The Cardiff Commitment – Raising the aspirations, ambitions and outcomes for children and young people

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Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

In January 2016, the Council launched its ‘Cardiff Commitment’ to the children and young people of the city, providing an overarching strategy for youth engagement and progression within the context of the wider ambitions for the future social and economic prosperity of Cardiff.

The strategy set out how Cardiff Council, together with schools and a wide range of partners in the public, private and third sectors, would seek to raise ambitions, increase opportunities and ultimately ensure a positive destination for every young person in Cardiff after statutory schooling.

The Cardiff Commitment was initiated in response to rising figures for young people not in education, employment od training (NEET) in the city, at a time when the percentage of young people becoming NEET on leaving Year 11 in Cardiff was the worst in Wales. It was very apparent that the approach to supporting young people was far too narrow, and that local authority action to provide support for transition for pupils at then end of formal schooling was too late and too limited.

The Council acknowledged the need to mobilise the social, economic and cultural capital of Cardiff to open up opportunities and develop long standing partnerships on behalf of children and young people in the city. The Cardiff Commitment Strategic Leadership Group chaired by the Chief Executive of the council was formed and has continued to provide direction to this city wide partnership to date. This innovative and unique partnership endeavours to ‘open eyes and doors, showing children and young people the vast range of possibilities open to them in the capital city of Wales and beyond.

The partnership has built gradually over the last five years, enabling the reach to extend into the primary sector and to become more focused in secondary communities.

A prudent approach has been developed, with a small co-ordinating team at the core, which is entirely dependent upon collaboration and partnership. The Programme Manager was appointed in November 2019. Contributions to the programme now extend across several Council departments and out into the wider public, private and voluntary sectors, as illustrated in the governance framework.

This approach enables both universal and targeted programmes to work together and stay focused upon the shared vision that all children growing up in Cardiff should have equal opportunity to realise their potential. The vision recognises the importance of the journey to independence being a continuum that should be nurtured from primary school into secondary school, and through to post 16 education, training and employment.

Whilst some of the approaches of the partnership are universal, targeted programmes of work are directed to the southern arc of the city where disadvantage is more prevalent.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Accelerator projects led by the core team and undertaken with schools are identified by information about pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM), looked after children in education (LACE), pupils with additional learning needs (ALN), pupil progression data and the Wales Index of Multiple Deprivation. The Cardiff Commitment accelerator areas aim to get most benefit and value from partnerships and look to provide sustainable approaches for schools and employers. The Cardiff Commitment Forward Plan and Annual Reports and provide evidence and more detail on the core priorities.

The Senior Policy Manager for Welsh Government – STEM, Curriculum and Assessment has indicated that the Cardiff Commitment is an “exemplar of good practice in relation to the links developed between schools and settings and industry.  There is a clear ambition to ensure that careers education is embedded across all areas of the curriculum through the provision of a wide range of relevant work-related learning experiences and environments. This will help prepare Learners for the challenges and opportunities of further learning and the ever-evolving world of work.”

Priority 2, Experiences of Work is the Cardiff Commitment’s approach to developing a career and work-related experiences (CWRE) offer that works for schools and employers. Programme benefits include a coordinated and collaborative approach to experiences of work making best use of stakeholder resources. This is a move away from ad hoc CWRE activities and a move towards meaningful delivery in context. It is a needs led approach developed in partnership and suited to schools’ demographics. It increases pupil, school and parent/carer awareness of career pathways and regional skills and develops awareness for parents/carers with regard to education and career pathways for their children. The programme challenges barriers associated with social mobility, additional learning needs, disabilities and gender and race stereotypes.

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

Extensive national and local research into education and employment underpins the approaches being followed by the Cardiff Commitment. It is anticipated that the medium to longer term impact of the partnership will result in improved educational achievement in key subjects (particularly for the most disadvantaged), better informed career choices by young people, better retention in Post 16 provision, enhanced skills capacity in key growth sectors, improved wellbeing for young people and ultimately improved social and economic prosperity for the region.

Positive qualitative feedback from employers, teachers, children and young people is very encouraging and testimonies and case studies are included in evidence for information. Cardiff West Community High School have commented on the “excellent range of experiences on offer for pupils from the Cardiff Commitment” and Willows High School have cited the benefits that “strengthened links and access to FE providers and contacts” provides to pupils. Further, Cathays High School indicated they “are looking forward to building strong relationships with partners, that provide opportunities for our pupils and teachers to develop the work-related knowledge, skills and experiences needed for their futures”.

