Dartmouth students discover careers from alumni and local volunteers

July 18, 2023

Dartmouth students discover careers from alumni and volunteers

Last month Dartmouth Academy and Stoke Fleming Primary School welcomed former students and community volunteers to take part in their Future First workshops to support year 6 students feel more confident about attending secondary school.

The workshop introduced year 6 pupils to year 7 pupils through facilitated mentoring so that pupils could hear directly from other pupils who had just gone through the transition about the challenges and excitement of joining secondary school, to make connections [and play football!] and to improve their confidence.

All pupils then had the fantastic opportunity to take part in careers focused activities and meet people who had either been to their school, or were from the local community to hear about their careers.

Recent research from The Aldridge Foundation revealed that 19% of students in rural schools didn’t receive any firm careers advice at school, compared to 13% of students in urban areas.

Meeting people who they can personally relate to, and hearing about their journey from education to what they do now, can boost aspirations and help young people to realise what they are capable of.

What did the alumni and volunteers think?

From an interior designer to a BBC presenter, a scientist to a associate project manager the volunteers spoke about their careers and even brought in props and materials to show, including Dartmouth alumni Ben, a TV presenter with his camera, and a scientist researching dementia with her lab coat and a toy brain, as well as a project planner with road maps.

Anjeli Marsh is an interior designer, and was glad to be able to show students interested in creative arts that there are viable careers available. “Students who are innately creative don’t always see a career path for their talents. Volunteering is an important way to share knowledge and experience with the students and schools that doesn’t cost them anything and takes just a few hours of my time.

The students were engaged and asked intelligent questions. When I asked what subject one year six girl was best at, she answered, “only art really,” and I was so glad that I was there to encourage her to be proud of her skill, not ashamed that it is her best subject.

So many year six students are very worried that they don’t know exactly what they want to do for a career and I hope that the simple advice I gave them helped.”

What did the teachers think?

Jack Pemberton, Associate Principal at Dartmouth Academy, added: “It’s very important for pupils to see different career pathways. The support for transitioning year 6 students was particularly impactful, lots of friendships were sparked and it gave the secondary pupils a chance to be leaders for the day.”

Future First works with schools in rural areas to help young people feel more motivated and inspired about their futures, as well as help them to build connections and network with professionals they can relate to. Almost half of students who live in cities were able to leverage their family and personal contacts to access work experience and internships, compared to just 32% of rural and coastal students.

Compared to young people in cities and the suburbs, those in rural and coastal areas are twice as likely to ditch their career aspirations.

Nic Perrot, Associate Principal at Dartmouth Academy, commented: “It was a really successful and well planned event, from the online training to the actual event. It was particularly good that the intention was to match up the mentor and mentee with common interests.”