Investing in yourself
as a careers leader
Careers leader Sarah Noble explains how online professional development has helped
her come up with practical careers strategies and solutions to challenges.
S
arah Noble, strategic lead for
modern foreign languages across
the Central RSA Academies Trust
and lead coach for Initial Teacher
Training in Worcestershire, has been the careers
leader at the Outstanding Ofsted-rated
Academy Arrow Vale since September 2017. She
carries out her role alongside her French-and
Spanish-teaching commitments. The school
teaches students from Year 9-13 – a critical
period for making careers-related decisions.
Here, she shares her experience of being in
the careers leader role and how she has
benefited from completing online training.
What has your experience been
like so far as a careers leader?
It was overwhelming at first, but the online
training and being part of a Careers Hub have
been invaluable. The hub allowed us to meet
other careers leaders who are experiencing
the same challenges and can offer solutions.
As we are based in an area of high
deprivation, a lot of our young people come
from homes where mum and dad don’t work,
and this may well be across many generations.
They might not see the point of going out and
earning a living. Often, those disengaged
individuals benefit the most from targeted
You can get pulled into doing
everything, but we need to
lead our colleagues and
encourage a whole-school
team effort
46 // PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT