Testimonials
“Panjango is a dynamic and original resource to inspire children and educators, ensuring that our kids don’t just survive but thrive in their future. Panjango offers a radical new approach to the delivery of careers education – a powerful, immersive experience which helps young people understand why their learning is important and how it is used in practical settings in the world of work. The resource has the potential to significantly enhance the learning outcomes of young people by bringing learning to life, making if fun, interactive and meaningful.”
Dr. Richard Gerver
School Head Teacher of the Year and Best-Selling Education Author
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"Panjango is a really dynamic organisation pushing the boundaries of career learning within and beyond the classroom. The resource is fun and lively, with a strong theoretical base supporting innovative approaches to lifelong career development."
Dr. Deirdre Hughes OBE
Chair, National Careers Council, England (2012-2014)
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"I have been using the Panjango resources for several years now as they are original as well as informative, enjoyed by our KS3 students and also popular with tutors. Easy to access, very flexible to fit either a short tutor time or a longer lesson in PSHEE, and with plenty of subject contact to support curriculum teachers as well. Extremely good value - thoroughly recommended!
Sue Moreton
Careers & PSHEE Lead, Devonport High School for Boys
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"Panjango Online careers platform offers students a comprehensive way to explore the world of work. Through virtual work placements, students gain valuable insights into the working world, helping them understand various professions and industries. Additionally, the platform provides free resources and activities suitable for a wide age range, helping the development of digital skills and confidence. These resources not only benefit students but also offer opportunities to engage with teachers, aligning with Gatsby benchmark 4, to ensure students are prepared for the world of work.
The platform is a really valuable resource for our Career Programme and has a big impact on our student’s aspirations by opening up a range of job sectors that they would not have considered. Our students are hard to reach young people and often will not engage in lessons Panjango has allowed me to break down the barriers to learning and bring the World of Work to my students."
Maxine Hughes
Career Lead, Rotherham Aspire PRU
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"It’s my 7th year at Speilwarenmesse (the world’s largest toy fayre) and Panjango is the best idea I’ve ever seen.”
Anna Orleanska
Editor - Branża Dziecięca (Polish Toy Magazine)
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"I absolutely love your games. Firstly, I think they awareness of careers that the students may have no idea about - but playing games also teaches them social skills, and many of our students don't really do this sort of thing with their families."
Karen Gammack
Deputy Head Teacher & Careers Leader, Longbenton High School
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"I'm in heaven! These resources are incredible and I cannot wait to share them with curriculum departments. Honestly, this is the best example of BM4 I've seen when it comes to resources!"
Catherine Carruthers
Head of Careers, Astrea Academy Dearne
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"Panjango directly addresses one of the core aim of LEPs' agendas around building a sustainable and skilled workforce and ensuring today's school leavers and other young adults looking for a job, find the right one suited to their own aspirations and skill sets. Through its creative gaming technology, young people are enabled to explore real life work situations in respect of the careers they would like to pursue by overcoming the challenges of initiative, imagination and teamwork that Panjango provides. This resource promises to be a cost-effective and real life solution to bridging the gap between business and the employees of the future."
James Newman
Chairman - Finance Yorkshire
Chairman - Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership 2010-15
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"I am delighted to see a new free online resource to help develop young people's awareness of the opportunities that are open to them in the world of work and, also, their ability to make decisions about that world. Panjango is aimed at younger children and definitely fills a gap for that age group. It is wonderfully simple and accessible and will be a valuable resource, not only for specifically vocational courses, but for a wider range of topics. Given what we know about the impact of vocational links to raising attainment, and the priority that we are placing on helping young people to understand the opportunities that could be open to them, this resource could not be more timely."
David Cameron
Head of Career Management Skills, Skills Development Scotland
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"Panjango is designed to bring the educational curriculum to life and demonstrate the practical application of knowledge and skills in life after school. This pioneering interactive resource allows young people to explore a virtual world of work, learn about different career paths and the way the economy works, and collaborate in tackling a wide range of challenges which simulate those faced by professionals in their day to day job. This immersive experience will enable young people to develop a detailed understanding of the opportunities available for them to aspire to, the competencies essential for employment, and, crucially, the importance of education.
