CAREERMASH · TEN-MINUTE LESSON SHEET · LIVE VACANCIES · SNAPSHOT June 2026

Who is hiring apprentices right now?

Objectives (Gatsby 2 & 4 aligned)

• Students can explain that a vacancy count is a live, real number: actual employers hiring today, not a forecast.
• Students can name the English region with the most live listings today, and one real employer in it.
• Students can say why a vacancy count changes daily while a career's AI exposure score does not, and why a student needs both kinds of number.

The activity (8 to 10 minutes)

1. Project whatcareer.net/en/yellow/apprenticeships/vacancies and search a role the class suggests.
2. Split into groups by English region. Each group finds their region's count and reads out one real listing: employer, role, town.
3. Compare counts across regions on the board. Ask why one region might carry more listings than another.

Right now, by region

• South East711
• London670
• West Midlands525
• East of England510
• North West510
• Yorkshire and the Humber442
• South West438
• East Midlands423
• North East208
• Wales4
• Scotland1

Discussion prompts, from today's live listings

• South East has 711 live listings right now, the most of any region shown; Scotland has 1, the fewest. What might explain the gap: population, local industry, transport, something else?
• Of 4,522live listings nationally, how many are actually reachable for someone in this room without a car? What would count as “near us”?
• A vacancy count changes every day; an AI exposure score does not, because it measures a whole occupation, not one employer's need this week. Why does a student planning ahead need both kinds of number?

Source: the government's national Find an apprenticeship service, snapshot June 2026. Every listing links to the official page, where students apply; nothing here is estimated or carried over from another year. This sheet regenerates from live data; reprint each term rather than filing it.