Craig Carnegie Case Study
Addressing Social Mobility Issues in STEM
Dr Craig Carnegie, WMG
Dr Carnegie (WMG) has led three successive projects to enhance the work experience offering and increase opportunities for under-represented young people.
"Providing a great work experience can open students’ eyes to what’s out there, empowering them to consider careers they may never have known existed. My team is working to develop an employability programme for young people – one that can be used as a benchmark by others across The University of Warwick and beyond."
The challenge
Work experience can leave a lasting impression on those who undertake it, often becoming a cherished memory later in life. However, opportunities for young people still vary widely in both availability and quality. Already stretched to capacity, schools and teachers often rely on parents to arrange work experience placements themselves.
This means that many students join a family member or family friend in their workplace for a week. This ad hoc approach can put a lot of stress on the host, who may not be trained or equipped for the process. In turn, the potential career benefits for the young person could be reduced.
The Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance requires that all 16-year-olds have to experience at least one placement.
However, the ad hoc nature of such work experience means that children from underprivileged backgrounds face huge hurdles. It’s typically far easier for a student from a privileged background with family connections to find somewhere inspiring to spend a working week. So it’s this inequality that has driven me, and continues to drive me, to level the playing field as much as possible by creating a work experience programme for 14 to 18 year old students that provide the most enrichment possible.
Our approach
2023: From the very start, it was important that the programme was open access. I used Research Culture funding to build a team of five, and provided them with personal development (including promotions planning) as well as safeguarding training. The team hosted four weeks of STEM work experience, reaching 14 young people. The project was documented and made available online.
2024: I expanded the team to incorporate members of the Maths and Physics departments and created a leadership programme and encouraged leadership roles within the team. The team hosted six weeks of cross-disciplinary work experiences which attracted a large number of participants.
2025: I'm now expanding nationally and have delivered a summary of the work to the eight Midlands Innovation Universities based in the UK. I'm working closely with Birmingham and Nottingham Universities to implement our findings into their work experience models and develop good practice. This is helping cement my role as a leading spokesperson in the area, creating a network that can support each other and develop the space of work experience opportunities.
Impact
The programme has three initial models to choose from, based on student ability, resources available and time commitments:
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Independent: For those with more skills and confidence who work on a task independently with minimal supervision
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Guided: For those who may be unfamiliar with STEM or working environments and need more support
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Blended: A combination of the two, with adaptability as familiarity with the programme increases
“I'm so glad to have had that opportunity to expand my knowledge and inspiration within the engineering field, via WMG.”
Aaliyah, age 17, who took part in a two-week placement.
I have created a report; a template for anyone and everyone to follow. It operates as a good practice guide and now everyone in WMG, Warwick or any other university can use the model and make a timetable of their own from it.
My hope is that our written guidance allows many more people to take the ball and run with it – so we can all give many more young people a first-hand experience of STEM and inspire the next generation.
The next steps include seeking external funding to take this initiative internationally, sharing and learning with other countries around the world that have explored vocational education systems.