Whilst many organisations have moved to increase access at graduate level and create work experience schemes post-A-Level, the lack of representation of African Caribbean heritage students within those schemes and indeed top academic institutions highlights the need for workplace and careers insight much earlier.

To facilitate this much-needed intervention, ACEN is launching an annual Early Pathways Mentorship & Work Experience Programme week commencing Monday 4th March 2024.

While it is important that students get a taster of the areas of work, the specific need identified by teachers in our network is for students to demystify the journey into these positions. An essential part of that demystification is for them to gain confidence that individuals who look like them and have come from similar backgrounds can successfully enter these roles and build thriving and rewarding careers.

Liaising with our large network of schools and parents, we will onboard approximately 100 students in years 10-12. We are inviting 8 organisations in selected but separate industries to partner with us to offer practical advice and guidance via group-based mentorship and work experience to these students.

Programme Outline

This is a very light touch programme, and we are keen for it to be as clerically convenient as possible for each organisation.

Each company will offer x3 90-minute webinars to 10-12 students, with the programme culminating in 2-3 days of in-person work experience in the summer holidays. Due to capacity, some companies may wish to split the in-person work experience into two groups over different dates. While the weeks for the webinars are specified, each company can select its preferred day within that time frame. In terms of timings, it is highly recommended that the webinars be conducted between 16:00 and 17:30.

Because of the age of the students, each of the webinars (a guide of which has been outlined below) will be an opportunity to provide a general overview of the area of business and group-based mentorship in which a company representative(s) can share their own career journeys, practical educational pathway and work experience advice, answer questions, and act as a role model to these students.

– 10-12 students per company
– x3 90-minute webinars
— w/c 20th March
— w/c 22nd April
— w/c 20th May
– 2-3 days of in-person work experience – July/Aug
– 1-2 mentors per organisation

Student Onboarding 

ACEN will manage the outreach and onboarding of the students. The application process will be based on student personal letters and their interest and commitment to date in the area. It is expected that they will communicate their future career goals and what they hope to get from the scheme. This information will be shared with companies.

Programme Operations

Companies will be asked to create the content of each session (using the outline below as a rough guide) and manage the operations of the webinars and the in-person work experience days. Due to safeguarding and the age of the students, communications will be conducted via a representative (parent or teacher) of the students. This contact information will be shared with you.

Companies will also be asked to write a letter of completion per student that details the content of the scheme.

For more information, please contact aisha@aceducationnetwork.com

Programme Guide