Panjango’s use of gaming reinvigorates careers education for the 21st century and re-orientates the aims and purpose of the school syllabus towards the future world of work. This is precisely the type of intervention needed to bridge the current divide between the needs of businesses and the education agenda within schools. We wholeheartedly endorse the company’s approach and look forward to working with them in bringing about the changes that are needed in our education system.”
Neil Carberry
Director of Employment and Skills at the CBI
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"When students can’t see the relevance of the curriculum to ‘real life’, which is an issue I come across regularly, they can miss a golden opportunity to recognise and develop skills and knowledge which will help them to make sound career decisions. I was delighted to discover Panjango, which uniquely addresses this with informative and fun challenges and designed to apply learning to the world of work. It’s bitesize, ready-made, and free, enabling schools to engage students with minimal preparation and no cost. There are many careers and employability resources out there but, to my expert knowledge, none like Panjango. Students I’ve used it with so far have responded very positively."
Catherine Webster
Member of the Careers Development Institute
Careers Adviser - John Masefield High School and Sixth Form Centre
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"Panjango is a fresh and exciting approach to exploring careers. The range of activities means young people can discover more through individual, group and whole class settings. One of the things I find most useful is the opportunities for discussion. By thinking and talking together, pupils can reflect on a deeper level, visualising the possibilities open to them through a range of career choices. I particularly like the simple graphics and how easy it is to navigate around the game. It's adaptable to suit a range of settings and age groups. I would certainly recommend this for schools and other educational settings."
Victoria Roberts
Teacher, Birkdale Independent School
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"Panjango is a cleverly designed product which allows young adults to explore their interests and release their curious minds into the world beyond compulsory education. Up to date information, advice and guidance is provided in the form of an exciting virtual world platform. Panjango not only encourages students to explore career possibilities but takes them on a journey of problem solving challenges, business related tasks and social and economy related scenarios to fully prepare the students for the “big wide world”. Through completion of the virtual platform landscape, students will undoubtedly develop a comprehensive skill set and desirable attributes for any employer.
The accessibility of the package is an excellent focal point. The ease at which students can independently navigate around the virtual platform whether they are in school or at home is an additional benefit, allowing parents and teachers alike to be involved in the young adult’s journey. With 975,000 people aged 16-24 being NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) nationally in 2014, we, as the education family, owe it to the future generation to provide a diverse and inclusive support network with the aim to reduce this statistic. Panjango really is the package to help move forward the young adults today."
Emma Wright-Phillips
Head of Teaching & Learning at Baysgarth School
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"Teaching and informing pupils about careers and employment can be really difficult and incredibly dull. Panjango enables the teacher to place the pupil in charge of their own learning, choosing careers which are of interest to them, peaking their curiosity in a particular employment sector. The strength of this product is the depth and detail of careers for pupils to engage in, empowering pupils in their learning through given them a range of choices to access at their own pace.
The interactive landscape engages pupils with an interface which is vibrant and easy to navigate. The tasks are easy to explain and cover a wide range of employment skills for the pupils to develop. All the tasks are fun and appealing to the pupils, captivating their interest through individual work and structure group exercises. Being able to access the resource from home, hugely widens the appeal for pupils, parents and teachers."
Andrew Dixon
STEM Co-ordinator at Baysgarth School
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"We would like to thank Panjango for trialling their exciting new product, Panjango Online, with us. Currently STEM-based topics are at the forefront of Science teaching and we are always striving for ways to incorporate as many links to the ‘real world’ as we possibly can into our Science teaching. This is sometimes difficult due to constraints on time, or lack of information. We felt Panjango does this perfectly. We recently carried out a student survey that concluded that students struggle to link Science to how it is useful in the real world of work. Panjango would enable us to link topics in our schemes of work to real jobs and industries, bridging the gap between Science as an academic subject and jobs/industry.
Secondly, we found that the product would be an excellent careers tool. Currently we have standalone careers and guidance activities. The activities on the resource would enable us to ‘drip feed’ guidance and information in to our everyday teaching. We felt that this would have a greater impact on the students and improve their overall awareness of what careers are available, particularly in this region, especially as locally we are trying to nurture homegrown talent.
