Lloyds Bank Design Team host a Teacher Encounter Day

On Wednesday 26th June Lloyds Bank Design Team opened their doors to host 16 teachers from Southwark College to participate in a Teacher Encounter experience through The Central London Careers Hub.

The objective was for multiple teachers to experience a day in a leading financial services company for a better understanding on how cross- curriculum subjects link to the skills needed for specific roles within the organisation. Teachers had the opportunity to meet the design leaders and practitioners and see examples of their work and explore the multitude of creative roles available within the financial sector. Reflections of the day are then discussed and workshopped to create tangible outcomes for students once back in the classroom.

Highlights of the day included interacting with multiple design teams at Lloyds Banking, to understand what skills make a ‘great designer’, this was facilitated by apprentices, interns and senior managers across various departments. It was interesting to learn that no career pathway into the sector had been same, but one commonality was the passion for collaboration, creative ideas and curiosity to find innovative solutions.

Inclusivity was a running theme of the day as the Lloyds teams highlighted their own, varied career journeys, discussing multiple pathways into the company, signposting opportunities such apprenticeships and internships and the importance of challenging stereotypes in finance and banking to champion a diverse and inclusive future talent pipeline. Through this discussion, teachers gained an insight into the current labour market, including a look at the rich landscape of design and the emerging roles within the sector.

The day concluded with feedback on how we integrate gained knowledge back into the classroom for students, to upskill and best prepare them for the world of work. Having an open discussion on what skills employers within this sector are looking for helped navigate where educators can support and develop students’ skillsets for a wider option of pathways post-16.

One teacher commented, “the design think-tanks have shown the need for more collaborative approaches to tasks in the classroom which will foster more creative problem solving and critical thinking”. Another teacher expressed that they feel more confident to implement ‘more questioning in the classroom’, to break down ‘the why’ in assignment topics to find multiple solutions to allow for more self-assessment, critical thinking and broaden students’ transferable skills. Lloyd’s Banking is a member of the Cornerstone Employer group for the Careers Hub and has demonstrated their commitment to engaging with future talent in innovative ways, such as the pioneering Teacher Encounters programme.

Reflecting on the day, Tony Sobers, Design Lead at Lloyds Banking explained: “A highlight for me was seeing the realisation that Design was a much broader topic than originally perceived and understanding how intertwined we are with the day to day operation of the business “I think the other highlight was getting across the varied backgrounds of the people that presented on the day, I think that above all highlighted the diversity we are seeking in our team.” “I hope that gave the tutors the confidence to go back to the students with a better understanding of Design in financial services and the ability to honestly say that we really do need those diverse backgrounds, and varied career experiences, to help us build better customer experiences. The design team encompasses a range of roles, the more diverse, the better foundation for us to inform our work. Each of the facilitators took away something positive from the encounter, we enjoyed the questions asked and the opportunity to inform the next generation design talent. Hopefully we can run another of these sessions, I personally had a lot of fun with this, and I hope it becomes a regular fixture.”

Based on the success of the day, Lloyds have already began developing the next Teacher Encounter event with the Central London Careers Hub Project Officer to reach an even wider audience and showcase other departments and career opportunities within Lloyds.