Future Frontiers

Giving pupils choices about education, employment and training

Too many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are not getting the GCSEs they could be.

But fulfilling potential is not just about exam results. These young people often feel disconnected from their education and don’t enjoy school. They feel lost when it comes to potential careers – not understanding fully the relationship between their education and their future. They are not lacking aspirations, but they are being deprived of the right kind of guidance and support.

In 2018, we gave a grant of £10,000 to Future Frontiers, an education charity working to inspire, motivate and educate young people.

Future Frontiers aims to:

increase pupils engagement with their secondary school education
create an ethos of aspiration and achievement within a targeted year group
give pupils more informed choices about their education, employment and training options.

At 16, only 1 in 5 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds make it to university (around half the number nationally) and 33% are not in education, employment or training.
80% of pupils who took part in the Future Frontiers programme said the knowledge they gained has improved their attitude to learning. 84% believe their coach has lead them to discover an inspirational career.
100% of teachers agree that future frontiers coaches have made a significant positive impact on their pupils.

They used our grant to expand their programme to new areas of London and the South Coast. It helped recruit and train 300 university students to deliver face-to-face career coaching to over 1,300 school students. The young people were matched to a career coach, attended workshops and met professionals from careers they are interested in.

This work is particularly important as there has been no government funding set aside for careers guidance in schools since 2012. Ofsted reported that just 10% of schools were providing adequate careers advice to their students.

Of the students who took part in the Future Frontiers programme, 84% believed their coach has lead them to discover an inspirational career.

“Future Frontiers have played an integral part in engaging and motivating our Year 8 cohort this year. Coaches have helped pupils develop their own aspirations and understand the connection between their aspirations and the opportunities that lie within their education. As a result of the intensive support we have seen a demonstrable impact on the outlook of these talented young people.”

Gary Phillips, Head teacher, Lilian Baylis Technology School

Centre For Social Justice, Breakthrough Britain II

Is the UK education system failing disadvantaged young people? We funded research from the Centre for Social Justice to find answers and propose evidence-based solutions.

Find out more

Access to Opportunity