Portsmouth Aspirations Week - Birth of a Great Idea

CAREERS ADVICE – The ABC was invited to speak at Portsmouth Aspirations Week 2020, a new initiative from the Economic Development Department at the Portsmouth City Council. Our remit was to talk about careers at the Portsmouth Academy on Friday 24th. Then go on to speak later that morning at Springfield School.

Portsmouth is the birthplace of Charles Dickens and we did not want to 'mess up' in front of such a literary icon. 

The idea of Aspirations Week is to introduce pupils to the world of work early and although initially, it seemed mad to talk to very young people about a career in journalism and working in the Third Sector, introducing very young people to the idea that there is a purpose behind their education is a very good initiative.

Back in the day, six weeks before leaving school into the workplace you might have a chat with a career’s adviser. Consequently, you were plunged into the world of work age sixteen without the remotest idea of how to match your skills, ability and interest with an occupation that might be of some small benefit to society.

Today many more people go to university and higher education, but on our way back to the station, our taxi driver talked of the achievements of his son who never went to university but is training to be an F35 pilot.

Aspirations Week encourages students to think ahead. We were all learning together, even the teachers running the presentations - however, it is easy to see how the idea could be developed.

School is a little different from how we remember it with almost Fort Knox style security getting and out of the school gate and a very professional reception worthy of a City company. A very different experience from school days as we remember it. Lessons were rather quieter in those times and those who misbehaved would get the cane. Only given in most serious of cases, but a visit to ‘Sid’ our headmaster was a deterrent.

The skill of the teachers in managing their pupils is remarkable. The energy of the young people would light up a small town and managing young people today requires tremendous focus and dedication - you can only feel admiration for the teachers and their skill.

We have to say we were rather caught out believing we were talking to an intimate group of around 25 pupils when in fact we were speaking to a much larger cohort of young students - possibly over two hundred pupils at the Portsmouth Academy in the main hall. We were followed by the British Army and a local college with a film and media department representative.

Simon Collyer’s second talk went much...much better. This group of students was in a much smaller classroom setting. They were science students some of the brightest in the school. Simon had learned lessons from the first talk cut out a lot of peripheral detail and barrelled through fifty-one PowerPoint slides in a little over 40 minutes. We certainly could do it better, but following effort number one, we were talking to a much more suitable audience, whom for the most part sat and listened to the talk. And at the end, all agreed they had learned something, even including the Maths teacher in attendance! Praise indeed, and a moment of great relief.

We did get one good laugh.

This Jobs Potential matrix below was used or developed by Jimmy Saville.

It helped Saville move from being an injured miner to a Disc Jockey. Using lists of words that describe ‘personality’ – identify what you are good at and what you like doing. People generally like doing things they are good at. Then get a list of SOC (Standard Occupational Codes) and/or a list of careers and then start matching jobs to your skills and interest. The Office of National Statistics keeps data on each career type...so if you want to know what you can earn as an airline pilot or a plumber, this information is available.

The Jobs Potential Matrix 

Portsmouth is a wonderful place and anyone who has never visited the City should consider doing so.

We were helped in our talk by Team INEOS the British Americas Cup Challenge, training in Sardinia currently with Olympic sailing medallist, Sir Ben Ainslie. Special thanks to Thizer Graham back at Team INEOS based in Portsmouth who organised posters of the yacht (or is it flying machine) Britannia. You can visit the STEM CREW here at www.stemcrew.org

Image: Team INEOS Americas Cup challenge base.

Our immediate contacts at the schools were Mahbuba Rahman at Portsmouth Academy and John Lomas at Springfield School and Claire Bartlett at the Portsmouth City Council, Economic Development Department. We must not forget others such as the Vice Principal at Springfield school and fellow speakers.

You can read more here: https://springfield.uk.net/index.php/school-life/latest-news/383-aspiring-portsmouth

ABC Note: Lessons learned, to tailor our talk to the audience better. KISS (keep it simple, stupid). 

SPECIAL THANKS ALSO - to Colchester IT for their support. You can find them here: https://www.colchesterit.com