Parenta Magazine March 2020

mapped against the
Gatsby Benchmarks - 8
guidelines defining the
best careers provision
for secondary schools.
• Organisations –
encouraging them to
promote their training
and career opportunities
to the next generation to
help engage and inspire
them.
How you can get
involved – join the
Pledge Campaign
The Pledge Campaign
encourages individuals and
organisations to make a
pledge to support National
Careers Week, using the
hashtag #NCW2020. As
an early years setting, it
may be a little early to
start talking to the children
in your care about their
chosen careers, but you
can absolutely get involved
in talking to teenagers
and young people about
the early years sector,
encouraging them to ask
questions and showing
them what it means to be
an early years professional.
Some ways you could do this include:
• Promoting NCW with the families and colleagues
within your setting. You may know parents who
have an older child who is interested in joining the
childcare sector, who might appreciate knowing
where to go for more information.
• Allowing staff who may be interested in furthering
their career, to visit a school, college, training
provider or university; or giving them time off, or
time at work to complete some CPD courses which
can improve their career prospects. Parenta can
assist with low-cost, online CPD courses which you
can access from our website here.
• Offering your experience and knowledge to local
education institutions during a break or lunchtime,
or as part of an organised and structured lesson.
An hour of your time talking to students about early
years education can give them an insight into the
industry and some valuable insider knowledge,
so they have a better idea what to expect. A lot of
secondary schools now run Health and Social Care
GCSEs where your input could be welcome too.
• Attend a local career event either as a recruiter
or an adviser. Talk to young people about the
industry and remember to ask questions about
their expectations too, so that you can better
match your needs to theirs.
• Provide some work experience for a young
person. Schools and colleges often struggle to
find work experience placements for students, so
offering your setting as a venue will be one way to
make a difference.
Alternatively, you can make your own pledge to help
with the overall aims of National Careers Week. You
can make a pledge on the NCW website here.
The NCW website is full of advice and information
for educational establishments which are free to
download too, so if you have children of secondary
school age who need some careers advice about the
childcare or other industries, you can always direct
them (and their teachers) to the website too.
Childcare apprenticeships
Another way you can help young people get into the
childcare industry is by offering an apprenticeship to
a school leaver. Parenta train over 3,000 childcare
professionals every year and can offer advice
and training for you and your staff from level 2
qualifications right through to CPD and management.
If you are interested in apprenticeships or recruitment,
contact Parenta for more information.
parenta.com hello@parenta.com 0800 002 9242
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