Teacher Encounters

The Project

What are Teacher Encounters?

The teacher encounters initiative has been developed nationally to enable all education staff, beyond those leading on careers, to relate the curriculum to the real-life context of the world of work, the skills employers value and the variety of pathways and opportunities available.  

By participating in the teacher encounters initiative, you will:

  • Give back to your local community and effectively prepare the future supported workforce
  • Raise awareness of your business’s industry and all the pathways into work
  • Strengthen your relationship with local schools/colleges even further and open new dialogue
  • Influence local talent pipeline and support teachers to better understand and prepare students for the workplace and expectations.
  • Broaden your knowledge of curriculum delivery and influence teacher’s workplace guidance in the classroom

The programme will focus on:

  • Information about the key employer and their work that links to sustainability
  • Increase the knowledge of different pathways routes, careers and jobs within the host employers sector
  • An overview of Post 16 & Post 18 qualifications/pathways that link with sustainability in general
  • Enable schools to successfully prepare students with the skills, knowledge and attitudes to the world of work.

Who will attend the encounter?

The encounters will be offered to teachers from our Somerset secondary mainstream, Special Schools and PRUs. We have found small groups of staff (5-10) attending together works well.

What should the encounter include?

We can support you to shape the encounter to suit your business, the encounter must include two-way interaction and the opportunity to ask questions. We suggest the following elements are included:

  • Introduction to your business
  • Tour of the business (shadowing employees/completing tasks would be ideal if possible)
  • Introduction to your early careers offer, support available and skills and attitudes required
  • Meeting and hearing from current/graduate/trainee employees (success stories and case studies)
  • We also ask employers for a post encounter commitment (examples): a case study, sharing your experience with other employers/teachers, maintaining relationships with the school
 
Current Teacher Encounter Opportunities 

Please see our upcoming Teacher Encounters below – For more information and to book click on the Teacher Encounters – 

Information about the Teacher Encounters from September 2026 coming soon…..

 If you are a business and would like to find out more information or host you’re own Teacher Encounter please contact Jenny Salmon Jenny.salmon@somerset.gov.uk

Feedback from teachers who attended our Teacher Encounters – 

“That was a fantastic opportunity at the UKHO – thank you for keeping me updated on these experiences.  Please can you also thank the rest of the team that were there on the day. Great to look around and have another contact for a STEM day at school.”

‘Thanks so much for organising a very useful teacher encounter day – I feel much better able to advise students about the opportunities available to them, and I had a very interesting day myself! I definitely wasn’t expecting to fly a helicopter over the Isle of Arran and it was lovely to see the apprentices thriving and able to articulate their roles so well.’

‘Thank you for organising the day at Leonardo’s. I really enjoyed looking around, meeting the apprentices and the rest of the team who made the day possible.  I will touch base with our Careers Lead to discuss what I learnt, about changes to what is being offered and what we could be doing at a school level to prepare our students for this kind of career. I would like to arrange a trip back to some of the departments with my GCSE students.’

“It was great to see the activities they would bring to workshops in school and also see how we could link that learning to the curriculum as they gave us a sheet with all the key information.
So interesting to see the breadth of jobs and areas.
I have only seen the career pathway I have taken, you take for granted other careers, especially where I have been up through a business, you tend to forget there are so many different routes.
It was great to hear about the potential opportunities for our students”

“Great to have an insight into how the venue was run by the managers there. Fantastic range of engagement opportunities offered by the Education and Engagement departments!
It was really good to hear from the professionals and to start thinking about how we could link to our provision. I was also provided with an insight into opportunities for our young people.
I enjoyed expanding my own experience of the different workplaces available to school leavers.”
 
“The information is beneficial for providing career guidance to young adults still seeking their appropriate career paths. Additionally, it equips them with essential skills for the job market.
Visiting the site and having talks from employees, gave me a greater understanding of what the company offers”

Feedback  from Teachers on what they gained from attending a Teacher Encounter – 

 

“Made me think about adding careers into our curriculum – letting children think further than careers they are aware of.”

“The better I understand the needs of the workplace the better I can prepare my students. Also by spending time with employers they have the opportunity to understand the needs of the learners I work with and providing info about work pathways.”
“In my Role, it was very useful to find out more about Jones as a business and understand the full remit and scope of work.”
 
“I gained confidence in advising learners about relevant skills and job opportunities in my subject area.”
 
“Participating in the programme allowed me to build stronger relationships with key members of the Wessex Water team. It also highlighted the wider careers remit within organisations of that scale.
Knowledge of a large employer that I had not considered previously for potential opportunities for students.”