The law and statutory duties.
The new Careers Statutory Guidance (published Jan 2018) outlined that all schools must ensure that pupils are provided with independent careers guidance from year 8 to year 13. They will be held accountable for the career success of their pupils under by ensuring that ” data on student destinations (will be) widely available and easily understandable by people of all ages.”
From September 2012, as a result of The Education Act 2011, schools have been legally responsible for securing access to independent and impartial careers guidance for all students in Years 9 to 11. From September 2013, this was extended to Years 8 to 13.The Act states that Careers guidance must be presented in an impartial manner and promote the best interests of the students to whom it is given.
Careers guidance must also include information on all options available in respect of 16 to 18 education or training, including Apprenticeships and other work based education and training.
There has been a lot of debate about the definition of “independent and impartial” but the Act itself states:
Careers guidance provided to pupils at a school is independent for the purposes of this section if it is provided other than by:
(a) a teacher employed or engaged at the school, or
(b) any other person employed at the school
The GATSBY Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance.
THE GATSBY BENCHMARKS OF GOOD CAREER GUIDANCE In 2014, Lord Sainsbury’s Gatsby Charitable Foundation published a report by Professor Sir John Holman, Adviser in Education at the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, titled “Good Career Guidance.”
The report identified eight benchmarks that are the core dimensions of good careers and enterprise provision in schools:
1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experiences of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance
Good Career Guidance and further resources can be downloaded from the Gatsby website.
WHY THE GATSBY BENCHMARKS ARE IMPORTANT
The Gatsby Benchmarks have a key role in:
- Raising young people’s aspirations and promoting access to all career pathways
- Enabling all young people to develop the skills and outlook they need to achieve career wellbeing, including adaptability and resilience
- Underpinning the Department for Education guidance to schools on meeting their statutory responsibility for careers guidance.
Statutory guidance was issued to schools following the Act to support the implementation of the new arrangements.
Practical guide for schools.
The statutory guidance, when issued, was met with almost universal alarm at its brevity and lack of detail. This prompted the publication of the Practical Guide for Schools for head teachers, school staff, governing bodies and local authorities. It relates to the duty, under the Education Act 2011, for schools to ‘secure access to independent and impartial careers guidance for their pupils from September 2012’.
It seeks to supplement the Statutory Guidance issued in March 2012 by ‘offering additional practical information’ on which schools might wish to draw ‘when interpreting your new responsibilities and deciding on the most appropriate forms of independent careers guidance for your pupils’.
Ofsted thematic survey.
As part of the changes to careers guidance duties and responsibilities, the Department for Education commissioned Ofsted to undertake a thematic review in the spring of 2013. The review found that that the arrangements for careers guidance in schools are not working well enough. Three quarters of the schools visited for a survey were not implementing their duty to provide impartial careers advice effectively.
The survey also found that guidance for schools on careers advice is not explicit, the National Careers Service is not promoted well enough and there is a lack of employer engagement in schools. Very few of the schools visited knew how to provide a service effectively or had the skills and expertise needed to provide a comprehensive service. Few schools had bought in adequate service from external sources. In relation to specific recommendations Ofsted suggested schools should:
- Develop and implement a clear strategy for careers guidance and ensure that they make good use of the National Careers Service resources, well-trained staff, careers guidance professionals, employer networks, and local colleges and other providers to ensure that students are well supported in making decisions about their career pathways.
- Use destination data on students’ progression after leaving school or transferring to Year 12 in their sixth form to monitor the choices made by students at the end of Year 11 and Year 13. Schools should work with local authorities to monitor the destinations of students who have special educational needs or who are disabled.
- Ensure that every school governing body has an employer representative, and that the vocational route, including Apprenticeships, is given equal status to the academic route, for example, by fostering greater links with employers so that young people and their parents or carers are exposed to a wider range of career options.
- Promote the wider range of progression routes available at further education colleges, independent learning providers, and communities and skills providers.
It will also recommended that Ofsted should ensure that inspectors take greater account of the quality of careers guidance and of students’ destinations in judging the effectiveness of a school’s leadership and management.
