1. Year 11 Parents

2. What happens during Year 11 and 12? ► Classes/assessments/exams… ► GCSE’s ► Starting to become aware of the personal profile ► DEL Careers Service ► Timetabled Career Classes ► Talks from outsiders/Careers events

3. Why are GCSE’s important? ► Minimum grade C needed in Maths and English Language for all university courses and all jobs ► Example: Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Science, Health Professions, Law, Teacher Training ► Example: Queen’s University Belfast, any degree

4. UK Skills Survey August 2013 The most important factors employers look for: 1. Attitudes to work (71%) 2. General Aptitudes (57%) 3. Literacy and Numeracy (50%) Employers report that not enough young people have solid work experience (55%) or have sufficiently developed personal qualities such as self-management (54%)

5. The economic situation ““ One in four young people (21.1%) here can’t get a job because of the impact of the economic downturn on Northern Ireland ” Belfast Telegraph, May 2013  Unemployment rate is 7.5%  Young are people hit the hardest  More Public Service cuts on the way

6. But…

8. The economic benefits of education ► Knowledge economy requires skilled workers ► Higher earning power (Average £200,000 more over the course of working life, which increases to £340,000 if you have a degree in certain areas) (Average £200,000 more over the course of working life, which increases to £340,000 if you have a degree in certain areas) ► Over 30% of jobs in N.I. require a 3 rd level qualification (by 2020 this could be more than 50%) ► 40% of all graduate jobs advertised are for graduates of any discipline ► The current downturn does not mean a drop in demand for higher level skills ► Transferable skills combined with a degree help transitions in employment

9. Areas likely to encourage growth ► Tourism & Hospitality ► Care for elderly ► Enviro-tech ► Management / leadership ► Advanced engineering ► Software ► Food science ► Financial Services ► Core support; skills

10. The best place to be is in education… ► Competition is fierce for university places ► Core, transferable skills are key ► The industries who were hit hardest (Financial Services, Construction, Retail etc) will need employees after the recession ► GCSE’s form the base for everything yet to come

11. There is help and support every step of the way…