Too many young people are not fulfilling their potential at school and beyond because they are disengaging from education ahead of their GCSEs.

Disengagement may not make the headlines like Ofsted inspections, grammar schools or exam results, but it can have a serious impact on progression at school and future career prospects. 

Our research shows striking regional variations, with the greatest disengagement in the north of England. In fact, four in 10 young people from the Humber, Liverpool and Tees Valley areas under-achieve against predicted performance in English and maths GSCE.

Recent Ucas analysis has also highlighted the predictive power of GCSE results in post-school outcomes. This means that disengagement in these early teenage years is sending the lives of many young people off track - not just at school but over the longer term.

To help address this, we launched a £3.5 million government-backed national fund to radically scale up mentoring for young people in this sensitive age group.

Following a competitive bidding process, 39 leading mentoring organisations have now secured funding, many in areas of need.

We are also asking potential mentors to step up and provide young people with the counsel, inspiration and role-modelling than can make such a difference at this critical time.

‘Role models have a powerful impact’

Research shows that relatable role models have the most powerful impact. Not surprisingly, young people trust and connect with people who have similar backgrounds.

Done well, employer mentoring can have a transformative effect, providing young people with a lifeline amid today’s fast-changing careers. It can paint an achievable, personal picture of the future which inspires young people, relighting a spark among those who do not see the benefits of their education.

At the Careers and Enterprise Company, which I lead, we have spent our first year of operation setting up a regional network of enterprise advisers - business volunteers from the private, public and third sector to provide strategic counsel to headteachers and school leadership teams on careers and employer engagement.

More than 1,000 volunteers from all corners of the country have already signed up - 40 per cent of them are chief executives or chairs.

Now, with this fund we are supporting another kind of volunteering - mentoring focused on working directly with young people, giving them great life-changing experiences.

With our partners in business, education and government we are focused on creating a new generation of mentors from the business community to drive long-term change and boost social mobility, so that employer mentoring becomes commonplace for young people.

If you are a school that wants to connect with local employers or a business that wants to get involved in employer mentoring, find more information on how to sign up by clicking here.

Claudia Harris is the chief executive officer of The Careers & Enterprise Company