Empowering young people with the skills and confidence they need to become employable
OUR ONLINE MENTORSHIP PROGRAMME EMPOWERS YOUNG PEOPLE BY PROVIDING THEM WITH: |
an understanding of the school to work transition |
the tools to improve their self-esteem and self-awareness |
identification of their own strengths and weaknesses |
how to develop a strategy to fill gaps in their own skills and experience |
an understanding of what employers look for when choosing their new employee |
resource ideas and locations to support lifelong learning and self-improvement |
Peace Child has been working with young people for nearly 40 years. Like all of Peace Child’s programme, the online mentorship programme has been developed in close collaboration with young people. This makes it highly tailored to meet their needs. It is based on a face-to-face model that Peace Child has delivered for over 15 years. The impact for the young people has been dramatic:
Peace Child has also received excellent feedback from students, teachers and parents. Here is a selection of some of the feedback regarding the impact of the training:
“The resources are written in a really accessible and warm way that the
students respond to. Many students said that the resources sounded ‘true’
and like they were written by people who understood their anxieties with
practical solutions to their problems.”
Teacher
“This has really helped me gain confidence in speaking in front of
people and has helped me develop my skills in teamwork and communicating
with other people. I really enjoyed today’s sessions and yesterday because I’ve learnt a lot”
Student
The Coronavirus pandemic is bringing with it the worst economic downturn in history. Marginalised young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, already face significant challenges in securing work when they leave full time education. These young people risk entering a dangerous cycle of low-self esteem, long-term unemployment and poverty. Peace Child acts before young people become trapped in this cycle.
Peace Child’s bespoke 6-week mentoring course is tailored to empower young people to fulfil their potential. Participants are put into groups of 5 or 6 and receive focused online support from a mentor for one hour a week, either within the school day or as an extra-curricular activity during the evening or weekends.
The mentors are highly trained and all of them are DBS checked and vetted by Peace Child. Peace Child has excellent and robust child safeguarding processes in place to ensure the safety of everyone who takes part in the online mentoring scheme. If you would like to know more about the Peace Child online mentorship programme, please contact Rosey Simonds at rosey@peacechild.org.
Work the Change started as an employability training programme for young people in the UK designed as an in classroom workshop to ease the school-to-work transition. Helping young people understand what employers are looking for and how they can assess their own skills and experiences. The programme itself is CV-worthy, honing communication, presentation and teamwork skills and requiring proactivity and professionalism.
Through self-assessment, this section asks students to identify their hobbies and interests and look at how they can build life skills to improve confidence and self-esteem.
By identifying the qualifications needed to pursue their dream career, this section challenges students to think about and develop non-academic skills that employers are looking for during the recruitment process.
This section asks students what they can do now to develop their CV and take control of their own progress, in preparation for the job market.
Through team activities students learn about the importance of working with others, planning, initiative and problem solving.
"14-15 year olds can relate to 16-18 year olds far more than teachers. The 16-18 year olds were passionate and enthusiastic and they connected with the 14-15 year olds"
- Teacher
"It gave both those leading the classes and those taking part something to be proud of"
- Teacher
"It helped me reflect about myself - a greater ability to stand up in front of others and a better understanding of how to build and maximise my own strengths"
- Mentor
"It was good having the opportunity to take leading, organising and being confident to make your own decisions"
- Mentored Student