High quality careers education and guidance in school.
In the various policy documents and reports which have arisen as a result of the changes to careers education and guidance, several key elements have emerged as being essential for high quality provision.
A planned programme of careers activities.
Careers guidance can be more effective when your students have access to a programme of activities designed to help them gain the knowledge, skills and understanding, to make best use of the information and advice provided. The statutory guidance suggests a number of appropriate activities. Resources and good practice examples are available to help you review and plan your careers programme, including the Association for Careers Education and Guidance (ACEG) framework for careers and work-related education.
1. Assuring the quality of the careers programme.
To demonstrate the quality of your overall careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) programme to students, parents and the wider community, you should to consider the various quality awards which exist for CEIAG provision in schools and colleges. The majority of schools working with CareersInc are working towards a nationally validated Quality Award in CEIAG. If you are not already committed to a Quality Award and interested in finding out more please contact us for more information.
2. Commissioning an independent careers provider with matrix Standard accreditation.
The matrix Standard is the Government’s badge of quality for information and advice about learning and work. To achieve the standard, organisations need to demonstrate that they provide a high quality and impartial service. CareersInc are matrix-accredited providers.
3. Ensuring careers advice is given by staff with the appropriate level qualifications.
The main qualifications for careers professionals are the Qualification in Career Guidance (QCG), which replaced the earlier Diploma in Careers Guidance, NVQ Level 4 in Advice and Guidance and the Level 6 Diploma in Career Guidance and Development.
The continuing professional development of careers staff and tutors in schools is also key driver to improved standards – find out more about professional development.
4. Making use of the National Careers Service.
The National Careers Service offers information and professional advice about education, training and work to people of all ages. Your students can access support online, by webchat and over the telephone. The service can handle 370,000 calls from young people, and 20 million hits on its website.
The CDI framework for developing careers programmes.
The CDI Framework for Careers, Employability and Enterprise Education first published in April 2012, is a set of outcome statements for 17 areas of career and work-related learning at KS2, KS3, KS4 and post-16. It has 3 overarching aims:
- Developing yourself through careers and work-related education.
- Learning about careers and the world of work.
- Developing your career management and employability skills.
In developing the framework, CDI hopes that it will inspire schools and colleges to design and plan more ambitious, engaging and worthwhile programmes for careers and work-related education for their students.
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Careers-related professional development for school staff.
Research into the effectiveness of careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) always highlights two key points:
- Teachers and tutors are the key influence on student career decision making – preceded only by the influence of parents and carers.
- Students with career goals are more likely to attain academically and recognise the relevance of subjects studied to the world of work.
It follows that the contribution of school staff, including teachers, tutors, mentors and pastoral staff, is vital to the success of the careers support experienced by students. Career-related learning and the development of career management skills offer a valuable context in which young people can develop the capacities of the curriculum. Moreover, learning and teaching should harness the experience and expertise of different professions in order to develop young people’s enterprise and employability skills and help them plan for the future.
In this context, CareersInc will support schools to provide opportunities to use careers as an exciting context for learning. We seek to develop a strong guidance community which will harness the skills and expertise of our careers advisers, school staff, employers and providers in all the schools we work with.
To understand the role that schools can play in this guidance community it may be helpful to explore the component parts of career education and career guidance.
Career education is a process of learning, designed to help young people to develop the knowledge, confidence and skills they need to make well-informed, relevant choices and plans for their future, so they can progress smoothly into further learning and work. This type of career-related learning can occur in a number of areas within the curriculum and done successfully will support students to develop career management skills to:
- Develop personal awareness around likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses
- Gather, interpret and analyse career, learning and labour market information
- Explore options in learning and work and relate this to personal priorities and strengths,
- Take action to build a career pathway.
Career guidance is a process, delivered individually or in groups (sometimes with reference to printed or electronic resources) which helps individuals to gain a clearer understanding of their career development needs and potential, an appreciation of the process of career planning and decision making. It also helps them to clarify and attain their career objectives through the successful understanding and application of their career management skills.