As classroom teachers, we were impressed with the range of activities that students could do. For instance, the shorter numeracy challenges would make excellent starters to lessons, particularly with the government drive to improve numeracy in schools. The longer, more discussion-based tasks would make excellent collaborative learning activities to improve social skills. We would aim to set some of the challenges as homework tasks so would incorporate the product onto our virtual learning environment, further enhancing the validity of the product.
Panjango is something that we, as Science teachers, have been waiting for, for a long time.”
James Evans
Assistant Director of Science at Sirius Academy
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“As the careers coordinator and adviser for a vocational college, I like Panjango because it is simple to use and offers instant information to students. I particularly like the link to fundamental subjects such as English, Maths and Science within the knowledge challenges. It will add great value to our GCSE and functional skills tutors planning when they incorporate careers into their subjects."
Jo Batch
Careers Education Coordinator, Colchester Institute
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"I love it! Absolutely fantastic classroom-based resource which can be flexed to meet the time constraints most teachers seem to have in covering careers. Beautifully interactive - I think that's key for Years 7 - 9 and even higher. Way more engaging than much of what else I've looked at online."
Sally Tyler
Careers Advisor, Camberley Job Club
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"Panjango is a unique, free to use interactive and engaging virtual learning environment in which students can learn about the world of work. It’s simple but effective learning platform gives learners the chance to find out more about a huge range of career opportunities that can be easily linked to specific geographical areas. I personally love the different challenges that each job role has which allows learners to answer curriculum based questions directly linked to the world of work. These can be used in a variety of ways – from independent guided learning to quick fire start or end of lesson activities which can engage a whole group."
Mark Hughes
Group Head of Partnerships, Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education
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"Panjango is a colourful and attractive resource. The interface is deceptively simple, allowing students of all ages to explore career options with independence. The activities and tasks allow for a range of approaches and make the resource relevant to all areas of the curriculum. Thoroughly recommended."
Daniel O'Farrell
Head of English - St. Mary's College
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"With its virtual world demonstrating real life careers and pathways, Panjango allows young people to make the necessary educational and careers links to take their formal education beyond the school gates. We know that 'chalk and teach' is no longer the most effective way of imparting knowledge to young people. Panjango takes the preference for technology-assisted learning, shakes it up and makes understanding careers much more engaging and fun for a wide range of age groups. Its versatility means that you are able to adapt your lessons to better meet the needs of the students which, in turn, allows for an improved teaching and learning experience. When looking for an online resource that can bring careers to life, I’d highly recommend Panjango."
Simone Simmons
Partnerships Officer, Southampton Solent University
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“Panjango is a brilliant tool for teachers and pupils to seamlessly connect the curriculum to the world of work, while learning more about career options. It complements other excellent online sites schools can use to provide the support young people need.”
Tim Dibb
DWP policy lead for Jobcentre Support for Schools
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"Panjango is a wonderfully creative virtual tool allowing young people to explore vocational and more unfamiliar careers options and, crucially, develop the skills needed to work in industry, globally. What particularly excites me is how at long last, something literally connects syllabus to work."
Matthew Anderson
Executive Director - TVET UK
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“At the click of a mouse, Panjango enables young people to tackle real logical, ethical and human problems from the world of work. It validates their skills and knowledge while allowing them to explore a range of career options. Panjango is an innovative platform with real potential to help students identify their vocation in life.”
Dr Luke Freeman
Department of Anthropology, University College London
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"For Career Education to be most effective in helping young people steer their course through the increasingly complex and extended journey from learning to earning, it requires not just career specialists or teachers to be well informed and appropriately supported to play their roles but all the key influencers; chief amongst these being parents. Drawing on a resource such as Panjango, it can offer parents the information and reassurance needed to allow them to help their children explore learning and career options and so ultimately better prepare them to make a successful transition to a sustained positive destination in the world of work. Panjango is a valuable resource that can contribute to the development of a systematic and progressive career education programme."
