‘I feel inspired about the next generation’: how a business competition motivates school pupils

Equipping young people with employability skills may not conjure up a mental image of students having fun. But that’s exactly what happens at the BASE competition, a free national business and accounting competition for 16- to 17-year-olds in the UK, run by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

“If you look at the top 10 things an employer looks for in a new recruit, BASE gives young people a feel for all of those skills,” says Sharon Spice, ICAEW director for global student recruitment.

A professional membership organisation that supports more than 153,000 chartered accountants worldwide, ICAEW estimates that around 22,000 students have participated since BASE (business, accounting, skills, education) was established in 2009, and approximately 500 schools take part every year.

But it’s not about a sales pitch on chartered accountancy, or even drumming up interest among young people in careers in the industry, Spice says.

“BASE enables students to experience the world of business and accountancy, while competing with schools across the country, but it’s also designed to help them develop business acumen and employability skills to take them forward to the next stage of their career, whatever that might be.”

To enter, in teams, students must complete an online game in class and submit a video presentation. The top 24 teams will be invited to the National Final in Leeds in June 2020, in which students compete in one last challenge to determine who is the National Champion.

The online game, which brings a business case study to life, is aligned with the school curriculum for business studies, economics and maths. It also links to the Gatsby benchmarks; a framework of eight guidelines that define careers provision for schools and colleges.

Teachers are supplied with lesson plans and all the resources needed to run the online round. Participants get feedback on how they performed, and have to submit a video presentation for the chance to compete in the live final.

Teams that make it through to the final will work on an unseen case study with no advance notice of what’s involved. Students have time to analyse the business and work through a series of tasks. Halfway through the day, Spice says organisers throw a curveball into proceedings and watch how the students respond.

Each team also has a mentor from the business community supporting them on the day. Teachers, however, are banished – but they do get access to a roomful of employers for the duration of the live final.

“That’s very important, because it means the teachers themselves get the opportunity to refresh their sense of what employers are looking for and update their knowledge of the business environment,” says Spice.

A number of awards are up for grabs; as well as the overall competition winner, prizes are given for achievements such as the top-performing individuals or the teams who best display adaptability or commercial acumen.

“The thing we’re really proud of is our prizes; we’ve worked closely with a variety of employers to come up with money-can’t-buy experiences such as work shadowing someone senior in an organisation or business mentoring – things young people don’t normally get access to,” says Spice.

The winning team gets £4,000 for their school to spend on resources to support students in employability skills, and a coach runs employability skills sessions with the winning school’s year group.

“We don’t expect students to walk away wanting to become chartered accountants,” says Spice. “We just want to inspire them and get them to think about the skills they have, because many don’t realise they already have lots of skills that are relevant to the business world.”

Still, some students leave the competition thinking differently about accountancy. “There’s often a lightbulb moment where students realise that all the fun things they’ve been doing are part of the diverse range of things that chartered accountants do.”

Henry Fields, a member of the BASE National Champion 2019 team from Queen Elizabeth’s school in Devon, says BASE has helped him develop teamworking skills and business skills. His teammate, Isabella Watts, agrees: “BASE has definitely helped me to develop my confidence – I was never confident in standing up and presenting in front of people, but after today I feel a lot better about it because I just had to get up there and do it.”

Georgia Mears, also from the winning team, says BASE has changed her perception of accountancy. “I feel like I understand it more now and maybe, hopefully, I could be one, one day.”

For those who choose to purse a career in a relevant field, the ICAEW offers a wide variety of resources to support their career aspirations, from apprenticeships to a foundation-level qualification. “We provide a huge range of resources to support students on their training journey, and we offer a free-to-use training vacancies website, which makes it as easy as possible for talent to find an employer.”

For Pip Langfield, head of careers at Ackworth school, Yorkshire, the competition offers “a multitude of benefits” for the young people who take part. “The experience has been invaluable to our students in the development of their employability skills,” she says. “They have been able to apply all the theories and concepts they’ve learned in the classroom to a real-life case study.”

Fiona Banks, head of business and economics at Sir Thomas Rich’s school, Gloucester, thinks BASE affords students an invaluable insight into the world of work: “It’s a great experience for all students and it brings to light the diversity of careers in accountancy.”

Ultimately, Spice says BASE is about inspiring the minds of the future: “As a body we’re not just there to train chartered accountants. We exist to support society and public interest, and this is about giving something back to the next generation.”

Having attended the final for many years, Spice says it’s inspiring for all who take part. “The employers who give up their time, free of charge, to take part tell us it’s one day in the year when they feel really inspired about the next generation,” she says.

“I’m always amazed by the young people who take part in BASE, and struck by the sense that the individuals in the room don’t realise how impressive they are. It actually has a powerful emotional impact on me – I think it’s the sense that the future of business is in safe hands.”

Find out more at ICAEW.com