The current pandemic has stopped many events over the last few months, including careers fairs and school and college open days. To help bridge this gap, last month students from East and West Sussex and Brighton and Hove took part in the first cross-county virtual careers fair.
Students, teachers and parents from across Sussex tuned in in their thousands to find out more about the options available for further study or how to enter the world of work.
Post-16 options
With live and recorded content plus live chat, students were able to explore the post-16 options offered by universities, colleges, providers and businesses, including further and higher education, vocational routes, apprenticeships and traineeships.
Student snapshot
The event was a great success with a massive 86.5 per cent of students who completed the post-event survey agreeing or strongly agreeing that, by taking part in the event, they were more aware of their options for further study. 75.4 per cent said they felt more motivated to succeed in their GCSEs and 79.8 per cent said they felt more confident to be able to talk about what they want to do next.
“As a student, I learned a lot about how to get my dream job of becoming a teacher. The people in the chat were great help and you weren’t waiting long for a response. The videos were informative as well and in general it has really helped me out!”
“Amazing work, keep this up, it helped and I am a year 10. Year 11’s must be so grateful. Many thanks, you have helped me decide on my dream job!”
“I liked the parts about having hope especially during times of Covid. It boosted my motivation to work harder.”
“The videos from employers really made me realise what people actually do.”
Teacher reaction
84 schools registered to take part. 83 per cent of teachers who completed the survey said they would recommend the event to other schools and 75 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that the What Next Sussex? event will help their students progress onto their next steps better informed and more confident.
“The information provided was fantastic and of high quality. Particularly liked the live sections interspersed with the videos.”
“Best engagement we have ever had, so thank you so much.”
“Informative, easy to understand videos with local examples. Straightforward to access.”
“Our students found it very informative and it made them think in depth about their futures.”
Watch on demand
The live stream videos and all the video content from the providers is available in the On Demand section of the Learn Live platform. To find the On Demand section, scroll down the Learn Live page.
You can also search the directory of providers at Get Career Confident.
More information
For more information on What Next Sussex? please email hello@getcareerconfident.co.uk
What Next Sussex? was funded by the Careers and Enterprise Company ‘My Choices’ campaign and was jointly sponsored by the East Sussex County Council Careers Hub, Coast-to-Capital Careers Hub, and Get Career Confident through Sussex Learning Network.
