When it comes to creative careers, embedding meaningful engagement for schools can feel especially challenging.
Taking students off timetable can feel tough, especially in exam years. Budgets are tight, and travel or teacher cover costs can seem prohibitive.
Schools also need to justify how career activities link to the curriculum, which can deter participation if leaders don’t see the relevance.
Even when schools do pursue this, they rely on a passionate careers leader or subject specialist to champion creative opportunities. But if they lack senior leadership support, progress can stall. If there is no obvious creative advocate and staff lack sufficient knowledge, engagement can feel daunting.
Given all this, leaders often ask me: Can schools realistically promote creative careers, and do it well?
My answer is always yes. The barriers are real, but they are not insurmountable. The answer lies in promoting the message that creative careers are not an “extra” but a core part of preparing students for the modern world of work - and then taking practical steps to engage, inspire and educate.
1. Use existing resources
There are free, flexible and curriculum-linked resources that reduce teacher workload and enable schools to embed creative careers engagement without requiring significant extra funding.
The key is to link careers in the creative industries to things relatable in students’ lives, such as discussing who makes the films they watch, the games they play, the music they listen to or the clothes they wear.
That is why we are creating a new eLearning module, Introduction to the Creative Industries, to help empower teachers. This tool equips teachers and careers leaders with the knowledge, structure and confidence to introduce students to the breadth of the UK’s creative industries, and helps educators and learners alike understand diverse career pathways, challenges and the sector’s role in the economy.
2. Partnerships
Partnerships are essential. Schools can tap into parents, alumni and local businesses to create connections with industries on their doorstep. Linking up with Careers Hubs via The Careers and Enterprise Company is a simple way to join a network of local businesses and discover upcoming events and resources.
These relationships bring careers education to life, showing students how their subjects translate into real-world opportunities.
3. Link to lessons
One of the most effective ways to integrate creative careers is by connecting them directly to classroom learning.
For example, a lesson plan exploring architecture could be used in a design and technology lesson where students can respond to a specification, engage in discussions, design an appropriate solution and evaluate the final design.
Schools don’t need to create these links from scratch. A range of lesson plans, assembly resources and sector insights are freely available to help teachers map careers into their subjects.
Importantly, creative careers should not be limited to arts subjects: science, technology, engineering and maths disciplines, plus IT and business, are foundational to many roles in areas like visual effects, design engineering and digital media.
4. Real-world encounters
Nothing beats real-world encounters. Programmes such as Discover! Creative Careers, with its month-long offering in November for encounters for young people, provides schools with opportunities for students to meet employers, visit workplaces and experience the breadth of roles first-hand.
Beyond these national initiatives, schools can collaborate with local Careers Hubs to connect with nearby employers and potentially create legacy partnerships.
For older students, work experience opportunities, such as Next Generation Creatives, are expanding across the creative industries, offering state school students pathways that may have felt inaccessible.
Meanwhile, further and higher education institutions are increasingly opening their doors to schools, running hands-on workshops and showing clear progression routes. Many get involved in running Discover! Month activities such as London College of Contemporary Music, Arts University Plymouth and Access Creative College. Ucas also runs Create Your Future showcases, which bring universities, colleges and employers together.
In short, embedding creative careers into a school’s careers curriculum is not about adding yet another initiative. Done well, it enriches learning, reduces teacher workload and opens doors for students into one of the UK’s most dynamic sectors.
Mary Rose is programme lead for Discover! Creative Careers
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