Use our free resources created with teachers to help plan activities with workplace volunteers. All resources are immediately available in the platform as soon as you sign-up for Inspiring the Future, and include:
- Step-by-step guides on how to run activities such as speed networking, CV workshops and mock interviews
- Top tips on using your account and attracting and finding volunteers
- Guides on how to embed volunteers into your curriculum, including subject teaching
- Ideas on different ways to use Inspiring the Future, such as assemblies and drop-down days, lesson starters, and complementing existing activities.
- Toolkits to prepare students for activities and to support reflection
- Guides for virtual activities, including information on tech platforms and safeguarding
Access resources and start planning your volunteer encounter:
Volunteers taking part in a virtual session.
Plug + Play Videos
These videos each feature two to four different job roles, interactive elements with pause points, and come with teacher resources. They can be used as full lesson sessions or revisited in smaller sections, making them adaptable and easy to use across different key stages and in specialist settings.
Each one is based around a theme so they can be woven into other subjects, all while facilitating careers education and raising pupil aspirations. As soon as you’re signed up to Inspiring the Future, you can access the videos, lesson plans, and worksheets.
Activity ideas: year 7 to post-16
Tailor any of the below activities to fit your students’ needs and interests.
Year 7: At this age, it’s good to expose students to a wide range of possible careers. Activities can include:
- Career speed networking
- ‘What’s My Line?’ assemblies to guess volunteer jobs
- Assembly or classroom talks
Year 8: Continue broadening horizons and challenging stereotypes through activities such as:
- Career talks from volunteers
- Career speed networking
- Apprenticeship volunteer talks to introduce this pathway
Year 9: Volunteer insight sessions can help with inspiration and option choices via activities like:
- Careers fairs
- Volunteer talks at option or parents’ evenings
- Career talks and workshops in the classroom
Year 10: Help to motivate and prepare students for exams and work experience via:
- Mock interview and CV workshop sessions
- Employability skills workshops
- Pathway and sector insight talks
- Speed networking to continue broadening horizons
Year 11: Activities at this age can help with motivation and destination choices post 16. Examples include:
- Careers fairs
- Sector-focused insight talks
- Pathway-focused insight talks from volunteers who took an apprenticeship, started their own business or went to HE.
Post 16: Bring in volunteers and employers to help prepare students for next steps as well as motivating for exams. Ideas include:
- Application and interview workshops
- Sector insight talks
- Workplace visits
- Job shadowing