How brands can create social impact with young people in the new school year
The UK is currently facing huge challenges – and with an uncertain outlook, the need for urgent investment in young people’s futures is greater than ever.
But how can brands play their part in delivering social impact in the new school year?
Discover five key takeaways from our work on brands’ education programmes last year (running the UK Space Agency’s Logo Lift Off competition, designing Network Rail’s ‘Switched On’ rail safety programme, and launching Studio You to inspire girls to stay active), our visit to the Festival of Education, and our conversations with thoughts leaders in the sector…
1. The stories we tell matter
The stories we tell ourselves about education matter – and they have real world consequences.
In a Festival of Education session on “Why Don’t girls choose physics and what can school do about it?”, panellists agreed that the number of girls choosing to study physics were directly impacted by harmful stories in society about what a scientist looks like (“at age 16, 75% of girls and 98% of boys draw male scientists”) and if maths matters (panellists asked why is there no social stigma about joking you’re ‘bad’ at maths?).
In the same spirit, experts have argued that for a just transformation to net zero, we need to change the narrative around climate change and highlight the opportunities it creates for. We need to help them recognise that almost all jobs can be ‘green jobs’ - and give them the tools to scrutinise claims about sustainability more closely.
In our own work, we have tried to change the story around girls in sport by breaking down the barriers of puberty and normalising positive conversations around periods and changing bodies. Simply trying to increase girl’s participation in sports without addressing the root causes is unlikely to have meaningful impact.
As Daniel Willingham says in Why Students Don’t Like Schools, “‘The human mind seems exquisitely tuned to understand and remember stories - so much so that psychologists sometimes refer to stories as “psychologically privileged,” meaning that they are treated differently in memory than other types of material.”
So if you’re looking to create social impact with young people, it’s important to start with a positive story about the change you want to see.
2. Skills reforms hold promise – but we need to take stakeholders with us
We are hearing positive signs of the early impact of T-Level reforms. This excitement of this summer’s first ever T-Level results showed the difference they are already making, setting young people up for success in their chosen industries.
When FE Week investigated this first cohort’s experience, one student summed up the general enthusiasm: “I didn’t expect how much I would grow as a person. It was real responsibility, not just standing around. I’ve really gained a lot of skills.”
These reforms are vital if the UK is going to close skills gaps and build the high-skilled workforce the modern economy demands – but despite the importance of educators’ buy-in to make them a success, many do not yet feel fully informed.
2020 NFER data showed just 41% of teachers were aware of the reforms (with 83% of those “not well informed”). This number will now be higher – but our conversations suggest there is still work to do.
It’s not just teachers we need to reach - only 18% of the public have heard of T-Levels, and 71% of these don’t know much about them. Awareness is higher for young people (29%) and parents (39%) - but not enough to create the shift in perceptions of technical education we desperately need.
We are working with the Gatsby Foundation on their new campaign to shout about the importance of technicians to the economy. The campaign has been co-created with young people and educators – because we know they’re best placed to share their experiences of technical routes and the support they need.
To change perceptions of skills development we need to make more effort to bring stakeholders with us - inviting teachers into the conversation to share what works in the classroom.
3. We need a more ambitious approach to careers education
Recent reports have highlighted that more needed to be done to fulfil the promise of meaningful, high-quality careers education for every young person.
The Social Market Foundation’s ‘Fulfilling Its Potential?’ highlighted how patchy provision is, with weaker support for those not pursuing university routes, but also the difference quality careers education makes in lowering unemployment.
At the Festival of Education panellists echoed calls for us to be bolder and start earlier. They discussed the unique relationships that different organisations have with the ‘hardest to reach’ young people – for example the strong relationships they often have with youth organisations – and argued careers education needs to be a collaborative effort across their whole communities, not exclusively a job for schools.
There are also opportunities for careers education to contribute to the sustainability agenda. An ambitious and inspiring careers education programme should harness young people’s passion for tackling the climate crisis by emphasising every job can be a green job.
Interactions with employers can change young people’s lives. Businesses need to make more proactive links with schools, and target their education programmes to ensure they reach schools and students who can benefit the most.
4. Across our biggest challenges, great teaching can - and does - make the difference…
Across the last year we heard so many inspirational stories about the difference schools are making to some of society’s biggest challenges.
From young people’s ecoanxiety to gender equality, skills shortages for the modern economy to racial justice – schools are positioning themselves as part of the solution by investing in great curriculum design and teaching and learning.
Windsor Academy Trust has embedded an ambitious, student-led sustainability strategy. At XP Trust, innovative cross-curricular learning projects support students to create ‘beautiful work’ that adds value to their community – from a book sold in Waterstones to posters for their local NHS Trust. At Astraea Academy Trust, high-quality maths teaching is changing perceptions of the subject. Historical gender imbalances across almost all subjects have already been closed by great teaching – panellists at the Festival of Education were confident it is only a matter of time before physics joins them.
This fits with the evidence – that teachers make the difference. John Hattie’s massive synthesis of research on student attainment found teachers account for 30% of the variance; more than elements including home, peers or schools. As he said, “it is what teachers know, do, and care about which is very powerful”. Of over 200 factors, collective teacher efficacy (the shared belief of teachers in their ability to influence student performance) has the biggest effect –three times bigger than socio-economic status.
Supporting great teaching should be at the heart of the design of all education programmes. They should provide opportunities to research and celebrate ‘best in class’ teaching practice and invest in teachers’ development.
5. …But schools can’t – and shouldn’t – do it all. Wider society needs to step up
While we should celebrate the incredible impact teachers are having our biggest societal challenges, we should not expect schools to ‘fix’ all our problems.
Following a decade of austerity, the pandemic and now a cost-of-living crisis, schools have increasingly had to take on extra duties – tackling symptoms of poverty, hunger, and poor health in their schools.
But as they wrestle with stretched budgets, rising costs, and the ongoing impact of the pandemic on learning (which increased existing gaps between disadvantaged and more affluent pupils), their core business of delivering a quality curriculum is a big enough challenge.
Now the rest of us need to play their part. Individuals and brands need to help tackle the cultural stereotypes that affect young people’s views and choices at school.
Meanwhile schools have told us they need more effective support and collaboration from businesses to offer quality careers education. Businesses can do more to provide work experience, school partnerships, apprenticeships, and employee interaction – read some ideas on how they can step up to provide a new deal for young people from our recent event.
Brands can step up to their vital role as part of the ecosystem around young people. They should ensure they help tackle stereotypes about their industries and the people who work in them, while providing young people with opportunities to develop the skills they need to thrive in their industries.