globalbridge CEO Ben Mason looks at the past and present of the globalbridge platform, reflecting on where it has come from, where it is now and the impact it has generated.
In October 2012, sitting in The Anchor Inn pub in Whittonstall village, Northumberland, I had an idea. An idea to provide young people with a digital platform to evidence their skills, talents and qualifications, in order to level their playing field of opportunity. That idea turned out to be globalbridge.
Having taught across state, independent and boarding sectors of education, I have seen many students from many different backgrounds and nationalities, all facing one fundamental problem - navigating a future in a digital world with a giant digital hole between where they are currently in education and the first rung on that digital connection ladder, most likely being LinkedIn. For the vast majority of young people we are working with, the gap between a 16 year old - and utilising the likes of LinkedIn effectively, is around 6 years. So how do we #bridgethegap and unleash a young persons #TalentStack in a post covid-19 education system.
As a passionate educationist from a family of teachers, I genuinely believe every young person should have the opportunity to reach their potential. However, this is not always possible. Whether it be socio-economic background, personal choices, attitude, lack of confidence, or the schools Ofsted rating, young people have many hurdles to navigate. I believe the opportunities are there and the more we can mitigate against the circumstantial barriers, the more chance we have of an opportunity guarantee for future generations. Afterall, everyone wants to increase social mobility, right?
Back in 2012, there were talented young people everywhere I looked. However, the barrier for many of them was the inability to appropriately evidence what that talent looked like. For example, say I’m a talented musician but have no musical grades and I’m not doing A-level music, I have no platform. On paper, you might not think I have what it takes, and the chances of Simon Cowell walking past my busking stand one Saturday afternoon are slim!
The question I was asking myself was two fold:
How can we maintain core traditional information which institutions such as universities are used to, yet at the same time, bring the whole process into the 21st Century and the digital world.
How do we give young people and gen-z natives the ability to evidence their #TalentStack whilst maintaining the valuable information FE/HE, apprenticeship providers and employers want to see.
The answer was globalbridge!!
Fast forward to present day and during the Covid period alone we have added over 16,000 new students to our platform as schools and colleges are embracing the digital world and what globalbridge can provide for their students. Our most recent digital engagement allowed students from across 130+ schools and colleges to engage with Further Education, Higher Education, Apprenticeships and employers to give young people experiences and a taste of what the future might look like for them. They were also then able to record this great experience on their globalbridge profile which will support future applications and provide evidence for their schools around the experiences they are providing their students.
Having recently launched our app, young people can now create a digital record of achievement to support applications such as UCAS or apprenticeships in order to show the whole person and go beyond just a list of grades!! We also provide schools & colleges with valuable destinations data and evidence towards all 8 of the Gatsby benchmarks and provide for each and every young person. With recent development releases such as an internal messaging platform, teachers are now able to share information and opportunities such as work placements, apprenticeships, HE course information, directly with specific groups of young people meaning that no one should slip through the net.
Globalbridge provides comprehensive evidence beyond a list of grades. It was built for a digital future and by teachers who have seen, lived and understand the barriers young people face.
If you want to help your young people #BridgeTheGap, we’d love to book you on a demo to show you how we can provide a bespoke platform for each and every young person, in this, and future generations. You can find out more by navigating the rest of the site and filling out a contact form.