Careers

Careers

Context

Birmingham is a rapidly growing city with HS2, the relocation of business from London and Commonwealth Games to name a few resulting in a need for today's students to become engineers of the future.  According to Engineering UK report 2017, 265,000 skilled entrants required annually to meet demand for engineering enterprises through to 2024.

Engineering UK State of the Nation 2019, Summary of Key Points states, 

"There is a considerable shortage of appropriately skilled workers in the engineering sector. The top drivers of the skills gap reported by employers include strong competition for skilled candidates, a shortage of applicants with appropriate qualifications and a lack of awareness among young people of the educational routes into engineering occupations."

A unique aspect of life at a University Technical College is the amount of careers preparation students get.  Student Professional Development sits alongside the day to day curriculum which is heavily influenced and contextualised to meet the demands of employers whether a national, international or SME business.

PROVIDER ACCESS POLICY STATEMENT:

The following detail sets out the academy's arrangements for managing the access of providers to pupils at the academy for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer. This complies with the academy’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997.

All pupils in years 9-13 are entitled:

To find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point;

• to hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships – through options events, assemblies and group discussions, open days and taster events.
• to understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.
• details below show the way in which education and training providers should get in touch with the academy to gain access to pupils and/or parents to inform them about further opportunities.
• The academy will then work with providers to identify the most effective opportunity for them to share information about education and training opportunities.

Contact details of key AUEA staff can be found below.

At AUEA we are dedicated to ensuring we meet the requirements of the Governments Careers Strategy January 2018 through rigorous evaluation of our CEIAG provision using the Gatsby Benchmarks and Careers & Enterprise Company Compass - Careers Benchmark Tool and the SEND Gatsby Benchmark Toolkit.  The benchmarks are updated termly and reviewed within the Careers Hub and by Careers Hub Leads.

Aston University Engineering Academy Industry Advisory Board

To ensure AUEA continues to offer the very best curriculum, contextualised learning and careers information to meet the needs of the students and employers it has an Industry Advisory Board made up of industry experts.  They meet regularly throughout the academic year and feed into the Governing Body.

Employer Engagement

AUEA recognises the importance of contextualising and working alongside industry partners.  Student professional development includes industry backed projects, work experience placements, contextualised lesson input and extended placements.  Through AUEA's Industry Advisory Group, a 3 year strategic plan has been created to ensure AUEA continues to work alongside industry in preparing students for the world of work. AUEA is proud to be partners with:

Work Experience

All Year 10 students have access to 4 weeks of meaningful work experience.  Two weeks are during term time and are split between February and June.

All other students can access meaningful work experience during Student Professional Development time or at times that do not impact on their curriculum studies.

Work experience must be related to STEM, be meaningful and have met safeguarding requirements before a student can attend the placement.  All students must complete a Work Experience Diary and enter their information into Compass+

Local Labour Market Information

Information about local Birmingham labour markets can be found by clicking on the Birmingham Education Partnership link.  Here you will be able to select the ward you are most interested in.

Local Labour Market Information Link

Labour Market Information - Careerometer

Careerometer can be used to explore and compare key information about occupations, help you learn about different occupations and identify potential careers.

It provides access to a selection of UK headline data relating to pay, weekly hours of work and future employment prospects for different occupations, as well as description of the occupation.
Simply type in the title of the job you are interested in and the widget provides a series of options from which you can select the most relevant to you. You can then look up another two occupations and compare. You can also select ‘display the UK average’ and compare the information with the occupation you have selected.

Information, Advice and Guidance

AUEA has formed a partnership with Birmingham City Careers Service and together have established a series of opportunities for students from all year groups to have independent careers advice and guidance. BCCS also track destinations and attend GCSE and A Level Results days to help students realise their next step.

The library at AUEA has a rich selection of careers information supplementing information held within AUEA’s VLE; Firefly.  Sixth Form students also have access to Aston University Careers Team if further advice and guidance is required.

Interview preparation is conducted by a variety of businesses to allow students to select the sector they are interested in to get a more realistic experience.

Quick Links

There is a tremendous amount of advice and guidance available through the internet.  The links below will take you to a variety of resources to help you find the information you want.

The list includes links to:

• Information, Advice & Guidance
• Public Services
• University and Colleges
• Useful Post 18 Websites
• Student Finance England
• Engineering