Well, it’s the time of year when everyone is looking towards the start of another academic year; hopefully students, teachers, lecturers and all those working in education have been able to have a relaxing break after what was a pretty tough year.
Although some will have spent the summer months relaxing away from academic pressure, for many there is a pressure of a different kind; year 11 and 13 students of course received their GCSE and A level results which will be the key to opening the next chapter of their life. Whether they are looking to go on to college or University to further study, take an apprenticeship, sign up for professional training or look at full or part time work, there are several options for them.
In terms of what that future holds it can be tough to navigate such a vast, complicated landscape. I know my own son, who has just finished year 11, is worried about his CV, what experiences or opportunities he can show and how he can use those to improve his future plans. He has been looking at part time work but it is very competitive and often he lacks any way to showcase the skills he has picked up through his time at school.
One of the things that globalbridge can do for young people such as my son is to help build evidence to showcase their talents over just their grades. A CV that lists what someone has achieved is just not good enough these days with such a competitive job market. Wouldn’t it be good to actually see, hear or feel what those experiences have been like for that person and how they can match the requirements of a job role? This is where globalbridge is uniquely placed to help young people do exactly that. An online interactive e-portfolio, it allows users to upload video, audio or images which can uniquely capture someone’s talents to share with employers, schools, colleges or universities, alongside their academic achievements and other experiences.
When I worked in Colleges and at University, we would always look to build as many opportunities for experiences as possible for the students, giving 2 or 3 years of experience as opposed to starting to build experience when they left; visits from The Royal Marines, trips to the Fire Station, organising sports tournaments or music events. It is the same in schools where there are many opportunities given to students; art, music, drama, sport, trips, speakers, events, environmental projects, peer leadership, Uni open days…the list goes on. However, many young people finish without a true record of what they have experienced and how it has benefitted them. My son again is a prime example; he has experienced some wonderful stuff through his time at school; dancing at The Royal Albert Hall, playing in the pit band in the school production, drumming on stage at the school awards ceremony, creating a memorial mural as part of a school wide community project; so many unique and vibrant experiences but no way to showcase them and how they have helped to shape him as a young person, plus how they have developed transferable skills that he could take into the workplace or to college.
With a globalbridge profile a unique URL can be shared with anyone and the talents and skills of that young person can really come to light. Not only that, but in the same place prospective employers, Uni admissions tutors or College course leaders can see their academic credentials and get a fantastic overview of them as a person, what they excel at and their level of achievements. For many of us, that is all we want to be able to do for our young people; level the playing field and give them a chance to showcase what they can do to as many people as possible to give them the best start in their lives.