As Young People Receive Their GCSE Results, Doncaster Chamber Calls For A Shake Up Of Careers Advice To Align With Business Needs

Across the country, including in Doncaster, students will be receiving their GCSE results today, marking a pivotal milestone in their lives.

Doncaster Chamber would like to congratulate school leavers and wish them all the best in their future endeavours. With A-Level results also being received last week, this is an exciting time for young people to reflect upon their hard work and academic journey so far, while also considering their potential next steps towards the world of employment.

While some will choose to stay in full-time education and continue their studies, others will undoubtedly be looking at to educate themselves in more job-specific settings, or pursue an apprenticeship. School leavers will find a vast array of job and educational opportunities right here in Doncaster and employers that are ready to invest in their continued professional development.

With the imminent re-opening of the former HS2 College and Doncaster Sheffield Airport, there will no doubt be increased job opportunities for those looking to work in important sectors such as rail and aviation.  Similarly, Doncaster has much to offer in a diverse range of industries including: construction, digital, healthcare, low-carbon, professional services, tourism, transportation and many more besides.  In all cases, businesses are crying out for a pipeline of talented young people entering their sector.

Despite the significant progress that has taken place in Doncaster in recent years – including a remarkable journey of school improvement and the welcome diversification of Doncaster’s educational offer – the Chamber, on behalf of the business community still believes there is a step change required in terms of the quality and quantity of careers advice made available to young people, and in the number of private sector representatives involved in education governance.  Proposals to improve Doncaster‘s performance in both of these areas are included in the Chamber’s recently published Manifesto – Doncaster ’35: A Manifesto for a Winning City.

Chamber CEO, Dan Fell, commented:

“Last week, data was published showing that Doncaster is the best performing town or city in Yorkshire when it comes to the growth of our business stock.  This, along with pending news about a new operator for our re-opening airport and the investment of flagships businesses such as Hybrid Air Vehicles into our city, shows that Doncaster is on the up.  I would therefore strongly encourage young people receiving their GCSE and A-Level results to look at local training and employment opportunities and to seriously consider pursuing a career in Doncaster’s increasingly vibrant business community.

“However, despite many years of concerted effort by many talented people and organisations, we still hear too much dissatisfaction from employers about the way their industry or sector is promoted to young people and too many employers fear that a hopeful message about Doncaster’s economy is not getting through to young people.  That is why we have called, in our recently published manifesto, for a shake-up of careers advice in this country and for careers to have increased prevalence in the way schools are assessed by organisations like Ofsted.

“To help embed a demand led approach to skills within our local education community, we are also encouraging more business leaders to put themselves forward for education governance roles.  Being a school governor is a great way to use your skills to enhance peoples’ lives and to help ensure that the curriculum aligns with the needs of your sector.  Many talented young people will be celebrating today, by closer aligning the education and business communities, we can ensure as many of those young people access exciting careers as locally as possible.”

 

Read the full Doncaster ’35: A Manifesto for a Winning City here.