The media campaign by the Deutsches Handwerkkammer last year was both provocative and thought-provoking. Posters with strap lines such as ‘Was gegen Handwerk spricht? Meine Akademikereltern’ and ‘Die meisten Kinder wollen irgendwann mal was mit Handwerk machen. Bis Erwachsene sich einmischen’ have provided food for thought when delivering careers education: what messages do we send, implicitly and explicitly, to students about the value of different career and study paths through the advice and examples we give them?
Looking back over the last couple of years, I don’t think we do too badly in offering a broad spectrum of opportunities, allowing our students to hear from a wide range of voices and experiences, and informing about multiple pathways. Over the year, the Beyond LIS programme has been supported in this through various ways by our wider community: we’ve had an architect, two journalists (one a former sportswoman), a Kindergarten teacher (formerly a flight attendant), an actor (now running their own multilingual voice-over business), a vet, an anatomist (formerly osteopath), a town planner, a social worker, an energy specialist, ten entrepreneurs from a range of industries including aeronautical logistics, games development and the former owner of a furniture manufacturing company supporting the programme in various ways. And that’s only within the realm of Beyond LIS – I’m pretty sure the parent and wider community have contributed in many other ways that I’m not aware of.
To make informed decisions, our students need to hear as many life stories as possible and so the support given to broaden our students’ horizons is invaluable and hugely appreciated. If you are able to offer help in any way, please fill in the ‘Beyond LIS: can you help?’ survey, which includes suggestions and options for the type of support we can utilize. In addition, we have a number of specific projects this year to align with the focus of the European Year of Skills – please see this blog post for more information.
And finally, a huge thank you to the Parent Association’s LIS Connect group who frequently support our Careers Education Programme individually, by leveraging their contacts and through their suggestions and ideas.