13th - 17th November 2023
Register your interest
Deadline 6th October
Discover! Creative Careers Week is part of the award-winning, industry led initiative that directly addresses some of our sector’s most urgent challenges and risks around skills shortages within the creative economy – a challenge that must be tackled together to ensure we continue to thrive.
Interaction with industry is vital in this - evidence shows that young people who are exposed to real workplaces and their associated job roles and functions, are much more confident and informed about making future career choices.
The aim of Discover! Creative Careers Week is for young people to encounter workplaces where possible, meet professionals and hear directly about different sectors, job roles, career pathways and more. It can be anything from a talk or tour for a small group of learners to a full-day workshop for a whole year-group, and there are opportunities to take part in the online campaign too.
There are several ways to get involved:
In-person activity
Open your doors for an in-person event at your workplace and invite a local school/college group to attend, or deliver a talk or careers session at a local school/college.
The Discover Creative Careers programme is funded to support young people from 77 priority areas and enable their engagement, if you’re based in or near one of those areas we can support you to find a local school/college. If not, we would encourage you to consider reaching out to a local educational establishment directly, there are tips on connecting with schools/colleges in the industry toolkit.
Join the campaign and showcase your resources
Take part in the #DiscoverCreativeCareers campaign and showcase your existing careers resources. Check the industry toolkit for a campaign kit.
Use our industry toolkit
We've put together a resource pack that should give you everything you need to support the planning and delivery of a Discover! Creative Careers Week opportunity, including suggested activities, information about health & safety and safeguarding, a checklist and the campaign toolkit.
Keep us updated
Please let us know what you're planning so we can track all Discover! activities across the country, support engagement with priority areas , promote open events and resources and celebrate your brilliant work. You can do this by completing our short online form.
If you're not sure how to get involved, contact us directly on discover@screenskills.com
FAQs
How do we find schools/colleges to take part?
If you are based in or near one of our 77 priority areas, we can support an introduction to local schools/colleges. If not, we’ve included some advice on connecting with local schools/colleges in the industry toolkit. Please try to prioritise state schools whose students wouldn’t usually be able to access these kinds of opportunities.
What does an ‘in-person’ activity mean?
This can be a workplace visit where you invite a group of learners from a local school/college or you could deliver a talk/workshop or other opportunity at a school. There are suggestions around activities in the industry toolkit.
How many young people should we host?
This is up to you. Previous Discover! events have ranged from a small group of 5 to a class size of 30 or even a whole year group. If you want to host a large group, you may need to work with multiple schools/colleges as it becomes difficult and expensive for
them to transport large groups of students.
When should sessions run?
We encourage the activities to take place within the school day to allow for travel times, therefore around 10am - 2.30pm.
Will we be responsible for the students’ safety while they are in our workspace?
Yes, in line with your health and safety policy. You will need to ensure your public liability insurance and health and safety procedures are up to date to ensure it is safe and legal for you to confidently deliver the event and complete the relevant risk assessment(s).
What requirements do staff need to work with children and young people?
All students will be accompanied by a DBS checked school/college staff member and to ensure safeguarding of all individuals, should not be left alone with any members of your team. Further guidance around safeguarding can be found in the industry toolkit.
Will the participants need to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)?
We strongly advise all organisations to avoid sharing anything with students during a Discover! event that would be deemed business sensitive. We also recommend that you do not let students into spaces that would put them or you at risk and for these reasons we consider it highly unlikely that NDAs will need to be used.
Should we provide travel/lunch/refreshments?
You are not expected to cover any travel costs. Schools/colleges should arrange for staff and students to bring their own packed lunch and refreshments; however you should ensure there is a safe space for them to sit during breaks and/or lunch.
Is there funding available for us to take part?
The Discover Creative Careers programme is an industry-led initiative which aims for the sector to put itself at the heart of owning, shaping and delivering careers information and support to young people without subsidy, therefore we are unable to provide funding.