience working with a wide range of people, including migrants, international students, refugees, and asylum seekers. Uuganaa is a Member of the Scottish Association of Minority Ethnic Educators (SAMEE), Founder & Board Member for non-profit organisations, a Member of Race Equality Working Group, University of Strathclyde and a Member of Race Equality Expert Working Group, Advance HE.

Ms. Puren Savas Gedikoglu, BAEd, MBA Director & Mentor - Looking back, I was observant as a child, inquisitive as a young person, questioning as an adult. I have always asked ‘how’ and ‘why’, wishing to apply what I have learned for the wider benefit. I am happy to be able to fulfil this wish once more through this seminar...

My degrees in Education, Pedagogy, Management combined with my training in TA (Transactional Analysis) and my experience as Governor for 12 years allowed me to take a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to career guidance for young people.

Huyen Le- MA student in Career Education and Coaching, University of Derby - With over 8 years working in the Training and Business sector in both developing and developed countries in Asia, she supported different groups including children, young people, professionals, university students and vulnerable groups in their career and personal development. She specialises in People and Organisational Development to build an inclusive workplace environment.

Rachel Green - Education Engagement and Development Manager - Having spent over 25 years in the education sector, including as a Primary Headteacher and Multi-Academy Trust Careers Leader, Rachel now works for The CEC, developing resources, delivering training for Careers Leaders, SLT, Governors, Enterprise Co-ordinators and Advisers. Rachel also volunteers as a Governor and Enterprise Adviser.

10.40am - 11.10am

Unifrog: The complete whole-school destinations platform.

Learn how Unifrog is revolutionising CEIAG so that every student - regardless of background - finds their best next step. Enjoy a platform tour and see how it helps students make the best choices and submit the strongest applications.

Presented by Chris Edwards, Head of UK Sales. 

Chris has been an Area Manager at Unifrog for three years and works closely with a wide range of institutions across the Central/South regions of the UK. Chris has developed a keen interest in work-related learning and is passionate about ensuring every child has access to impartial careers information.

Morrisby Careers - Introducing Morrisby Higher, a new careers platform for 6th forms.

This session will show, with live demonstration, the Morrisby Higher platform that provides a new option for schools and sixth forms looking to enhance their career offering. The demo will show enhanced course research tools, academic references, and personal statement wizards, coupled with Morrisby's powerful psychometric career/subject matching tools.

Presented by Alan Teece, Product Manager. 

Alan Teece has had a 30-year career in EdTech, having led the education businesses of Fujitsu, Logica and Serco. He is experienced in classroom and admin tech. He has helped developed systems as diverse as on-screen assessment (for AQA), MIS systems (such as CMIS and Progresso), backend systems for UCAS/DFE and more recently, careers systems for Grofar and Morrisby.

Naturally Talented Me How to use insightful talent and labour data to secure local work-based opportunities for all

Imagine having access to real-time talent data that truly informs employability opportunities for your community? Our approach bridges those missing links to help identity, match and promote the unique talent in your communities and schools to attract and engage those seeking to recruit from more diverse talent pools.

Presented by Nikki Mears, C0-Founder. 30+ years in the L&D arena with extensive experience delivering high-value role and skills development programmes for a range of high-profile organisations. Specialising in unbiased thinking to challenge existing people development and retention, delivering best-fit solutions to meet key business challenges, ensuring the right people, right roles, and behaviours.

11.25am - 11.55am

NHS Health Education England - Pathways to health careers

There are over 350 different job roles in health, ranging from those everyone has heard about, such as nurses and doctors, to the less obvious ones such as IT, business, finance, medical engineering and healthcare science. Join me to be updated on the roles and various routes into careers that make a difference.

Presented by Abi Changer, Careers information and quality lead.

Abi is the careers information and quality lead for the NHS Health Careers team. She believes that good information is a powerful tool and enjoys highlighting the range of roles in the NHS and the accessible, flexible routes. A nurse by background, Abi's career in the NHS is now well into its third decade.

RateMyApprenticeship - Apprenticeships post covid.

This talk will cover how the apprenticeship landscape has changed over the past year and predictions on where we can see apprenticeships heading post covid. This will include information on new government initiatives & feedback from apprentices. The talk will also highlight how RateMyApprenticeship can help you to inspire your students to undertake the apprenticeship route.

Presented by Sophie Baldry, Senior Marketing Executive.

Sophie has been with RMP Enterprise for the past 5 years. She is extremely passionate about apprenticeships and educating young people about their options outside of the university. Sophie's mission is to change age-old perceptions around apprenticeships and to inspire young people to take the first steps in their careers!

