Evaluation of the Teacher Encounters Programme

Teachers and the wider education workforce play a key role in helping young people to develop the skills they need to make their best next step.

Our Teachers Encounters Programme helps educators understand workplace skills – and the pathways to jobs e.g. Apprenticeships. It has also given them the confidence to connect curriculum content to the world of work. 

The Teacher Encounters Programme is designed to help teachers increase their confidence and knowledge of the range of opportunities in today’s world of work. It provides an opportunity for teachers to engage directly with employers to see and learn about the different career pathways relevant to their subject and how that subject is applied practically in the workplace of today.

The aims of the programme are:

• to build teachers’ confidence and knowledge to hold careers conversations with students and parents;
• to bring the curriculum to life by relating it to real world examples;
• to provide an evidence based model for teacher encounters with employers; and
• to demonstrate the value of teacher encounters and the importance of teachers building stronger connections to the labour market.

This report is an analysis of the impact of the year-long national pilot programme which delivered over 1000 encounters between teachers and employers. The programme was operated through The Careers & Enterprise Company’s Careers Hubs in partnership with combined authorities, local authorities and LEPs. The Careers Hubs bring together schools, colleges, employers, apprenticeship providers, combined and local authorities and LEPs to increase the ability of education providers to improve how they prepare young people for their next steps and their career.

The report finds evidence of strong support for teacher encounters amongst both teachers and employers. It identified three main outcomes:

1. The teacher encounters programme had a positive impact on teachers and employers.
2. They increase the confidence and capabilities of teachers to have constructive careers conversations with students.
3. They improve the quality, quantity and impact of employer engagement with education.

Read the Evaluation Report