Preparing sessions for learners

Explore our advice, ideas and tips on making the most of sessions with learners.

Preparing for your session

It's best to have a plan, but be prepared to be flexible too.

Think about how you will introduce yourself. Tell learners a bit about your background, role and organisation.

When the teacher has introduced you, explain to the learners why you are there. Tell them what the session is about and what you want them to know or achieve by the end.

During the session, try to:

• Speak clearly and not too quickly
• Think about your audience. Keep things simple. Try to avoid jargon and explain terms that are likely to be unfamiliar
• Make the session as interactive as possible
• Vary how you present information. Provide things to look at, content to listen to and hands-on activities, if you can. This will help learners with different learning styles and preferences
• Share your passion and enthusiasm
• Highlight any subjects or skills that are particularly relevant to your role or industry and how or why they are important
• Take the opportunity to challenge stereotypes
• Be honest and open about your role – share the good and the bad. Learners enjoy hearing about real life career journeys

Ideas to keep learners engaged

You could:

• Include an icebreaker to get learners involved from the start
• Break the session into shorter chunks of activity to keep learners involved
• Consider using a short video, props or pictures, or setting a short task
• Give learners 5 minute tasks in pairs or small groups

Ideas for short activities

Ask learners to:

• List the pros and cons of something – for example, working 9 to 5 or working outdoors
• Prioritise a list you provide - according to what is most important to them, or what they think might be most important to an employer or customer
• List skills they think someone would need to do a certain type of job. You could give different groups different jobs to think about
• Think of 3 words to describe something – for example their dream job, a job title you give them or an industry. Explore why they chose the words, challenge any misconceptions

Get support from a Business Engagement Adviser (BEA)

You can discuss your ideas for an activity with our Business Engagement Advisers. They will be happy to support you and give you advice and tips.

They can get information from the school about the learners you will be speaking to – their age, any work already done on a topic and how they hope your session will support their learning.

Our Business Engagement Advisers can also help you to think of ideas for activities and ways of keeping learners engaged in your session. They can give you examples of what has worked well in other sessions.

Don't forget to have a debrief with a BEA after the session to discuss how things went.

Get tips from other employers