How Eastern Education Group is Using Smart Data to Help its Students Make Smart Career Choices
Mariana Marques
Eastern Education Group (EEG) is a large, multi-tiered education provider comprising West Suffolk College, One Sixth Form College, Abbeygate Sixth Form College, a university-level provision, a group of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) schools, and two primary schools.
Its reach spans from early years to adult education across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Cambridgeshire. With approximately 14,000 learners in its FE, Apprenticeship, adult, and HE provision, EEG plays a vital role in shaping future talent for the East of England.
The Challenge: Educating for the Real World
Across its varied campuses and age groups, EEG has one consistent priority: ensuring students leave with not just a qualification, but a clear understanding of the world they’re entering. While EEG had strong links with employers and a framework based on three pillars – qualifications, employer connections, and character development – it lacked real-time labour market intelligence to support planning and student advice. Enter Lightcast, as Group Head of Careers Guidance Services, Charlotte Warren, explained:
"We're always looking to provide what the local area needs. It's really important that our students are employable. You can talk to local employers, but that only tells you what those specific businesses want. We needed something wider, which is why we turned to Lightcast."
– Charlotte Warren, Group Head of Careers Guidance Services, Eastern Education Group.
Making Data Actionable with Lightcast
EEG began using Lightcast data in 2021. Initially, access was limited to pockets of staff. However, recognising its broader potential, Charlotte and her team created a staff intranet page and began downloading reports for each curriculum area twice a year. “The idea was that no one should ever be working with data older than six months,” she said.
The reports became a key internal resource. Charlotte attended meetings across the colleges to explain the insights and even created bespoke reports for department heads planning provision in specific localities. "We had centre heads come to me because they needed to understand what was happening in their area before launching new courses.”
From PDFs to Power BI: A Game-Changer in Accessibility
While the static reports proved valuable, they had limitations. "One of the things that staff didn’t always like was they couldn’t manipulate the data once it was a downloaded report," said Charlotte. "They couldn’t filter out jobs that weren’t relevant to their curriculum area."
The turning point came with Lightcast’s Smart Dataset, which integrates directly into EEG’s Power BIs. The new dashboard allowed users to filter, explore, and engage with the data interactively. It also meant the insights were always up to date, without requiring any manual work.
The dashboard draws on core labour market indicators from Lightcast, including localised job postings data, industry growth trends, wage information, common and specialised skills, and occupational demand. Designed in collaboration with EEG’s data team, the dashboard was made more accessible by including a glossary, a help page, and filters grouped by curriculum areas like ‘Hair and Beauty’ or ‘Childcare.’ “We wanted to make it intuitive for staff and students,” Charlotte noted.
Challenging Career Myths and Opening Eyes
A key driver behind the dashboard rollout has been challenging persistent misconceptions. “We’re quite a rural area, so many parents expect that certain jobs just aren’t available here," Charlotte explains. "If you want to stay in this area, you often have to take on a specific type of work.”
Data helps open the eyes of students, parents, and staff to better understand the local situation. While West Suffolk College employs vocational staff with industry experience, some may have last worked in their fields up to 15 years ago. Providing updated information ensures that everyone has access to more current and relevant insights about the job market.
The college also hosts numerous parent events, during which staff often engage with parents afterwards. Many parents may not be familiar with the term “labour market information,” but they appreciate receiving up-to-date knowledge about local job opportunities and employment trends.
This up-to-date data also helps ground students that may enter college with unrealistic expectations about their future careers. “If they think they’re going to be a hairdresser and earn £100k, the data helps bring those conversations back to reality,” Charlotte says.
Expanding Access: From Staff to Students and Parents
With Lightcast’s data embedded in an interactive, user-friendly Power BI dashboard, EEG is breaking down barriers to insight and making evidence-based planning possible for everyone, from careers advisors and curriculum teams to families and learners themselves.
The dashboard is now live for governors and will be formally rolled out to staff in September. But EEG is going further, making it accessible to students and parents too. “We want it to be as available and accessible as possible,” Charlotte said. “It’s gone on our student and staff portals and will be shared in our parental communications this year.”
Rather than tailoring it to specific age groups, EEG has ensured the design and terminology are clear enough to be useful across its sixth forms, adult provision, and university-level learners.
EEG sees the dashboard as an evolving tool that will continue to support long-term planning, better career advice and guidance, and stronger employer engagement.
Our students deserve to make decisions based on the best data available. The dashboard we've created using Lightcast data brings a reality to careers conversations that will really help them become more employable.
If you’re looking for accurate, granular data to support your career services, contact Lightcast here.