Ken Edwards
Education Programme Lead, Skills Development Scotland
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"In today's digital world, it is vital that our young people have every opportunity to use the best of European technologies in their homes and classrooms. We have some excellent companies here in Europe, with ideas like Panjango, which takes career education to a whole new level through the clever use of technology."
Patricia Reilly
European Commission Expert
Member of the Cabinet for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport
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"Careers advice has been a real issue for employers. They feel that it has not been good enough for young people to make impartial and informed decisions about how they want to pursue their education, and the careers they want to target. The routes to many careers are best done vocationally for instance yet many "able" children are pushed down the academic routes. If we are to support the economy we need this has to change and Panjango offers a real and exciting way of doing that. Complemented by good employer interaction and good work experience it will definitely ensure students become aware of the alternative careers open to them, the optimum routes into them, and hence make the right decision for themselves."
Richard Wright MBE
Executive Director of The Sheffield Chamber of Commerce
Chair of The Sheffield College
Chair of the Sheffield UTC Multi Academy Trust
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“The guys at Panjango have figured out how to put the power of learning into young people’s hands. They offer an indispensable portfolio of resources that are brilliantly designed to support the delivery of employment-related skillsets and careers education for children in primary and secondary schools. Their innovative and accessible resources offer the perfect vehicle to connect children with the requirements of business and industry. I have no hesitation in personally recommending their resources as tools that will engage children with the world of work, and build their aspirations along the way.”
Lee Strafford
Co-founder and former CEO of PlusNet
Sheffield LEP Board member
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“I am delighted to support Panjango and the ideas it is seeking to develop. By linking the learning environment and school syllabus with the world of work, young people will be better supported in recognising their potential and choosing a career path that best suits their interests and skills. I welcome the fact that employers will be involved in this initiative, and that both teachers and pupils have found this virtual learning careers education resource empowering and engaging. I wish everyone involved great success in this venture, and I look forward to hearing about the benefits this initiative brings to all those involved.”
Matthew Hancock MP
Former Minister for Skills and Enterprise, Department of Education and Department of Business, Innovation and Skills Minister for Schools
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Testimonials from young people who have used Panjango Online:
“Everything was fun and interactive rather than boring web pages with out of date information.”
“It's different, and very educational - helps me understand what jobs are like.”
“It provided a more interactive way to learn career skills than just in school.”
“It was very interactive. There was no set way to do it. I enjoyed this freedom.”
“Gets the brain thinking. Make you think about the qualities you need for a certain job.”
“I enjoyed the fun activities and questions. I also liked the disaster scenarios.”
“I enjoyed learning about all the different jobs and situations that may happen in them.”
"It is easy to use and teaches you about lots of different careers.”
“It was helpful for children to develop their maths etc.”
“I liked that is was a competition and everyone got chance to work together.”
“Encouraged me and my team to take part in careers more as it was a different way of learning and it was a lot more fun.”
“Panjango is an amazing website and I enjoyed the interactive experience it gives.”
“I liked everything. Amazing experience!”
Testimonials from young people who have played Panjango's games:
“I think the game was the best game ever. I think it will be good for the future.”
“I would recommend this game to other people. I enjoyed it very much and I have learned a lot about jobs.”
Year 6 pupils, Dalton Foljambe Primary School
“Brilliant because it helps you with what you might do when you are older.”
“This game is educational but fun to play. The best game was ‘Story Chains’ because it was funny.”
“I think other people should play this game because it is educational and it might help you with a career!”
Year 6 pupils, Woodthorpe Primary School
“I would buy this game… I like this game because it is fun and exciting. It gives you an idea of what you want to do in the future.”
“I would really like to take this game home. It is really addictive and everybody played well. I would like to play this again!”
“I enjoyed the game. It was good for communication. I would definitely recommend it to others. I think it is a good idea. It helped me to know what jobs there are.”
Year 6 pupils, Carfield Primary School
“If we were given this game as a lesson it would be the best lesson! It’s very educational and very helpful.”
“It would be good to play at home as well as school when friends come round or with the family”
“It helps you find out about careers because you can try and find out which job the game’s talking about.”
Year 6 pupils, Birkdale Independent School