Whilst quantitative data is available, officers recognise the need to monitor this in the longer term. This will be an important consideration for the partnership as the work moves forward.

Highlights of outcomes achieved are illustrated below:

Post 16 Progression – Year 11 NEETS data

• Provisional data indicates that 2.1% of young people (74 young people) leaving year 11 (age 16) in 2020/21 will be identified as NEET, compared with over 8% in 2010.  This provisional figure for 2021 is slightly higher than the 2020 result (1.7% / 57 young people).
• Of the pupils registered as on the main EOTAS roll (32 pupils), provisional data indicates that 27 will progress to education, employment or training in 2020/21 (84.4%). 15.6% of EOTAS pupils were NEET (5 pupils).
• Provisional data indicates that of the children looked after by Cardiff Council on March 31, 2021, (83 pupils), 73 will progress to education, employment or training in 2020/21 (88%), 12% will be NEET (10 pupils).

Examples of Pupil Feedback 2020/21 – Experiences of Work

• Virtual Work Experience & Open Your Eyes Weeks – Key Stage 3. A survey of 100 pupils was completed to evaluate the experiences against the Gatsby benchmarks. 78% of pupils stated the sessions were excellent or good, 88% of pupils stated the activities opened their eyes to the different roles and responsibilities businesses have and 90% of pupils said they knew a little or a lot more about the sector after taking part in the activity.
• Open Your Eyes Week Summer 2020. During the week commencing the 14th of June, the Cardiff Commitment hosted their Open Your Eyes Week – a week-long series of business engagements with twelve host businesses from sectors across the Cardiff Capital Region. The event was attended by an estimated 150 classes from 65 schools across Cardiff’s northern and southern arcs, reaching around 3,500 pupils from Years 5 and 6. Evaluation informed us that Microsoft’s session performed best overall, with an incredible 44% of young people feeling it was ‘excellent’ and a further 32% describing it as ‘good’. Microsoft’s presentation was one of the most highly attended, with an estimated 95 classes and around 2,300 pupils watching the presentation live. Many young people were not aware of the host companies before their sessions and Westfield Technology was the least well known, with 57% of young people responding that they knew nothing about the company before, and 74% of respondents saying they had learned a lot after their engagement. In our focus groups, 33% of pupils stated they would like to see events like Open Your Eyes Week repeated termly, and a further 33% requested them monthly, showing just how much of a positive impact and enjoyable experience this event has been for pupils.  

For City Employers

Below are some direct benefits of the Cardiff Commitment that have been highlighted in employer testimonials:

• The Cardiff Commitment is the first point of contact for businesses when looking for partnership opportunities with children and young people.
• It provides access to youth support services and schools to promote opportunities, resources etc. for schools and young people on behalf of the partner.
• It supports partners with their needs and agendas i.e., improving social mobility and then linking partners with schools based on data i.e., FSM, LACE etc.
• It provides partners with examples of how to engage with schools and young people – sharing best practice.
• It supports partners with information/training on platforms of engagement which allows greater reach.
• Through the formation of the Business Forums, partners can view potential delivery partnerships more pragmatically, especially those within some of our very competitive industries.
• It provides training opportunities for partners around engaging with schools and young people.
• It supports partners in engaging with primary school children to create more awareness of careers at an earlier age.
• The team is approachable, and partners are able to discuss concerns and ideas.
• It provides opportunities to work with partners to create a bespoke offer in collaboration with others.

How have you shared your good practice?

Communication and marketing of the Cardiff Commitment takes place in a variety of ways because of the variety of stakeholders. This provides opportunities to not only showcase best practice but also to provide information on how the city is realising the vison.

Newsletters

The monthly Schools Newsletter provides the 127 schools across Cardiff with a variety of opportunities which they can access. The termly Business Newsletter informs our employers and partners the good work, which is going on to develop ambition, deliver skills and create opportunities which support children and young people to progress. This provides healthy competition across the city and raises expectations about what we can do collectively to support young people into education, employment and training.

Cardiff Commitment in Action

Is an infographic that’s showcases a project which is supporting the city to realise the vision of the Cardiff Commitment. It is emailed to employers, schools, youth support services and councillors and following its publication the team very often receive correspondence from stakeholders who want to access or get involved in supporting the projects.

Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. Twitter

Targeted and sponsored posts provide ways to communicate to a wide range of stakeholders.

Websites

The Cardiff Commitment has developed and maintained two websites – What’s Next and the

Cardiff Commitment. What’s Next promotes provision and opportunities for 16 to 24-year-olds across the city.

Events & Networking

Youth Support Services Events

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