T Levels - An Introduction.

Presented By Gabby Owen, T Level Delivery Division

Friday 9th July - Day 2

10.40 - 11.10  Session 1

How to tailor careers support while maintaining an inclusive approach - Huyen Le, MA student in Career Education and Coaching, University of Derby
It is important to tailor careers support to meet an individual’s needs. But how do we define student’s needs and prioritise our support in limited time and resources? Are we missing some student groups in tailoring our services based on our unconscious bias? This seminar shares views from different schools, part of research focusing on Gatsby Benchmark 3 at schools, around providing bespoke service but keeping an inclusive approach. Outcome:

• Assess the Career provision and approach about addressing the need of individual
• How to define student need? Hard and soft data?
• Bespoke and inclusive activities.

Empowering Young People To Become Their Own Career Leaders - Ms. Puren Savas Gedikoglu, BAEd, MBA Director & Mentor
Career guidance focuses heavily on external social and economic factors. It tends to overlook exploration of individuals’ influential yet often subconscious internal drives: their instincts, emotions, psychological needs, beliefs and values.

In this seminar, we will discuss our vision and experience for a creative curriculum centred around the personal development of young people, one of OFSTED’s recent additions to their inspection criteria. We will share our vision on how we can build students’ awareness of these neuropsychological processes by training teachers/tutors to provide student workshops on topics like locus of control, decision-making styles, self-discrepancy, understanding the brain and mindsets. This programme is in line with the first stage of the CDI’s Career Development Framework;

‘Growth Throughout Life’

The skills nurtured by these workshops are crucial for effective career decisions, but more importantly, support young people’s mental health by nurturing critical thinking, resilience, self-understanding and self-esteem. We hope to create a novel holistic approach to career guidance that empowers young people to become their own leaders who can manage their lives competently.

Careers Interview Templates: How to maximise the impact of your careers interviews - Charley Fowler, Area Manager and UK Education Lead
Getting students to prepare for their careers interviews leads to more effective outcomes. Our interview templates support students to plan for their interview, provide a clear structure during the session, and then give them an easy-to-follow action plan for their next steps. 

11.25 - 11.55   Session 2

What is the role of the governing body in supporting careers education? - Rachel Green, Education Engagement and Development Manager
With the new statutory guidance placing an increased emphasis on the role of governing body in taking a strategic interest in careers education, it has never been so important for the Careers Leader to establish a positive working relationship with a link governor. Hear from both governors and Careers Leaders about the positive impact of working collaboratively and why is it critical for governors to provide both support and challenge on the whole school or college career plan to ensure that all students are supported to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Career Development: Every subject. Every Year Group. - Gerard Liston, Director, Forum Talent Potential CIC. It is easy to justify timetable space and teacher involvement for careers activities that motivate students by connecting their classroom learning with life beyond school. Using project examples from 2020/21 at the biggest Multi Academy Trust, and starting from Reception Classes, this workshop shows how it can be done.

A work experience framework the future - Neil Willis, Regional Lead: Education Challenge & Hannah Cummins
An opportunity to hear about the North East LEP's new Work Experience Framework, which is freely available to employers and educators.

The framework is flexible and adaptable and aims to support employers and educators to structure and deliver meaningful encounters and experiences for young people. It has been used by career leaders in the current climate when virtual opportunities have been essential but can also be utilised as a part of a blended or face to face approach to BM6 in the future.

Employers, schools and young people involved in the pilot have been hugely positive about the framework and its impact.

Biographies

Jo Saward, Careers Lead. "Passionate about careers education and its importance throughout a young person's school journey since beginning my career in careers with Connexions in 2005, I have been Careers Lead in a large secondary school since 2016 and am halfway through my MA in Careers Education and Coaching at Derby University."

Liane Hambly, Director of Creative Career Coaching. "Liane is director of Creative Career Coaching, which offers professional development programmes for organisations and career coaches. She has taught at a number of UK universities, delivers workshops and keynotes at international conferences and continues to run her own career coaching practice. She is co-author of Creative Career Coaching, Theory into Practice (Routledge 2019), a best-selling book for career practitioners."

Dr Emily Tanner, Head of Research. "Emily Tanner is Head of Research at CEC, leading on research, evaluation and data to measure the impact of the changing careers landscape and to provide insight to support ongoing programme improvements. Emily has worked in education policy evaluation for 20 years at NatCen Social Research, Oxford University and Yale." 

Graham Attwell, Co-Director, CareerChat UK  "Graham Attwell is a leading researcher and international developer in Technology Enhanced Learning. He provides technical support to ‘LMI for All’ and is also a Co-Director at CareerChat UK."

