Government reports the urgent need for more Work Experience opportunities
- Reports also indicate that those from privileged backgrounds are 2.5 times more likely to build a career in creative occupations than their working-class peers.
- Discover! Creative Careers (DCC) aims to reach 10,000 young people across Scotland in its new partnership with Into Film Scotland.
- Upcoming Discover! Creative Careers Week Scotland events include:
- 28 Years Later screening & Talk with Drone Operator, Robbie Jones (Edinburgh + Glasgow)
- Grow screening & Q&A with Director John McPhail + Actor Sanjeev Kohli (Falkirk)
- Game Design workshop with DYW Live & Skills Development Scotland
- Discover Creative Careers Week Scotland runs from 10 to 14 November to coincide with Scottish Careers Week.
Into Film Scotland, part of Into Film the UK’s leading charity for film in education and the community, have announced a series of upcoming events as part of Discover! Creative Careers Week Scotland taking place from 10 to 14 November to coincide with Scottish Careers Week.
This announcement comes as recent reports from Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Career Development Institute indicate an urgent need for more Work Experience opportunities for young people and that those form privileged backgrounds are 2.5 times more likely to build a career in creative occupations than their working-class peers.
Upcoming events include Creative Catalyst at Perth Creative Exchange on Thursday 13th November. The session will be an opportunity to explore and experiment with expressive mark-making, materials and processes. This is for young people based in Perth and Kinross, developing their art portfolio to apply to further or higher education or with an interest in a creative career.
There will also be screenings in Edinburgh and Glasgow of recent hits 28 Years Later followed by a talk from the film’s Drone Operator Robbie Jones as well as a screening in Falkirk of new Scottish film Grow with Q&A fromDirector John McPhail & Actor Sanjeev Kohli. The programme of events across the week also includes a Game Design workshop from DYW Live & Skills Development Scotland which is one of DCC’s year-round activities.
Into Film will also run a special online webinar for parents and carers during Discover! Creative Careers Week in collaboration with Developing the Young Workforce and delivered during Skills Development Scotland’s Scottish Careers Week.
New opportunities are being added weekly, future offers to include games, museums and galleries, animation, fashion and textiles, heritage, film and tv, libraries and archives, visual art, and music.
Employers in the creative industries in Scotland can register their interest to participate in the programme here. Schools and educators can find out more and access the main Teacher and Careers Leaders hub here.
REPORTS FINDINGS
A paper on Work Based Learning the Career Development Institute highlighted the importance of events such as these providing practical, in-person experience.
For reference, this importance was also emphasised in the Gatsby Good Career Guidance (used in other UK nations but not Scotland), which includes in its framework that ‘by the age of 16, every pupil should have had meaningful experiences of workplaces’ and also points out that ‘these encounters could be in person or a combination of in-person and virtual, where appropriate.’
Therefore, although virtual opportunities are one way for pupils to gain experience, these should be part of a mix of methods that should include in-person experiences too.
Research from by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport after the Covid-19 pandemic (conducted in 2022 and updated in 2025) [2] alsofound that employers from the creative industries are more likely to cite ‘lack of work experience the company demands’ as a reason for their difficulties in filling hard-to-fill roles – 18.6% vs. 12.6% for overall employers.
They also found that employers cited that ‘applicants lack the required skills’ as their top reason – 44.5% vs. 31.1% for overall employers.
This paints a worrying picture of the skills and experience gaps for the creative industries. The paper also highlights that those from privileged backgrounds are 2.5 times more likely to end up in creative occupations than their working-class peers.
In a recent State of the Nations research report by Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre and produced by Work Advance, on the skills mismatch in the creative industries, findings included structural issues in the mismatch between the skills that people currently have and what the industry needs and how best to take them through education and training.
The report concludes that 65% of ‘hard-to-fill’ vacancies in the creative industries are attributable to skills shortages, compared with just 41% of ‘hard-to-fill’ vacancies across all sectors.
Skills shortages are most pronounced for higher-skilled roles, with 78% of creative industries employers experiencing such deficiencies (in the three highest occupations), compared with 31% across all industries.
Creative industries employers are more likely to report having to delay developing new products or services because of the skills shortages they face.
Skills gaps caused by the introduction of new technology (including but not limited to AI) and the development of new products and services are a particular challenge for creative businesses.
The report talks about the need to ensure that young people develop the skills they need to fill these roles and that these skills need to be agile and flexible to enable flourishing in multiple roles or parts of the sector (and outside of it). They are also informed by the reality of the nature of the sector and opportunity differences based on geography.
The report also discusses the need to increase diversity the sector and recognise the need to broaden out access and opportunities for young people, regardless of their background. The report highlights that if this is not addressed, the socio-economic diversity gap will only worsen and there will be even fewer stories made by people who we need to hear from.
In September after a competitive tender process, Into Film was awarded the contract to implement the Discover! Creative Careers programme in Scotland across 2025 – 2026. Working in partnership with Developing the Young Workforce (DYW), Discover! Creative Careers in Scotland has an ambition to reach at least 10,000 young people across 2025-2026.
Into Film Scotland is part of Into Film, the UK’s leading charity for film in education and the community. They provide screen industry careers information and advice, support young filmmakers, and bring the power of moving image storytelling into classroom teaching and youth provision across Scotland.
Clare Gibson, Discover Creative Careers Lead, Scotland has said: “We are thrilled to be launching this year’s programme for Discover! Creative Careers Scotland, for the week of the 10-14 November and beyond.
“The creative industry in Scotland is an exciting and interesting sector to work in, and we are delighted that we can work with employers and partners to offer a range of activities and events that can support young people to consider a career in the creative industries.
“We have new opportunities being added weekly; and you can expect to see future offers to include games, museums and galleries, animation, fashion and textiles, heritage, film and tv, libraries and archives, visual art, and music.
“Discover! Creative Careers Week Scotland is just the beginning, – the programme is running until March 2026, and there is much more to come!”
To keep up to date with all things Discover! In Scotland, you can visit the website to register your interest and search the opportunity finder for activity in Scotland:
https://discovercreative.careers/teachers-career-leaders/discover-creative-careers-week-scotland/
Employers in the creative industries in Scotland can register their interest to participate here.
Schools and educators can find out more and access the main Teacher and Careers Leaders hub here.
