Our Story

Making ‘that difference’ is why ELSA exists.

Our Vision
A world where every young person believes that a successful future is achievable.

Our Mission
To empower every single young person we meet to achieve a successful future.
We achieve this by delivering the following:
E- Education through the delivery of high-quality flexible programmes;
L- Learning tailored to individual needs;
S- Skills that transfer from education to employment;
A- Achievement, leading to brighter futures

ELSA Next Generation is a not-for-profit business, that delivers bespoke educational work awareness programmes to young people. ELSA stands for Education, Learning, Skills and Achievement. When working with our young people, our educational programmes, provide learning opportunities that enhance the skill set of our young people, allowing them to achieve greater success. Over 20,000 young people have been inspired so far, supported by over 500 businesses across 50 educational settings.

We know that everyone has the potential to secure an inspiring successful future.
We know that our school or college education is simply not sufficient, in ensuring that young people are work ready.
For many, school life can be too restrictive in its learning style and increasingly focused on assessment and exams.

At ELSA we know that not one style of learning suits all.

“If someone cannot learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn”

Our programmes are interactive, practical and use current business recruitment and talent acquisition methods.
The ELSA days encourage entrepreneurship and enterprise, and all young people engage through a hands-on approach to learning, while also enhancing their teamwork and social skills. ELSA understands that interpersonal skills such as critical-thinking, collaboration, resilience, time management and flexibility are vital for the workplace, and these will be skills that are valued highly by employers in the future. Technology advances in our places of work leads to an increased need for problem-solving, emotional intelligence and innovation.

ELSA places greater emphasis on work awareness skills and life skills which enables young people to realise and explore their future career possibilities. Working with young people in both mainstream and specialist education, we deliver workshops which encourage debate, discussion, integrity, and aspiration, while also increasing self-awareness and ambition.

Today’s employers look for confident and knowledgeable young individuals to join their teams. Our programmes teach the skills and qualities that are required in the workplace.

Through our action-orientated programmes, the resources we provide and the wonderful support from local, national, and international employers, young people are educated about the opportunities that exist for them. ELSA’s work is made possible by the exceptional support of our enthusiastic business and community volunteers. At every event, we have volunteers from all sectors of commerce to help coach students in specific company approaches to recruitment, as well as using their own unique stories to inspire and raise aspirations.

Our programmes are adapted for the audience and can deliver whether it is one-to-one coaching or to an audience of over 300.

We seek to engage with every young person that we meet, and our goal is to bridge the gap between education and employment for young people of the Next Generation. ELSA enables and empowers young people to explore, acquire and celebrate their qualities, skills and potential and we want them to strive to achieve their very best and be work ready for their life beyond the school gates.