Ambassador Handbook

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The Education Ambassador Handbook is your guide to everything you need to know about becoming a BAE Systems Ambassador and getting the most out of the experience. You'll find the answers to all of your questions, plus all the guidance and support you could need, in this section.

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Foreword by Nigel Whitehead

Group Managing Director - Programmes and Support

As one of the UK's leading engineering employers we have a responsibility to let young people in schools know who we are, what we do and why a career in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) is so rewarding.

One of the most inspirational and influential ways we can do this is by asking our people to engage directly with schools and share their insights and enthusiasm about the work they do at BAE Systems. Our Education Ambassadors play an extremely important role for our Company and for schools within the communities where we operate.

The work of our Education Ambassadors is rewarding, a great personal development opportunity and vital to our efforts to encourage young people to pursue learning that will give them access to high value careers in the future; important because STEM jobs are estimated to account for over 45% of the new positions that will be available in our economy by 2020.

By being a BAE Systems Education Ambassador you will help us to ensure that young people become interested in being the scientists, technicians, engineers and mathematicians of the future, a key component of our Skills 2020 strategy.

In our efforts to support the work that our Education Ambassadors deliver, they are asked to spend a few days each year supporting education activities and fulfilling Education Ambassador duties in a designated school in their local area, supported by training and other development opportunities made available by BAE Systems to enhance the skills and capabilities of our Education Ambassador team.

BAE Systems values greatly the voluntary, enthusiastic and important contribution that its Ambassadors make to our local communities, the quality of the UK's education system and to BAE Systems' reputation as a leading engineering employer. We welcome wholeheartedly the efforts of our existing Ambassadors and those now joining the ranks of a valued and winning team.

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Introduction

Our Education Ambassador Programme exists to help support our Education Programme, which has four clear objectives:

• To help meet our future skills needs
• To support and complement government education policy
• To support our employees volunteering
• To improve our corporate reputation at both a local and national level

The programme has a clear focus on the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) agenda. Key elements of the Education Programme include:

• Education Ambassadors – over 400 in number
• A Schools Roadshow (In 2010 we visited over 300 schools and performed to over 40,000 young people)
• Work experience (In 2010 we hosted approximately 900 placements)
• An education website with a host of online resources
• Partnership (With the Royal Air Force and The Royal Academy of Engineering)
• Sponsorship (The Big Bang Science Fair and the National Science Learning Centre)
• Commitment to building employability skills locally (Prince's Trust sponsorship)
• Support for the Smallpiece Trust and Arkwright Scholarships
• Apprentice and graduate development programmes
• A commitment to lifelong learning

The Education Ambassador Programme

The purpose of the Education Ambassador Programme is to raise awareness amongst young people of engineering as a career by supporting the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects.

What is an Education Ambassador?

Education Ambassadors are BAE Systems employees who volunteer to act as inspiring role models to young people. They visit schools and help students appreciate that STEM subjects can be fun and show them the potential opportunities that are waiting for them in the world of work.

We currently have over 400 BAE Systems employees who are registered as Education Ambassadors, each committed to giving a maximum of 3 days per year (and up to eight in MAI) to their ambassador activities. This will normally be in normal school hours, but may exceptionally be during an evening or weekend.

Our Education Ambassadors come from all areas of our business; not all of them are engineers. We have apprentices and graduates on the programme as well as more experienced employees.

We ensure that each Ambassador is cleared through the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) before they start working with young people.

Support for Education Ambassadors

A wide range of resources are available to Education Ambassadors, depending on their interest and experience. We want to ensure that their time is well spent in schools and that the visits are equally valuable for the business and schools alike.

The other pages in this section contain all the information you'll need (or signpost you to an answer), either as someone who is just joining the Education Ambassador Programme, or an experienced Education Ambassador.