Collins Learning is making a move to plug the long-term gap in primary careers provision by signing a deal to add the primary school careers guidance programme, the video-based Yes Programme, to its portfolio of leading educational resources.
Collins Learning, one of the UK’s best-respected education firms, has been excited by the simple but effective idea behind the video-based Yes Programme, founded by entrepreneur Sonita Alleyne, which has already been used by over 52,000 primary learners, and will help take the programme out across the whole of the UK in a bid to embed discovery of the world of work and aspiration into the heart of the curriculum.
The Yes Programme will be the only resource sold by Collins Learning that has not been created by the publisher itself, demonstrating Collins’ strong support for the Yes Programme’s mission to ensure that, within five years, no child will go through their schooling without access to a careers programme like the Yes Programme.
The Yes Programme is a uniquely curriculum-linked resource that uses video interviews with people who give key stage two pupils a glimpse into their world of work and uniquely, explain how they use what they learned at primary school in real-life career situations. For example, a computer games developer talks about how he uses “algebra” in his role while a police officer explains how the skill of “identifying key points” is used in her day-to-day activities.
By showing children from a young age how what they are taught in lessons can be used in their working life, the Yes Programme removes the question ‘Why am I learning this?’ from children’s minds. It’s been shown to engage children in lessons and raise aspirations by allowing teachers to show them the wide variety of careers they can work towards and the skills they will need for these.
The programme offers primary school children the chance to learn about different career options
Sonita Alleyne OBE, Entrepreneur and CEO & Founder of the Yes Programme, comments: “The Yes Programme is a passion for us. We have to give our young people an insight into what they can aspire to. We are immensely proud to have already had over 500 schools engage with our programme and to get the feedback from both teachers and pupils that it makes a real difference. Now we have the support and backing of Collins Learning, we will be able to get in front of many more schools, much more quickly, and this will be a major step in fundamentally changing careers education in the UK.”
Colin Hughes, Managing Director of Collins Learning, says: “The evidence is clear that both career decisions and prospects, and in-class learning, are enhanced when you make a direct connection in young people’s minds between what they are being taught, and how it connects with real work. The Yes Programme makes this happen in a way that is both simple and elegant. We see it as a revolutionary resource that schools will be eager to support as it plugs a big hole in children’s careers education.”
The move reflects a growing demand from academics, governments and businesses for careers education to start from an early age, guiding pupils on the right path across the whole of their school life. Kathryn James, Deputy General Secretary of school leaders’ union National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) recently said: “Learning about the world of work needs to start at primary school. Waiting until secondary is too late.”
