Celebrating 15 years of Speakers for Schools and Announcing Our Next Chapter at Tate Britain
Our charity is on a mission to give all students from state schools and colleges access to life-changing opportunities.
In 2010 we started our programme of inspirational talks – which has taken thousands of influential speakers to schools nationwide. Now, 15 years on, Speakers for Schools have become one of the most influential social mobility charities in the country, and the largest provider of work experience in the UK.
On Tuesday 4th March 2025 guests joined our Founder Robert Peston, our Chair of the Board of Trustees Andrew Law, our CEO Nick Brook, and our inspirational panellists – inside the iconic Tate Britain: to toast the achievements of the last fifteen years and hear all about how we intend to support more young people with access to work experience in the years to come.
Watch our short 15 Years of Impact anniversary film:
“Founding Speakers for Schools is my proudest achievement. Over the last 15 years we have made a difference to the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people, driven by our conviction that education should be about more than an academic curriculum. Through free talks from some of the country’s most inspiring figures and rich workplace experiences, we help young people understand and plot a course in an increasingly complex world. The impact of these programmes is proven and significant. We are bridging the knowledge gap about future careers and opportunities, while building confidence, resilience, and adaptability. These are not just ‘nice to have’ attributes; they are the qualities young people need to thrive in challenging times.”
Robert Peston, Founder and ITV’s Political Editor
“Speakers for Schools exist to demystify careers and provide life-changing opportunities, through talks by eminent speakers in schools and the high-quality work experiences we provide. We see at first hand the transformational difference that great experiences of the workplace can have on young people, which motivates us on to do even more. This is why we have focused our efforts and resources on ensuring every young person in this country has access to work experience, by 2028. My sincere thanks to the many volunteers, businesses and supporters who have made the last 15 years of changing lives possible.”
Andrew Law, Chair of the Board of Trustees
Our next chapter: Speakers for Schools is becoming Futures For All
During our 15th Anniversary Celebration, we shared some big news.
We are excited to announce that in September 2025, we will change our name to Futures For All, to better represent the breadth of what we do and our ambition to provide fair futures for all young people. We’ll continue to use the Speakers for Schools name for our inspirational talks programme. Whilst our new overall charity identity becomes consistent with our entire offering, including our best-in-class work experience service.
Nothing will change about who we are, other than that we will redouble our commitment to help young people acquire the knowledge and confidence they need to thrive in this challenging world.
Our commitment is clear – we want to ramp up our support for state schools and colleges to ensure that, by 2028, every young person has access to fully funded, high-quality work experience.
Talent is everywhere across this country, but opportunity is not. It’s time to put that right.
Watch our short Futures For All announcement film:
“This year, half of young people will leave school having had no work experience whatsoever. Those who do often rely on parental networks to arrange it. It cannot be right that access to opportunities or the workplace is dependent upon who mum or dad know or where they might work. That is why we have pivoted our focus and resources to close this gap in access to opportunity.
2023–24 marked the first year of delivering our new five-year strategy, during which we doubled the number of young people on multi-day placements, reaching over 8,500. But we need to go much further. By resetting our charity’s brand as Futures For All, we will kickstart the next academic year with our name and purpose aligned as one – as we continue our journey to open doors to relevant, meaningful and impactful work experience for every state-educated student.”
Nick Brook, CEO
Support us in providing work experience
You can help us to support young people right across the UK, and transform the workplace for all, by reaching out to Sarah Cleveley, our Director of Development: sarah.cleveley@speakersforschools.org
Our 15 years of collective impact
Thanks to our partners, speakers, and supporters, our charity has now provided over 1.7 million young people in state secondary schools and colleges with access to high-quality and high-impact programmes, empowering them to reach their potential through inspirational talks and life-changing work experience.
Over the last 15 years we have facilitated a wide range of exciting talks, from Bill Gates to Alex Scott, from CEOs to adventurers, from comedians to barristers, and everyone in between. We have undertaken independent research into the benefits of work experience and used our network to raise awareness about the impact of systemic inequalities and then galvanise support to drive change. Our latest Work Experience For All campaign generated nationwide reach, and resulted in recommendations to the Education Committee inquiry being included in the latest CEIAG report.
Now, we are reflecting on last year’s transformative impact:
Work Experience programme
8,521 young people attended multi-day placements.
- 89% of young people felt confident they could achieve their career goals after completing their placement.
- 88% of young people eligible for Free School Meals said their placement helped them decide on their future career.
Speakers for Schools programme
63,736 young people attended in-person talks.
- 79% of young people said their talk introduced them to career options they hadn’t considered before.
- 1 in 3 young people said they were now considering a career in the same sector as their speaker.
You can read our latest Impact Report here.
An anniversary event to remember
The encouraging words of our Founder Robert Peston, our Chair of the Board of Trustees Andrew Law, our CEO Nick Brook, and panellists Hugh Dennis, Ed Balls, and our Youth Council member Cara Field – inspired everyone in the room and the message was loud and clear: together, we have the power to create real, lasting change for young people, and the journey ahead is filled with limitless possibilities.
The South Duveens gallery featured a digital exhibition of our programmes over the years, with images, quotes, statistics, and videos framed for all to explore.
As we announced the news on Speakers for Schools becoming Futures For All from September, the lighting washing the walls and uplighting the columns switched from orange to bright purple – reflecting our future change in an engaging way.
Join us to change young lives
The work of our Speakers for Schools and Work Experience programmes is vital for shifting the socioeconomic outlooks of young people. Follow our journey towards Futures For All, and if you haven’t already – please join us in our mission to change young lives.
