It will be one of the key tenets of the government’s forthcoming strategy “to fight disadvantage and extend opportunity”.
David Cameron’s so-called Life Chances Strategy is to be published this spring and will set out the government’s ideas for tackling the inequalities that exist in Britain, including between the rich and poor.
Mr Cameron said the strategy would have four strands – improving family life and the early years, improving education experiences, improving young people’s “social connections” and opportunities, and tackling addiction and mental health problems.
As part of this, he announced a £70 million investment in careers education, with a focus on mentoring.
He said: “Mentoring should be a big, big part of our plans. Many people can look back at their younger selves and can point to someone, or remember, perhaps a parent or teacher, a sports coach, or their first boss, and say ‘that’s the person who really found my passion. They’re the ones who made the difference for me’.
“But if you haven’t ever had someone in your life who really believes in you, who sees your potential and helps bring it to the fore, the sands of time can drain away, and your talents can remain hidden.”
The funding is to go principally to the Careers and Enterprise Company – set up by government during the last Parliament to improve careers advice and business to education links across the country – which is to lead a “major new effort” to recruit high-quality mentors for young teenagers.
This will focus on the 25,000 about to start their GCSEs who are at risk of underachieving or dropping out, the prime minister said.
He added: “I’ve seen this happen in some London state schools – one I went to a couple of years ago where every single child coming up to GCSE had a mentor – and I think we can be far more ambitious about what is possible in this area.
“So by finding inspirational role-models and encouraging them to give up some time, I believe we really can help young people make big plans for their future.”
On education more widely, Mr Cameron emphasised the government’s focus on the English Baccalaureate and character education as being a key part of the strategy.
He pledged to do more to spread character education best practice in the coming years.
He also said that the National Citizen Service – the volunteer/citizenship programme set up during the last Parliament – is to receive more than £1 billion over the next four years so that it can reach 60 per cent of all 16-year-olds by 2021.
Christine Hodgson, chair of the Careers and Enterprise Company, welcomed the funding and said the mentoring programme would be an “important campaign”.
She added: “We know there are thousands of young people, aged 13 to 14, who are not reaching their full potential and are in danger of disengaging without additional support. We also know mentoring can have a very beneficial impact on young people.
“We already see through our work not only businesses’ desire to support the next generation but also the amazing work being carried out by organisations in this space. This campaign will create more opportunities for businesses to get involved in a meaningful way and ultimately help young people who most need it.”
Under the fourth strand, Mr Cameron also plans to introduce a waiting time standard for teenagers suffering from eating disorders, to try and ensure they are seen within a month – or a week for urgent cases.