Chris Percy, Co-Director, CareerChat UK "Chris Percy is a leading economist and highly experienced careers, coach. He is also a Co-Director at CareerChat UK."

Matt Joyce, Regional Lead: North East Ambition. "Matt Joyce is a qualified careers adviser and former careers leader, with over 15 years experience in careers. I've been leading on the North East LEP's North East Ambition since June 2019."

Phil Graham, Primary Facilitator. "Phil Graham is a former primary school teacher and middle leader, now facilitating the Careers Benchmarks: Primary Pilot across the North East LEP region."

Dr Siobhan Neary, Head of The International Centre for Guidance Studies. "Dr Neary is an associate professor of careers at the University of Derby and is the head of the International Centre for Guidance Studies."

Jacqui Phipps County Careers and Enterprise Lead, Josie Finch Enterprise Co-ordinator, New Anglia EAN, Tiffany Evripidou HEC, neaco. "All presenters have been working across Suffolk schools to embed creative and diverse approaches to supporting young people's career ambitions and aspirations. A total of over 20 years experience."

Dr Lyn Barham, CDI Fellow and Project Associate (Research). "Lyn is a careers adviser, then trainer, then researcher, and a Fellow of NICEC alongside her CDI role. After decades of careers work and of green activism, the time to integrate the two strands of life is becoming ‘now or never’ for our planet’s and our children’s futures."

Gareth Brydon - Children & Young People Manager. "Gareth has 48 years lived experience of vision impairment and 20 + experience in the sight loss sector working in a variety of education, employment and partnership development roles."

Marie Jobson: Practice and Development Manager. "Marie oversees effective delivery of Careers Leader focussed practice and development at The Careers and Enterprise Company. Marie previously worked within the senior leadership team at an 11-18 school, where under her leadership of careers, the school was one of the first in the country to meet all 8 Gatsby Benchmarks of good careers guidance."

Sally Emler - Raising Aspirations Co-ordinator. "I have been a PE teacher for nearly 20 years. I became the Raising Aspirations Co-Ordinator in 2016 alongside my normal teaching hours. Over the 5 years, we have extended our provision so that students from year 7 to year 13 have the knowledge and skills to progress successfully to their next stage of learning and future career."

Janet Colledge Careers Education Consultant. "Janet Colledge is the real-life name of @CareersDefender, who is a qualified teacher with over 15 years experience providing award-winning careers education. She is currently chief Careers Education Consultant with Outstanding Careers. She also blogs, presents and writes for various organisations specialising in the management and provision of careers education in the 11–19 sector and is a member of the Quality in Careers Standard Board."

Ms. Puren Savas Gedikoglu, BAEd, MBA Director & Mentor. "Looking back, I was observant as a child, inquisitive as a young person, questioning as an adult. I have always asked ‘how’ and ‘why’, wishing to apply what I have learned for the wider benefit. I am happy to be able to fulfil this wish once more through this seminar...

My degrees in Education, Pedagogy, Management combined with my training in TA (Transactional Analysis) and my experience as Governor for 12 years allowed me to take a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to career guidance for young people."

Huyen Le- MA student in Career Education and Coaching, University of Derby. With over 8 years working in the Training and Business sector in both developing and developed countries in Asia, she supported different groups, including children, young people, professionals, university students and vulnerable groups, in their career and personal development. She specialises in People and Organisational Development to build an inclusive workplace environment.  

Rachel Green - Education Engagement and Development Manager. Having spent over 25 years in the education sector, including as a Primary Headteacher and Multi-Academy Trust Careers Leader, Rachel now works for The CEC, developing resources, delivering training for Careers Leaders, SLT, Governors, Enterprise Co-ordinators and Advisers. Rachel also volunteers as a Governor and Enterprise Adviser.

Charley Fowler, Area Manager and UK Education Lead. Charley started in the classroom as a teacher before moving on to work in a Careers department, developing relationships with employers. Now, Charley manages partnerships with 250+ Unifrog partner schools and colleges alongside completing an MA Sociology of Education at UCL and has recently been appointed Unifrog’s UK Education Lead. 

Gerard Liston, Director, Forum Talent Potential CIC. Gerard has pioneered ways of bringing curriculum learning to life by working in partnership with local employers. He is a qualified teacher and has received the Sieff Award from Business in the Community for ‘an individual based in the community who has best collaborated with business to benefit society.’

Neil Willis, Regional Lead: Education Challenge. Neil is a qualified teacher with over 16 years of teaching and leadership experience in secondary education. He has been with the North East LEP since 2018, leading our Education Challenge programme.