Earlier this year I led a project with the Qualifications and Curriculm Authority (QCA) about the 14-19 Diploma, The Diploma is a new qualification that builds skills around particular industries from Engineering to Creative and Media and aims to connect students with core subjects through practical learning.
Working in this area put me in touch with a number of education bodies that aimed to improve employer involvement in education, through work experience, work shadowing, presentations etc. One of these bodies was our local Education Business Partnership in Tower Hamlets. I felt that it was important that we build a better relationship with local schools and ‘practice what we are preeching’ about employer involvement in the Diploma.
So last week the thinkpublic team were ’shadowed’ by Heetan Patel from Morpeth School in Bethnal Green. Heetan came into thinkpublic with two aims; to find out what it was like to work in a creative/media company and to understand the career paths and education his pupils require to succeed in this industry. After polite introductions we put him in right at the deep end with some customer journey mapping of council services, followed by interviews with all of the team. Heetan then joined us for a spot of lunch in the sun before helping the team in a Social Lab brainstorming session, Ivo then took him through our film production process and gave him a feel for the media side of thinkpublic.
If you are a teacher or school and are interested in finding out more about the creative industry or would like a member of thinkpublic to speak to your pupils, please email me at paul.thurston@thinkpublic.com