New campaign launched to support careers advice provided by schools

Middlesex University London is launching Make Your Mark 2 today (22 Feb) in order to support the careers advice provided by schools.

The second phase of the innovative Make Your Mark campaign engages young people from the age of 11 to help them consider different career pathways and the skills they need to achieve their goals. The interactive ‘discover me’ tool provides them with suggestions of careers that may suit their personality and personal attributes this is twinned with the new ‘pathways’ tool provides practical advice on what to do next.

Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University London, Professor Tim Blackman commented:

“We developed Make Your Mark based on research from school heads and teachers who tell us careers guidance is patchy or non-existent. This means that some young people are losing out and not getting the information they need to make choices about their futures. We call on the Government to make sure schools have adequate funding so that careers advice is consistent and appropriate for the needs of the young people who have to make important life decisions, as well as the wider economy and society.”

He added:

“It is more important than ever before that young people understand the different routes open to them to get the qualifications and skills they will need. Post Brexit the country will need a highly skilled workforce and young people need support to enable them to reach their potential and support a growing economy.”

The importance of high quality careers education was highlighted in the January 2018 House of Commons Briefing Paper which describes current provision in schools as inadequate and too narrow.

The issue was emphasised again in a recent (January 2018) collaborative report between Middlesex and Sheffield Universities about the scale of challenges faced by young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). The authors recommend that schools and colleges implement compulsory high-quality career information to their curriculums, as well as establish an early warning system to identify pupils who are lacking engagement with their studies.

About Middlesex University London: For nearly 140 years Middlesex University London has been home to innovators and change-makers. We are a progressive London university that puts our students first and provides expert teaching informed by inspiring research and practice. We boast a diverse, multinational and multicultural community of 19,400 students from 144 different countries based at our modern north London campus. We also have campuses in Dubai, Mauritius and Malta, bringing our total number of students to almost 37,000 and staff over 1,900. Middlesex University London generates more than £300 million a year for the Barnet economy, supporting some 4,000 local jobs. 

A university for skills, we work with employers to make sure that what our students learn is what employers need, and we strive to transform the lives of our students so that they have an excellent experience while they are with us, and a solid foundation for inspiring careers when they leave us.