In the flurry of school years devoted to basic skills acquisition and the development of 21st-century skills, the practicality of preparing young people for the real world is emerging as a key aspect of secondary education.
As economies increasingly require that the workforce is not only highly skilled, but flexible enough to change trajectory based on the market needs, a focus on good-quality and efficient career education is essential for youth aged 12 and up.
Through this Spotlight on AI for Career Readiness, HundrED, with support from Salesforce, will highlight ten non-profit programmatic education innovations based in France, Ireland, or the United Kingdom, that leverage Artificial Intelligence as a tool or a skill for career readiness.
Career education (also known as guidance counselling or career counselling) encompasses the curriculum and activities that allow students to explore possible avenues for a future of financial independence and self-determination. For that reason, we at HundrED have joined efforts with Salesforce to find impactful and scalable solutions that focus on career readiness and leverage AI as a tool or a skill.
Europe’s Youth Guarantees
This call is aimed specifically at innovations operating in the UK, Ireland and France. According to the most current World Bank data (2023), youth unemployment for England and fellow OECD member countries Ireland and France were 12.7%, 17.3%, and 10.6%, respectively. While this is down from the spike in unemployment caused by COVID-19, there is a concern that the quality and wages of jobs available to youth are low, putting young people in a vulnerable position.
In response, Ireland and France have taken strides to innovate around career education through an Erasmus partnership with other European Union countries. The United Kingdom has pledged to provide support that increases employment opportunities, including health-related initiatives, guaranteed apprenticeships, and training for youth aged 18-21.
OECD’s 2024 working paper, “Teenage career development in England: a review of PISA 2022 data,” highlights the need for young people to receive more consistent and adequate exposure to career development programming across the United Kingdom and other comparable OECD countries. This is especially concerning with respect to economically, socially, and academically disadvantaged youth.
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence
HundrED has documented the sky-rocket trajectory of AI in the world of education innovation over the last few years through our Global and Spotlight Collections. From personalised learning to behind-the-scenes classroom management, AI holds promise for making learning and teaching more engaging, adaptive, and efficient. AI can free up both educators and students to focus on the holistic aspects of career readiness education.
While the use of AI in education raises necessary debates around ethics and applications, the technology is here to stay and we have an unprecedented opportunity to shape its use in real time. AI is more than just a tool for education - learning to use it is a valuable skill. Today’s office workers’ on-the-job experimentation and trial-and-error exploration of AI has set the stage for tomorrow’s workplace competencies. Responsible career readiness programming should address not just the nuts and bolts of using Large Language Models or generative tools, but also the responsible and ethical use of AI as it applies to different professions.
Learn More: Spotlight on AI for Career Readiness
Through this Spotlight, HundrED and Salesforce provide a unique opportunity for innovative non-profit educational programmes originating or operating in France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The Spotlight will follow HundrED’s usual Spotlight selection process, which emphasises the quality of evidence for impact and scalability provided by innovators, and ten finalists will be selected based on the recommendations of the HundrED Advisory Board.
What makes this Spotlight special is that the ten finalists will then be asked to provide further information about a proposed scaling journey. Two to three innovations, which must be non-profits based in France, Ireland, or the United Kingdom, will then be selected to receive support valued at a total of $15,000 USD toward their scaling journeys.