by Mr Farnell Economics teacher and careers advisor
Learning to pivot, to think outside the box and to be entrepreneurial.
As an economics and business teacher at Rydal Penrhos for some 34 years now, and more recently as a focused careers advisor, I have become so aware that when we teach young people and prepare them for the road ahead we can never know what careers they may actually end up pursuing or indeed what jobs might have been invented by the time they get there… and so it is important we teach them more broadly the skills to succeed and adapt or “pivot” dependent on what the workplace environment and the economy reveal to them.
We never want our pupils to put a glass ceiling on their career aspirations but appreciate that most teenagers have limited knowledge of what exists out there as a result of their restricted personal experience and awareness of occupations.
I see my job as one in which I must inspire our pupils to consider a whole array of career choices and the school now dedicates a lesson every single week in Year 12 to open up the world of possibilities, introduce our pupils to guest speakers from many different work places and industries and really to get our young people to start thinking outside the box.
As part of this process I recently decided to write to a few dozen Old Rydal Penrhosians (specifically for this particular research those who studied Mathematics, Economics or Business who have left between four and 20 years ago, primarily because our last newsletter featured the arts and humanities) to see what they are doing now in the hope of using this to inspire the next generation.
One thing that really struck me when communicating with our former pupils is the huge number who benefitted from internships and similar short periods of work experience to change their career path. Grasping opportunities most definitely emerged as a theme from the many successful leavers and that crucial ability to pivot, especially during the pandemic.
I am immensely grateful, to all those who took the time to respond and agree to share their stories. I enjoyed reading all of the responses and felt vicarious pride in all of the successes.
Mike Farnell