The initiative comes as research highlights a significant gap between young people\u2019s ambition and their awareness of the routes available to them.<\/p>\n
![\"Students](\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/TD2_0412_3nAI2VUb_20260929012057.jpg\")
Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n
A UCAS study of 1,000 young people aged 13 to 17 across the UK found that 57% said they had no idea what career they wanted to do in the future, while 47% said they knew only \u201ca little\u201d about their post-18 options.<\/p>\n
At the same time, young people are clear that enjoyment and passion matter when thinking about their future. 30% placed working in an area or subject they are passionate about among their top five priorities for a future job, while enjoying their job was the most commonly selected factor overall.<\/p>\n
Bitesize Careers Follow Your Passion<\/a> aims to help close that awareness and inspiration gap by encouraging young people to begin their career discovery with the things they already love, before introducing them to jobs, pathways and opportunities they may never previously have considered.<\/p>\n The initiative will use young people\u2019s passion for football, showing 14 to 19-year-olds the breadth of careers available across the game and demonstrating how it can lead to opportunities far beyond becoming a professional player.<\/p>\n The initiative was launched with a major event at Wembley on Tuesday 29th September, bringing together around 200 young people with figures from across football, education and youth engagement. Hosted by BBC Radio 1\u2019s Rickie Haywood-Williams, the event featured a Q&A with former England internationals Alex Scott and David James, a former OU student, giving young people the chance to hear first-hand about careers, opportunities and experiences across the game.<\/p>\n Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n Young people will also be able to explore different pathways into the industry, including apprenticeships, volunteering, university courses, work experience and training, helping them better understand how an interest can translate into a future career.<\/p>\n The wider programme includes partnerships with the Premier League<\/a>, The FA<\/a>, EFL in the Community<\/a>, Rio Ferdinand Foundation<\/a> and involvement from the WSL<\/a> and BBC Sport.<\/p>\n The initiative is being launched against a challenging backdrop for young people entering the workplace. The Government-commissioned Milburn Review found that nearly one million 16 to 24-year-olds are not currently in education, employment or training, while The Open University\u2019s 2026 Business Barometer found that 57% of UK employers are experiencing a skills shortage.<\/p>\n However, research for The Open University\u2019s Business Barometer<\/a> suggests among 16 to 24-year-olds not currently in education, employment or training, 68% said they would be willing to train or upskill if doing so helped them secure a job or progress at work, while only 6% said they did not want to be in education, training or employment in the next two years.<\/p>\n The initiative will bring together BBC Bitesize\u2019s trusted careers resources with The Open University\u2019s expertise in learning, skills and employability, giving young people practical advice, information and inspiration to help them explore where their interests could take them.<\/p>\n Cerys Griffiths, Head of BBC Bitesize said:<\/p>\n \u201cYoung people shouldn\u2019t be expected to have their whole career mapped out at 14. Bitesize Careers Follow Your Passion is about starting somewhere much simpler: what do you enjoy, what interests you and where could that take you?<\/p>\n \u201cBy opening up the huge range of careers connected to something as familiar as football, we want to help young people discover opportunities they may never have known existed and give them the confidence to explore what comes next.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dr Caroline Ogilvie, Director of Broadcast & Partnerships at The Open University:<\/p>\n \u201cHelping people follow their passions is at the heart of The Open University\u2019s partnership with the BBC. We are delighted to work with BBC Bitesize Careers to inspire and inform people about the wide range of careers connected to what they love. Football is a powerful example: the industry offers many different roles and develops valuable, transferable skills that can open doors across sectors. We are proud to be part of Bitesize Careers Follow Your Passion and to help people see where their interests could take them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dr Alex Twitchen, Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching Practice and Learning, The Open University:<\/p>\n “At The Open University, we see first-hand how flexible learning can support people to develop the knowledge and skills they need to pursue the opportunities they are passionate about. This campaign highlights the breadth of opportunities within football and demonstrates to young people why there is no single route into these careers. The individuals featured have followed many different paths, including volunteering, apprenticeships, work experience, career changes, and higher education. By sharing these stories, young people should see and be inspired by the many opportunities available and recognise how their current interests could become rewarding careers in the future.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Bitesize Careers Follow Your Passion is part of a long-term Bitesize commitment to supporting young people with their careers choices, helping young people explore careers through their interests.<\/p>\n Go to the BBC Bitesize Careers<\/a> website to find out more about jobs in football, in the Follow Your Passion collection, and discover even more on The Open University\u2019s OU Connect.<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The new careers initiative aims to tackle the careers awareness gap, as research finds 57% of teenagers have no idea what career they want, but 30% prioritise working in an area they are passionate about. BBC Bitesize and The Open University have joined forces to launch Bitesize Careers Follow Your Passion, a new careers initiative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":30924,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,17,20,22],"tags":[232,2711,1525,1622,1640,1643],"class_list":["post-30919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-sport","category-tv-radio","category-university-news","tag-bbc","tag-bitesize","tag-news-home","tag-ou-connect","tag-ou-home","tag-ou-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30919"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30929,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30919\/revisions\/30929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Young](\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/TD2_9736_yXQ4EOId_20260929121225-1.jpg\")