NEXT Gen Stockport: Working Together to Create Meaningful Work Experience

At Pursuing Individual Excellence (PIE), we believe that access to meaningful, well-supported work experience can be a crucial step in helping young people build confidence, develop skills, and move closer to education, employment or training. NEXT Gen Stockport is a project designed to do exactly that—supporting young people while also working closely with local organisations to strengthen work-experience opportunities across the borough.

Funded by Sector 3 as part of the Trailblazer funding, NEXT Gen Stockport brings together young people, voluntary and community organisations, employers, and statutory partners to explore how work experience can be more inclusive, flexible, and genuinely beneficial for everyone involved—particularly young people who may face additional barriers.

NEXT Gen networking and learning event – 14th January

On 14th January, PIE hosted a NEXT Gen networking and learning event for organisations across Stockport’s VCFSE sector. The event created a valuable space for shared learning, honest reflection, and practical discussion around the current work-experience landscape in Stockport.

The session included contributions from the PIE team and partners involved in the Trailblazer programme, alongside facilitated discussions that encouraged organisations to share their own experiences of hosting young people. Key themes explored throughout the event included:

• Barriers young people face when accessing work experience, including confidence, transport, time commitment and fear of “getting it wrong”

• Challenges for organisations, such as capacity, supervision, safeguarding, and uncertainty about how best to support young people with more complex needs

• What good work experience looks like, including flexibility, clear expectations, preparation, and the importance of relationship-building

• The role of collaboration, and how organisations can work together to share responsibility, learning and support rather than working in isolation

A strong message from the day was the value of short, supported placements and wraparound support—allowing young people to explore different options without feeling overwhelmed, while also giving organisations a realistic and manageable way to get involved.

Looking ahead: the next NEXT Gen networking event

Building on the success of the January session, we are pleased to confirm that the next NEXT Gen work experience networking event will take place on Tuesday 3rd March, from 10:00am–1:00pm at Stockroom.

This event will continue the conversation, bringing organisations together to share learning from the first phase of delivery, explore future opportunities, and strengthen the local work-experience network in Stockport.

You can sign up to attend here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/follow-up-event-next-gen-stockport-building-meaningful-work-experience-tickets-1982442174911?aff=oddtdtcreator

Launching our NEXT Gen work experience programme

Alongside the networking events, we are excited to be launching our NEXT Gen work experience programme this week, supporting 10 young people in Stockport to take part in a structured, supportive work-experience journey.

Young people will complete one day of work experience with each partner organisation, allowing them to experience a range of sectors, environments and roles. This approach helps young people to build confidence gradually, discover what they enjoy, and develop transferable skills such as communication, teamwork and problem-solving.

The partner organisations delivering the NEXT Gen work experience offer are:

• Starting Point

• Make Good CIC

• Friendly Fridays

• Marbury Road Garden

Throughout the programme, young people will be supported by the PIE team through preparation sessions, check-ins and reflection activities, helping them to recognise their strengths and connect their experiences to future goals.

Creating longer-term impact

NEXT Gen Stockport is about more than a single programme—it’s about building a collaborative, youth-centred approach to work experience across Stockport. By continuing to listen to young people, support organisations, and share learning, we hope to influence longer-term change in how work experience is designed and delivered locally.

We are incredibly grateful to Sector 3 and the Trailblazer fund for making this work possible and look forward to seeing the continued impact of NEXT Gen Stockport for young people and partners alike.