Career guidance makes use of theories of career development, occupational choice, psychological and economic analysis and puts into practice a variety of frameworks for effective guidance delivery. This includes the use of techniques and tools which focus on personal challenge and growth. Careers advisers working with CareersInc are all professionally qualified to at least Level 6.
Effective career guidance needs to be underpinned by effective career education.
Career guidance plays a vital role in helping individuals make the decisions about learning and work that are right for them, but for it to be effective, young people need to have the knowledge and skills to access and make good use of the information, advice and guidance. They also need the skills of career management to seek out opportunities, make successful applications and manage transitions. This is why schools need to complement the provision of careers guidance with careers and work-related education planned within the curriculum.
An effective guidance community in each school can support the raising of aspirations for all students.
Career development should be an ongoing and active process, building on foundations laid by the individual’s educational experiences and their achievements. Learners need to experience opportunities which are designed not only to raise their awareness of future choices, but also raise their expectations and aspirations.
We know that people form career ideas and identities at a relatively young age. Therefore, it is important that, at an early stage, they have opportunities and support to explore and consider a wide range of potential careers. That way they are more likely to develop an aspirational approach to their career choice throughout their learning and in later life.
We cannot over-estimate the capacity of good career development to enthuse people about their future and to encourage them to aim high when considering and planning further learning and work.
Making it happen…
By January 2018
- Schools and colleges should use the Gatsby Benchmarks to improve careers provision, as set out in new statutory guidance.
- Schools must give providers of technical education and apprenticeships the opportunity to talk to all pupils.
- Ofsted must comment in college inspection reports on the careers guidance provided to young people.
By September 2018
- The CEC will launch a new investment fund of £5 million to support the most disadvantaged pupils.
- Schools and colleges are expected to publish details of their careers programme for young people and their parents.
- Job specification and standards for Careers Leaders developed and started to be used by schools and colleges.
- A named Careers Leader should lead the careers programme in every school and college.
- CEC will begin to take on a broader role across all the Gatsby Benchmarks.
- 20 “careers hubs” will be funded by Government and supported by a coordinator from the CEC.
- Government sponsors two UK Career Development Awards for 2018
During 2018 and 2019
- CEC triples the number of cornerstone employers committing to work with schools and colleges across the country, including Opportunity Areas, to 150.
- New approaches to careers provision are tested and evaluated, to: o encourage young people, especially girls, to consider jobs in science, technology, engineering and maths; o understand what careers activities work well in primary schools; o improve careers information, advice and guidance for young people and adults who are disadvantaged or vulnerable.
- CEC will provide tools to help schools and colleges meet the Gatsby Benchmarks.
- Careers Leaders training funded for 500 schools and colleges.
- Clear information about T levels is provided to parents, teachers, young people and careers professionals.
- Guidance will ask universities to do more to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds to make good use of their careers services.
- New contracts for the National Careers Service in place.
- Results from the Career Learning Pilots collected and evaluated.
- New standardised application forms tested to make it easier for young people to apply to further education.
- Data on student destination widely available and easily understandable by people of all ages
By end 2020
- All schools and colleges will have access to an Enterprise Adviser.
- Schools should offer every young person seven encounters with employers – at least one each year from years 7 to 13 – with support from the CEC. Some of these encounters should be with STEM employers.
- A new, improved National Careers Service website will include all of the information to help citizens make informed choices.
It is recognised that school staff need support if they are to undertake this vital role of providing an aspirational careers-related curriculum and also signpost students to resources, information and guidance to help them take their next steps.
CareersInc will provide direct inputs into school inset sessions where requested. This website is also intended to be a good starting point for school staff to find out about pathways, the labour market and sources of specialist and reliable information and help.
In agreement with individual schools, CareersInc will also provide relevant and accurate information for school staff to use with students and their parents or carers, as well as suggest a range of flexible curriculum activities for use with students.
For further information about professional development, please contact info@careersinc.co.uk
