Education and Work Event Series: Regional and Cross-sector Approaches to Providing CEIAG and Employer Engagement Opportunities
Date: 15th October 2026
Location: Online 10:00 - 12:00
This series of online events focuses on cross-sector collaborative approaches aiming to improve access to careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG), strengthen progression pathways, and address inequitable access to meaningful jobs and careers.
Through sharing effective practice in developing collaborative partnerships, the series considers how to create more co-ordinated and inclusive support that helps young people from underserved groups realise their potential and successfully enter the labour market.
During this session, speakers from employer organisations, higher education, and the third sector shared their perspectives:
Bridging the gaps: practical approaches to cross-sector careers collaboration -Natalie Freeman, Skills Award Manager, UEA
Careers education operates across a complex ecosystem spanning schools, further education and higher education. However, practitioners often work within institutional boundaries, with limited visibility of provision before and after their own stage. This can result in fragmented experiences for students at key transition points, particularly for those from underrepresented backgrounds (Freeman & Webb, 2024).
This practice-based session drew on institutional experience, sector engagement, and emerging doctoral research to explore how these disconnects manifest in practice and what can be done to address them. While there is widespread commitment to improving collaboration, practical mechanisms for sustained, meaningful cross-sector working are often underdeveloped.
The session presented a set of evidence-informed, practical strategies to support more coherent and inclusive careers education. These include using structured dialogue approaches to surface differing assumptions across sectors, developing shared language around employability and career readiness, and designing realistic models of collaboration that account for institutional constraints. Participants were provided with actionable approaches that can be adapted within their own contexts to support more joined-up careers provision and improve student transitions across the education system.
Employability Opportunities with IntoUniversity - Chloe Cheetham, Impact and Evaluation Manager and Ellen Daunt, Head of Student Opportunities, IntoUniversity
IntoUniversity works with students from underrepresented backgrounds to improve access to Higher Education (HE). Careers education and employability have always informed our approach, beginning with careers workshops in primary school and continuing throughout secondary school through sustained engagement with volunteers from the world of work.
We recognise the importance of employability for students’ long-term success. In response, we have developed a Student Opportunities programme. In this session, we shared our Theory of Change, demonstrating how we support students from secondary school through to university. We highlighted how the programme supports students’ career development through meaningful engagement with professional volunteers, partnerships with corporate organisations offering insight days and internships, and our own programme of skills workshops and tailored application support.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the programme, we are piloting a new approach using entry and exit surveys, alongside follow-up surveys with students one year participation. Student voice has been central to this process, with students actively contributing to the development and refinement of these methods.
Bridging Inequality in Education‑to‑Work Pathways: Insights from Net Zero Outreach - Clair Cooper, Research Fellow, Teeside University Net Zero Innovation Centre
At a time of widening inequalities in education–employment pathways, this talk examined how more coordinated, place‑based approaches can better support young people into meaningful careers. Drawing on the Research England Hydrogen Innovation Project education outreach programme, it presented early insights from a series of workshops using creative, participatory methods. The findings demonstrate how role play and speculative design can enhance young people’s understanding of net zero, while building confidence, systems thinking, and awareness of career pathways. The talk highlighted the value of integrating skills development with real‑world challenges and argues for more joined‑up, cross‑sector approaches to careers education, particularly for underserved groups.
Natalie Freeman is Skills Award Manager at the University of East Anglia (UEA), where she leads the university’s employability award and works with academic and professional services colleagues to embed employability within the student experience. She is also an EdD researcher at the University of Derby, exploring the potential for greater collaboration between secondary and higher education careers professionals to support more coherent student transitions. Her research interests include cross-sector careers collaboration, educational transitions, social justice and student experience.
Chloe is the Impact and Evaluation Manager at IntoUniversity. Her current projects include evaluating the Student Opportunities with Ellen Daunt, and she is working on developing a programme to improve primary school-aged pupils’ metacognitive skills. She completed her PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Dr Clair Cooper is a Research Fellow at Teesside University’s Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre (NZIIC), specialising in the social dimensions of net zero transitions. Her research explores hydrogen, industrial decarbonisation, workforce transitions, public engagement, and environmental justice, with a particular focus on the Tees Valley and wider UK industrial regions. Clair works closely with industry, policymakers, educators, and communities to understand how people experience and shape low-carbon transitions. With over 20 years’ experience across research, policy, and stakeholder engagement, she is committed to developing inclusive, place-based approaches that support a fair and socially just transition to net zero.
As Head of Student Opportunities, Ellen leads the Student Opportunities team and IntoUniversity’s strategy for these enrichment programmes. A key aspect of her team’s work is to coordinate with corporate partners and other organisations to provide new initiatives and meaningful employability opportunities that support students across the IntoUniversity network to develop their career readiness and aspirations.
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