David Cameron has announced a student mentoring campaign as part of the nationwide Enterprise Adviser scheme, which O2i is delivering on behalf of Oxfordshire LEP. The Adviser Network aims to place a high-flying adviser into every secondary school across the country to support enterprise education, enhancing young people’s employability skills and aspirations. Mentoring will form an integral part of this.

The Government is calling for business participation to encourage employees to volunteer as mentors. It is also encouraging schools and businesses to work together to give young people the best possible chance to succeed in later life.

Here’s what the Prime Minister said about the campaign:

‘Many people can look back at their younger selves and point to someone, perhaps a parent or teacher, a sports coach, or their first boss, and say, "that’s the person who found my passion. They’re the ones who made the difference". But if you haven’t ever had someone in your life who really believes in you, who sees your potential and helps bring it to the fore, the sands of time can drain away, and your talents can remain hidden.

So I can announce that we are going to launch a new national campaign led by Christine Hodgson, Chair of CapGemini UK and the Careers and Enterprise Company, and it will work with business, charities and the public sector to build a new generation of high-quality mentors. We’ll direct £70 million towards careers in this Parliament, primarily to the Careers and Enterprise Company who will lead this major new effort’

If you are someone working in business and are interested in getting involved with the O2i Adviser network please do take a look at our information here and contact REBECCA. We have opportunities as both an Adviser working at a strategic level within a school or as an O2i Volunteer, working directly with students to mentor, inform and inspire their bright futures. Get in touch for more details!